Mobile Start Japan is an English-language guide to the Rakuten Mobile employee referral campaign. I’m Takahiko Tanaka, a Rakuten Group employee, and I run this site personally. It is an independent website, not an official Rakuten Mobile website.
I write for English speakers who already live in Japan, people preparing to move here, and anyone who wants to send a friend or colleague a guide they can follow on their own.
Meet Takahiko Tanaka
I have been publishing websites since around 2010. In 2011 I joined LinkShare Japan, now part of Rakuten Group, and I have worked in performance marketing ever since, on both the advertiser side and the media side: affiliate marketing, search and display advertising, social media and conversion optimization.
On this site, that means explaining the conditions and steps alongside the headline reward, so you can understand what you need to do before applying.
I run Mobile Start Japan on my own, outside my job. The views on this site are mine, not Rakuten’s.
- Run by
- Takahiko Tanaka, personally
- Relationship to Rakuten
- Rakuten Group employee since 2011
- Referral results
- Received first-place recognition for Rakuten Mobile employee referrals (certificate)
- Official Rakuten Mobile site?
- No. This is an independent website.
- Where you apply
- Through Rakuten Mobile’s official application channels, online or at a shop
- Corrections
- Contact form or contact@mobile-start.jp
Recognition for employee referrals
I received a certificate from Rakuten Mobile recognizing my first-place ranking among Rakuten Group employees for employee referrals.
The certificate recognizes my referral results. It does not make this an official Rakuten Mobile website.
The mobile services I use
I currently use Rakuten Mobile and povo, and I have used ahamo and LINEMO in the past. Using several Japanese mobile services helps me explain the steps from a user’s point of view. My experience does not replace the official terms, and yours may differ. For identity documents and application requirements for foreign residents, the guides follow Rakuten Mobile’s official information, not my own experience.
Why this site exists
Many guides to Japanese mobile plans assume you already know how the system works: what an MNP transfer is, which identity documents are accepted, how payment is set up, or when a SIM or eSIM becomes active. If you are new to Japan, or still preparing to come, those gaps can stop you partway through an application.
This site starts a step earlier. It explains the terms and requirements a newcomer may not know, in plain English, before walking through the referral steps. If you already live in Japan, the guides also help you check what matters before switching from another provider or keeping your Japanese phone number.
I also write with sharing in mind. If you send a page from this site to a friend who is moving to Japan, they should be able to understand what to do next without needing you to explain it.
Employee referrals and this website
The Rakuten Mobile employee referral campaign is the focus of this site. I run the site in my personal capacity as a Rakuten Group employee, and the referral link on this site is my own employee referral link.
The campaign involves three separate things, and completing one does not complete the others:
- Referral login. You log in with your Rakuten ID through the referral link. This records the referral; it is not an application.
- Plan application. You apply for an eligible Rakuten Mobile plan through Rakuten’s official procedure, including identity verification.
- Campaign conditions. You complete the steps required for the reward within the official deadline.
What I do
- Explain the offer, its conditions and the application steps in plain English
- Check the guides against official sources and show when key information was checked
- Correct a page when I find an error or official information changes
What I don’t do
- Process applications, verify identity documents or set up payment
- Decide campaign eligibility or award points
- Check your contract, application status or points for you; Rakuten Mobile does not answer a referrer’s questions about a referred customer’s contract
For account-specific help, please use Rakuten Mobile’s official support channels.
How the guides are prepared
- Official sources first. Eligibility, reward amounts, deadlines and exclusions are based on Rakuten Mobile’s official pages, checked in both English and Japanese where both exist.
- Sources and check dates. I check the guides against official sources and show when key information was checked. Before applying, review the current campaign terms on Rakuten’s website after completing the referral login.
- Experience kept separate. When I describe my own use of a service, I say so, and I do not present it as an official rule.
- No guessing. If official information is unclear, I say that rather than fill the gap with an assumption.
- Corrections. When I find an error, or official information changes, I correct the page.
Campaign terms can change at any time. If anything on this site differs from Rakuten Mobile’s official terms, the official terms apply.
Our Japanese-language sister site
I also run rmobile-start.com, a Japanese-language sister site focused on the same employee referral campaign. The two sites share an operator and a purpose, but they are not translations of each other. Pages on Mobile Start Japan are written separately for English-speaking readers, so the explanations, terms and order of steps may differ.
Contact and corrections
If you find an error, an outdated condition or an explanation that is hard to follow, please let me know through the contact form or at contact@mobile-start.jp.
For questions about your own contract, billing, application status or points, please contact Rakuten Mobile customer support (Japanese page with English Support information).
Please do not send passwords, verification codes, identity documents or payment details to this website.