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From: Aly Rustom
Date: July 11, 2026
On July 5, 2026 my wife, and I went to change my carrier to Rakuten mobile. A week earlier in my wife had already changed to RM and the process was taking too long so I couldn’t get my carrier changed on the same day as well. Therefore, we elected to go on the 5 of July.
All went well and smooth until the staff member directly asked me for my Zairyu card. I remembered last week that he only asked my wife for ID and she produced her drivers license which he accepted without any issues. However, when I said that I would also be presenting my drivers license as that is what I always do when I am asked for my residence card. I noticed that he was a bit uncomfortable, but said OK.
After the paperwork was pretty much finalized, he said I’m sorry, but it’s Rakuten’s policy that we need to see your Zairyu card. I responded with that is illegal to request that. My driver’s license is a Japanese drivers license that is valid. I pay the same taxes as any Japanese so I should be treated the same. He wouldn’t relent so we canceled the contract and got up and left.
I wonder if any other people have had the exact same experiences I have. Has anyone else gone to Rakuten and been specifically asked to show their card when they have a drivers license? Because that is exactly what happened to me.
Sincerely, Aly Rustom
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— Hi Blog. Debito here. Anyone else finding that for trying to get service from a private-sector business, ID that would suffice for a Japanese, e.g., their driver license, has not sufficed, and they have unlawfully required you produce your Zairyuu Card?
There were a couple of situations I encountered on my trips to Japan like this — not for contracts, but for government agencies. I just said I was a citizen, produced my Japanese driver license, and that sufficed. But that’s not a panacea for everyone.
More on this issue of producing Gaijin Cards here (ancient page, but still valid). Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
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5 comments on “Aly Rustom on the unequal treatment of being Gaijin Carded for phone service at Rakuten Mobile. Anyone else?”
I’m not sure it is helpful to claim that a company asking for your zairyu card is ‘illegal’. It is not illegal for them to ask. You are not required to provide it, and they are then free not to give you service.
I successfully pushed back on this with Anytime Fitness a few years ago (did a guest post on Debito about it) and it was one of the many reasons I was very happy to see the back of Softbank.
My approach would be not to argue with the salesperson (who is only doing as they were told/trained) but maybe talking to the manager or head office. I get the feeling Rakuten Mobile is not particularly going to care though. I’ve been very happy with Aeon Mobile so far. They let me use my alias and never mentioned zairyu cards.
Yeah, that‘s true, but that‘s exacly what should change though. If a Japanese person can show their drivers license and health insurance card (now my number), then a foreign resident should have the same options.
It‘s not illegal to ask for ID and decline service if not provided, but the playingfield should be equal and the best way to achieve that is to make the my number card a mandatory ID for everyone, instead of only foreigners having to have a mandatory ID.
And hotels are a complete other category of on this. There we acrually have a law that literally says that residents don‘t have to show their name and only write their name and address into the ledger. Yet some hotels still , in this case illegally, refuse to accept any foreign looking person without a zairyu card.
I would ask to speak to his manager and failing that maybe try a different branch of Rakuten Mobile as it’s quite possible you’ll find they have an entirely different attitude.
I find in Japan when it comes to dealing with “gaijin”, a lot of Japanese employees seem to make it up as they go along and request things and impose requirements arbitrarily based on their own personal prejudices about what a foreigner should be expected to do.
As a result I find how you are treated as a “gaijin” is very inconsistent based on who you happen to be dealing with.
Yeah, I agree.
This is largely a side-effect of ‘guestism’ IMHO;
The Japanese govt can’t talk about having an ‘immigration policy’ so *all* NJ are seen by the J-public as some form of tourist/visitor. This encourages the misunderstanding that NJ residents are unfairly accessing services without ‘paying their fair share/dues’ and legitimizes dual pricing and a whole host of other discriminatory practices since NJ are all perceived to be getting a free ride off the backs of the Japanese taxpayers.
Takaichi’s policies are blowing up this reality though.
When I went to a Toyota dealer to get a copy of my key, the dealer asked me to copy my driver’s license for “safety reasons”.
Without thinking much about it I’ve agreed but then when I went back home I got curious and I’ve inquired with Toyota about the required documents and their storage method.
They’ve replied along the line that each dealer sets their own policies and that was it.
When I went back to get my key there was some commotion in the back and the guy who talked to me was kinda tense.
I told him that since the job was done (key copy) I need to get the copy of my driver license back but he refused. I asked why but he couldn’t give me a reason, so I asked what was their document storage policy but he got very nervous and he told straight up to leave.
Since we re just talking normally (I was) that answer was unexpected.
So, I asked for his business card, he went back and gave me the copy of my driver’s license instead which was just sitting on their desk.
OK thanks, but I still need the business card which he finally gave it to me and then I left.
That was a surreal experience just to get a spare key, but in their defense, that dealer seems to try to make up for it because since then I got a number of coupons, discounts and free maintenance-checks in the mail and even the other Toyota dealers in my area seemed to have suddenly got more friendly.