[Nyororin]

There are multiple services that are used for accessing the Visa servers - and multiple servers that your card may be registered on. It depends on what bank your card is through...

In the case of foreign cards, a lot of the smaller but more prone to fraud type stores (game shops, small but easily resold things, etc) can`t afford to be in one of the higher protection card services... And instead will opt to go with the safest route - in other words, a service that only accepts cards that have been registered through certain banks.

The exact same thing happens when trying to use a Japanese card in the US/UK. My card is through a smaller bank, so ends up only working about 3/4s of the time... While my husband`s is through a huge bank and works I`d say 95% of the time.

It`s not an issue with Japanese rules, but a downfall of making the Visa system so decentralized.