Rakuten Card celebrated its 20th anniversary in July of 2025, it did so as a category leader in Japan, with over 30 million cards issued and a reputation for innovation. But back in 2005, this outcome was far from guaranteed.
Rakuten Card was established after Rakuten acquired Kyushu-based finance company Kokunai Shinpan. The two organizations couldn’t have been more different; Kokunai Shinpan’s business followed a traditional consumer lending model, while Rakuten was in the middle of building a fast-growing e-commerce marketplace driven by the rise of the internet. Thus began a venture into the unknown for both, with their differing cultures and business models.
As other companies competed to have the most prestigious offering, Rakuten Card opted to pursue something simple and accessible in a country where credit cards had not yet become part of everyday life.
Simplicity, timing, and industry turmoil
Rakuten Card launched with a refreshingly straightforward proposition: no annual fees, and one Rakuten Point for every 100 yen spent. At the time, when most credit card offerings were tied to complex fee structures and limited rewards, Rakuten Card’s clarity stood out. It was devoted to acquiring new members, primarily focusing on Rakuten Ichiba users.
However, after acquiring Kokunai Shinpan, it became clear that a significant volume of uncollected debts threatened the business, creating serious management challenges. Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO, Mikitani, and the leadership team promptly convened a company-wide meeting to communicate the situation to all employees. And so began a coordinated effort to recover the uncollected debts, with specific targets and regular progress reports. Through this disciplined approach, the collection rate improved substantially, and the outstanding debt came down.
Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani addresses the company during the early years of Rakuten Card.
Further change came in 2006, when Japan implemented reforms to eliminate so-called “grey zone interest rates,” a practice that allowed lenders to charge beyond legal interest rate caps. The change forced finance companies around the country to issue refunds and absorb losses. For Rakuten Card, just one year in the market, capital reinforcement became paramount.
The regulatory environment continued to tighten. In 2010, the Japanese government introduced stricter controls on consumer lending, including tighter borrowing limits and enhanced compliance requirements. In response, Rakuten undertook a major business restructuring by shifting focus to its online credit card operations, ultimately leading to the modern Rakuten Card of today.
From signups to spending
Rakuten soon began promoting the card heavily on Rakuten Ichiba. The strategy was simple: Millions of customers were already visiting the marketplace site, and a Rakuten-branded card felt like a natural extension of that experience.
The lack of annual fees made Rakuten Card easy to sign up for, but encouraging cardholders to actually use their card was another challenge. To address this, the team leaned into Rakuten Points, using time-limited promotions and other bonus-point campaigns to reward spending.
With time, Rakuten Card evolved from just another payment option into a meaningful driver of sales on Rakuten Ichiba.
Rakuten Card was one of the first players in the Japanese credit card industry to launch a smartphone app.
On the tech side, the company invested heavily in customer experience. Rakuten Card was one of the first credit card companies in Japan to launch a dedicated smartphone app, giving users a simple way to track spending. Behind the scenes, call centers were treated as a core function rather than a cost center, based on the philosophy that trust and responsiveness would determine whether customers stayed long term.
Bringing new customers into the Ecosystem
During its early years, Rakuten Card’s growth was closely tied to the Rakuten Ecosystem. That began to change in 2013 with the arrival of an iconic new character: Rakuten Cardman.
The iconic Rakuten Cardman character drove recognition from outside the Rakuten Ecosystem.
TV commercials featuring a well-known Japanese actor, Jay Kabira, aired around the country. They were intentionally simple, and highly effective; Rakuten Cardman became instantly recognizable, and generous signup bonuses helped pull in customers who had never shopped with Rakuten before.
To entice these new customers to use other services in the ecosystem, Rakuten took on another bold challenge, launching the Rakuten Super Point Up program in 2016. It was another simple proposition: customers would earn progressively more points the more Rakuten services they used. Now, using enough services could allow some users to earn as much as 18 points for every 100 yen spent on Rakuten Ichiba.
Rakuten Card was central to this program from the very beginning. It was the easiest entry point, and for many users, it soon earned a reputation as ‘the card that keeps the points flowing.’ These points could then be used elsewhere in the ecosystem, or even in physical stores around Japan through Rakuten payment services, encouraging regular use over occasional big purchases.
Rakuten Card serves as the glue connecting the ecosystem’s many financial services.
The program drove significant growth, particularly for Rakuten’s financial businesses. Rakuten Bank accounts doubled over a five year period. Collaboration between Rakuten’s banking, securities, payments, and insurance companies deepened, and cross-usage between different Rakuten services also doubled.
Journey to the top
Rakuten Card’s long-term strategy has clearly paid dividends. In 2017, it became the number one* credit card in Japan by annual shopping transaction volume. In 2020, that volume surpassed 10 trillion yen, and more than 30 million cards have been issued domestically as of 2023.
In Taiwan, Rakuten Card has launched numerous partnerships cementing its reputation as the ‘travel card.’
The card has also expanded beyond Japan. It launched in Taiwan in 2015, where it enjoys a strong reputation as a high-cashback ‘travel card,’ particularly popular among shoppers visiting Japan.
Today, Rakuten Card is working to attract the younger generation with more personalization, premium programs, and more colorful designs, without abandoning the simplicity that defined its early appeal.
An ecosystem-focused strategy paired with a clear understanding of what people actually want from a credit card have driven remarkable growth over two decades. Here’s to 20 more years!
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