I need to get someone a gift but I don’t know what to get them, so I thought a voucher is good. To be honest I can’t rule out that they may want to spend it on food and bills so I am hesitant to get something like an Apple voucher or BIC Camera voucher (assuming they exist?). They may just not need anything from there.
Back in my home country you can buy a temporary Mastercard and load it with a few hundred dollars – does that exist here? Or any other suggestions for something similar?
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Yes, there’s vanilla-visa type prepaid cards @ convenience stores that you take from the shelf and bring to the register and you can preload it with some amount. Keep in mind, a lot of services (especially online, or something that may need identity verification like tickets or mobile bills etc) will not take such prepaid card so it may be limited use vs say giving cash.
Amazon gift cards would definitely be useful for most situations except if it’s for the homeless.
Recently bought and preloaded a vanilla visa card for my friend’s birthday gift. It says you can use it anywhere visa is accepted but either you or they will have to register or set it up first, which will probably require a registered mobile number.
Got it from a Lawson’s.
Prepaid credit cards suck because some stores refuse to accept them and Mercari won’t allow you to use a credit card that doesn’t use your name (prepaid cards all have the name CARD HOLDER). They also expire in 2 years. At least Rakuten and it’s Rakuma and Yahoo Auction can accept them. But you can’t combine a prepaid credit card and your own credit card. Personally, I’d much rather get Rakuten points. Sorry, just had to rant.
Another option is [Visaギフトカード by SMBC](https://www.smbc-card.com/giftcard/visagiftcard/index.jsp) that you can order online, with gift-looking card faces.
It’s not Visa nor Master, but JCB also has [JCB Premo](https://www.jcb.co.jp/voucher/premo/index.html), available at Family Mart, Lawson and on online.