When credit card payments stopped working across Japan on the morning of July 16, 2026, a surprising number of people found out not from the news, but from voice actor Yuki Kaji (梶裕貴).
Kaji posted on X, “Credit cards seem to be unusable nationwide…? This is troubling!!” as he ran into payment problems himself. He followed up a few hours later with a public service update: “Cards still aren’t working, so even people who mainly use electronic payments might want to carry cash!”
The posts spread quickly, with users replying that they had learned about the outage “thanks to Kaji” rather than through news outlets. One user wrote, “I found out about the credit card outage from Yuki Kaji’s tweet. Rough day.” Another joked that he had “become like a credit card status bot,” while others thanked him for the “useful tweets” that helped them avoid getting stuck without a way to pay.
The outage itself was confirmed by Japanese outlets including ITmedia News and Livedoor News, which reported that Visa-branded cards and Sumitomo Mitsui Card in particular were affected, alongside other issuers. Convenience stores and other retailers were unable to process card payments from around 8 a.m., and Mobile Suica and Mobile PASMO users briefly had trouble topping up balances or buying tickets before that issue was resolved. Companies said they were investigating the cause of the wider card outage.
Who is Yuki Kaji?
Yuki Kaji is a prominent Japanese voice actor (声優) known for high-profile anime roles, and also serves as CEO of the company FRACTAL. Outside of voice work, he is active on social media, where he regularly shares updates with fans, which in this case turned into unofficial real-time reporting on the payment glitch that briefly disrupted commerce nationwide.
There is no indication yet of what caused the outage, and no official cause had been announced as of the time of these posts.
