＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<Added on September 1, 2023> T Points will be reinstated at Doutor Coffee from August 1st!
This is due to the fact that “T Point” will be integrated with “V Point” of Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Banking Corporation in the spring of 2024.
As a result, “Doutor Coffee” will be the first major coffee chain to introduce four types of common points (T Point, d Point, Ponta Point, and WAON POINT).
<2022/10/4 Postscript> “T Point” to be Integrated with “V Point” of Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Banking Companies
On October 3, 2022, it was reported that “T Point” and “V Point” will be integrated in the spring of 2024.
T Point” is a long-established common point system launched in 2003, but recently it has been struggling under the pressure of ‘Rakuten Point’, ‘d Point’, and ‘Ponta Point’.
Therefore, it seems that T-Point is trying to regain its position through synergy effect by integrating with “V-Point”, which is affiliated with Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
Currently, there are four major “common points” in Japan: T-points, Rakuten points, d-points, and Ponta points, which have “tie-ups” with many companies.
Recently, however, a number of companies have announced that they will end T Points.
Isetan Mitsukoshi” (already ended on 3/31/2018), ‘Doutor Coffee’ (ended on 4/19/2019), and ‘Alpen’ (ended on 3/31/2019), but there are indications that similar moves will spread. There are rumors that “FamilyMart” will also end T Points. Lawson”, ‘Bookoff’, and ‘Zozotown’ were also former T-Point partners, but have already been terminated.
I am a bit disappointed because I created my first “T Point Card” for Doutor Coffee in 2018 and used it conveniently every day.
< Postscript> New Partners
Eventually, “Doutor Coffee” partnered with “d-points” and “Alpen” with “Rakuten points.
１．Reason for the “T-Point Termination” Rally
Reasons for this may include the fact that, despite the partnership, “the number of customers does not increase as much as expected,” “customers who have accumulated points do not use them as much at the company,” and “the fee burden is too heavy.
Another reason may be that they have created their own “original points” or that Rakuten points or d-points are better known and have more users than T-points, and therefore they switch to these tie-ups.
２．Future Prospects
Isetan Mitsukoshi” intends to promote the use of its own ‘M.I. Card’ and ‘M.I. Point’.
Doutor Coffee” plans to continue giving points for its own ‘Doutor Value Card’, but is ‘undecided’ about tie-ups with other companies (Rakuten Points, d-points, etc.).
In the case of “Alpen”, it is a switch to a partnership with “Rakuten Group”. Therefore, “Rakuten Points” will be earned at “Alpen” from now on.
What does it mean that the partnership with “FamilyMart,” a major convenience store, which is the “largest T Point member store,” is in doubt?
It has been observed that “FamilyMart” may start giving “Rakuten Points” and “d-points” in cooperation with Rakuten Group and NTT DOCOMO in the future.
Lawson,” which has already dissolved its partnership, has introduced Ponta points, which can be said to be its own initiative.
If this really happens, it will be a huge blow to Culture Convenience Club (CCC), the operator of “T Points”.
I see an acceleration of both a “return to in-house points” and a “shift to Rakuten points, which have absolute dominance”.
And the January 21, 2019 revelation that Culture Convenience Club (CCC), the operator of the T Point Card, provided T Point Card member information to investigative authorities without a search warrant may have spurred this trend.
On February 5, CCC announced that it is currently reviewing its basic policy regarding the handling of customer information and that until it is finalized, personal information of T-Card members will be provided only in accordance with a search warrant.
A number of users have been trying to cancel their T-Cards on the Internet, and experts have criticized CCC’s corporate stance.
I will closely monitor the situation going forward.