Solved! Charge digital PASMO w/foreign Visa cc (get travel bonus points if your card gives them)
So for those of you who have been following, you know that about two years ago, digital Suica/Pasmo etc. suddenly stopped the ability to be charged with foreign credit cards.
This has since been completely resolved for Suica, and for PASMO (using Amex and Mastercard)
Using foreign Visa credit cards to charge digital PASMO became possible for a couple of days at the beginning of this month, but stopped again. Thanks to information I received from another Reddit user, there actually is a workaround that works!!
The reason this can be so valuable is that some of us have foreign visa credit cards that give bonus points for “travel” categories. Suica codes as “shopping”, but Pasmo codes as “travel”.
By charging your Pasmo with such a cc allows you to get bonus points on many expenditures that you would normally get no bonus for. Here is how to do it:
1.Download the PASMO app (in Japanese)
Input your PASMO card (if you are inputting a physical card in your phone, the physical card will no longer work. This is non-reversible)
Register your foreign credit card in the app, using the credit card button (not Apple Pay button)
After the foreign credit card has been registered in the app, you can use your credit card to charge the Pasmo through the credit card charge button in the app (again it must be the credit card charge button, not the Apple Pay button, even if the same credit card is registered in your iPhone with Apple Pay)
Obviously I have an iPhone, but the PASMO app is available for android, so I imagine it would be the same thing. Just make sure to register the credit card and charge the PASMO using the credit card button, not Google pay