Getting started with point activity 2026 — A complete roadmap to seriously aim for ¥30,000/month

Q: Can you really earn 30,000 yen a month with point activity?

If you narrow the conditions, yes. The combo "1–2 card sign-ups a month + everyday shopping via Rakuten Ichiba + 1–2 video trials" hits a 30,000-yen/month pace from month 2–3. But 30,000 in the first month is tough (card sign-ups take 1–2 months to credit), so a six-month plan is realistic.

Q: Will issuing many cards blacklist my credit?

One a month is fine. Beyond "6+ in six months", screening tends to tighten. Family cards and ETC cards are sometimes counted separately and don't add to your card count. Checking your own CIC credit file once every six months is the safe move (1,000 yen to disclose).

Q: FX offers' risk scares me

With the "do just the minimum trade volume and close immediately" strategy, the loss stays within a few hundred yen of spread. Even subtracting a few hundred yen from a 10,000–30,000-yen reward, you're well in the black. But beware if FX trading tempts you to keep playing. If you can't keep the rule "hit the reward condition → withdraw your deposit immediately → leave it alone", give it a miss.

Q: I want to start but have no time

Just the habit of "tapping the Rakuten-Ichiba routing button every time" is 1,200 yen a year if you spend 10,000 a month; 2–3 video trials add 7,000 a year. That alone equates to an hourly rate of thousands of yen. No need for serious FX or referral operations. Try just "search Hapitas before Rakuten Ichiba" for one month.

Q: I want to do point activity without my family noticing

A "dedicated card + dedicated bank account + dedicated email", fully separated, keeps it invisible to family. But exceeding 200,000 yen a year triggers a tax return, and there are patterns where your employer finds out via residential tax. "Earn a million yen without your company / family knowing" is technically possible, but requires tax-handling knowledge.

Poikatsu basics Published：2026-05-29 Updated：2026-06-21 16 min read

What point activity even is — an income stream that "doesn't change your daily life"

"Point activity" (Japanese: poikatsu) is the umbrella term for saving up points (effectively cash) through shopping, services and sign-ups routed via point sites. Awareness spread from the late 2010s, and today it's not unusual for people to earn 30,000–100,000 yen a month from it.

The big difference from a side job: you start simply by "rerouting your everyday spending". No new skills, no selling your time, no equipment. If you usually buy on Amazon or Rakuten, just tapping a point site before you shop creates a difference of tens of thousands of yen a year.

📊

Bottom line first: 10,000 yen a month is reachable for anyone through "habit alone". 30,000 a month becomes realistic by cycling "card sign-ups + brokerage account openings" at roughly one a month. Over 50,000 a month needs a mix of "referrals", "FX offers" and "self-back". This article gives beginners a concrete roadmap from zero, split into these three stages.

How point activity makes money — a win for "user, site, advertiser"

If you think "a system that hands out free money has to be shady", this is the part to understand first.

The advertiser (Rakuten, Amazon, card companies, etc.) spends "ad budget" to acquire each new customer Outsourcing "one card issued" for 10,000 yen of ad spend, for example, is normal in the industry.
That ad budget is paid to the point site as a "completion reward" It's supplied to each point site as an offer, via an ASP (affiliate ad agency).
The point site returns part of it to users as "points", keeping the rest for operations The return rate is roughly 60–80%. The remainder covers operations, ad sales and profit.
User applies → advertiser gains a customer, the point site takes a fee, the user gets cash-equivalent points A three-way win for "advertiser, site, user". Not shady at all — just an ad business.

In other words, point-activity users are simply receiving part of the ad budget the advertiser paid. It's not a pyramid scheme or an investment scam. The question is "does the mechanism satisfy advertiser, point site and user alike", and point sites run by listed companies are exactly that answer.

What to prepare first

A phone or PC: ideally both (some high-payout offers are PC-only)
A dedicated email address: one Gmail just for point activity. Notifications pile up, so separating it from your main email is a hard rule
A bank account: for cash-outs. Online banks (Rakuten Bank / SBI Sumishin / GMO Aozora) are better on fees
One credit card: "how many you hold when you start" affects later strategy
ID documents: My Number card or driver's licence. Needed for FX / brokerage openings
A dedicated calendar app: turn "free-trial cancel dates" and "card billing dates" into something you can never forget

⚠

A "dedicated point-activity email" is critical. Once you register on point sites, campaign emails arrive daily. Receiving them in your main inbox buries important mail, so always separate it. A Gmail takes three minutes.

We listed "one credit card" among the preparations, but for continuing points play, thinking from the start about which card to make your main raises efficiency. Consolidating everyday payments onto one high-reward-rate main card means that, separately from point-site routing rewards, points keep accumulating on the payments themselves. Apart from the offer-issued cards you get through points play, it's recommended to decide on one "high-reward card as your everyday axis." For which card suits your spending pattern, and comparisons of reward rate, annual fee, and bundled perks, see the card ranking guide, and build a foundation that accumulates with both wheels of routing rewards and payment rewards.

The first 3 sites to register — Moppy, Hapitas, Pointtown

There are countless point sites, but the "first 3 to register" are settled. The reason: "rates differ by site for the same offer, so with 3 you can grab the top rate on 90% of offers".

Site	Strength	How a beginner uses it
Moppy	Best in class for cards / FX / brokerage	The main site for "30,000/month on high-value offers"
Hapitas	Rakuten / Yahoo! / overseas hotel booking	The "don't miss everyday shopping" auto-savings site
Pointtown	Furusato tax / surveys / family OK	The "cash out from 100 yen" easy entry point

The recommended order is Moppy → Hapitas → Pointtown. Get a feel for high-value offers on Moppy, habituate routing everyday shopping through Hapitas, and add Pointtown once you have room.

🎯

Always register via an invite link. Going through pointnavi's invite-link list gets you about 5,000 yen of welcome bonuses across the three. Register directly and you forfeit this.

Roadmap to 30,000 yen a month

Month 1 (5,000–10,000 yen) — habit-building phase

Week 1: register Moppy / Hapitas / Pointtown (invite link required) → ~5,000 pt in welcome bonuses
Week 2: free trials of two video services (Hulu + U-NEXT, etc.) → ~3,000 pt
Week 3: habituate routing Rakuten Ichiba / Yahoo! Shopping
Week 4: issue one annual-fee-free credit card (Rakuten Card / Epos recommended) → 5,000–8,000 pt

Months 2–3 (20,000–30,000 yen) — high-value offer phase

Keep issuing one card a month (within limits, no multiple applications)
Open one FX account + minimum trade (if you'd rather not take risk, hit the minimum trade for the extra) → 10,000–30,000 pt
Open a brokerage account (SBI / Rakuten Securities) + first-deposit / trade campaign → 10,000–15,000 pt
Furusato tax (a big boost if you rush at year-end)

Month 4 onward (30,000–50,000 yen) — systematization phase

Manage cancel dates by calendar → rotate video / magazine free trials each month
When you run out of new cards to issue, with family consent have family do point activity via family referral (you also get recurring rewards)
Start publishing "for point-activity beginners" content on a blog / X / Threads to monetize referrals
Seriously combine in self-back (an ASP's self-affiliate)

Building a routine that sticks — killing "I forgot" and "what a hassle"

For people who give up on point activity, 9 in 10 quit because "it doesn't stick". It's not a lack of skill or luck — just a missing routine.

① Centralize calendar / reminders

Free-trial cancel dates, card billing dates, FX-campaign completion deadlines — register them all in Google Calendar. "Charged before I noticed" is point activity's number-one enemy.

② Set up one dedicated point-activity browser

Separate from your everyday Chrome, dedicate one of Edge / Firefox / Safari as your "point-activity browser". Doing point activity in an everyday browser whose cookies aren't clean breaks completion tracking.

③ One "dedicated point-activity credit card"

Point activity often leaves payment details — FX deposits, brokerage deposits, video trials — so it's safer to separate the billing account. A budgeting app then instantly shows the "provisional spend from point activity".

④ A monthly "point-activity check day"

Spend an hour at month-end checking every site's "passbook / history / un-credited offers". If something's un-credited, query it immediately. Six months later is too late.

⑤ Bookmark "pointnavi"

Always compare across sites on pointnavi before applying. View the three side by side and apply on whichever pays most at that moment — this small step is worth tens of thousands of yen a year.

⑥ Know how to "ease off" so you don't burn out

As important as systematizing is not trying too hard. Bracing yourself with "I must chase every offer" or "I must check every day" makes fatigue outweigh the reward gained, and you can't keep it up. The low-effort style of "just adding rewards to actions you were already planning" accumulates the most in the long run. In a slump, narrowing to just routing before shopping is enough. For concrete thinking on continuing thin and long without burning out, see the burnout prevention guide as well, and continue comfortably at your own pace.

Taxes & filing (the 200,000-yen threshold)

Money earned through point activity is, in principle, taxable as "miscellaneous income". However, salaried workers have a rule: no tax return is needed up to 200,000 yen a year.

Case	Tax return	Residential-tax filing
Salaried × point earnings ≤ 200,000 yen	Not needed	Depends on municipality (may be needed)
Salaried × point earnings > 200,000 yen	Needed	Needed (done via the tax return)
Homemaker / student × ≤ 480,000 yen	Not needed (within basic deduction)	Not needed
Homemaker / student × > 480,000 yen	Needed	Needed
Sole proprietor / freelancer	File as business / miscellaneous income	Done via the tax return

Taxed "when earned" or "when cashed out"?

Per the National Tax Agency's view, points become taxable at the point they're exchanged into "cash / goods / another company's points". An un-cashed Moppy balance is treated as "unrealized". Remember: "not cashed out = not taxed".

Tax-saving basics

If you're "about to exceed 200,000" at year-end, deferring cash-out to next January is one option
A dedicated point-activity card / bank account makes year-end aggregation vastly easier
Don't miss receipt-free expenses (a prorated share of comms costs, etc.)

⚠

"No filing needed, so I'll do nothing" is dangerous. Residential-tax filing criteria differ by municipality, so "call city hall to confirm" is safest. Cases of "they won't find out → left it → hit with a lump-sum back-tax later" show up on social media every year.

7 traps beginners fall into

① Forgetting the invite code

You forfeit 1,000–2,000 pt of welcome bonus. Once registered, it can't be added afterward. Always go through an invite link before registering.

② Doing offers with cookie-blocking / private mode on

Completions aren't recorded. 9 in 10 "applied but not approved" offers are caused by this.

③ Applying for 3+ credit cards a month

Multiple applications cause cascade rejections → recorded in CIC for 6 months → other cards get rejected too. Stick to one a month.

④ Opening an FX account without reading the minimum trade volume

The condition is "1 lot or more", but you settle for a demo trade → miss it → zero reward. Always read the offer-page conditions carefully.

⑤ Forgetting to cancel a video / magazine free trial

Earn 3,000 yen of points → forget to cancel → 1,000 yen/month charges start → leave it six months and the profit is wiped out. Add it to your calendar the moment the trial starts.

⑥ Misjudging cross-site comparisons because point units differ

Rates differ by site (Moppy / Hapitas / Pointtown are 1 pt = 1 yen, while Gendama / Point Income are 10 pt = 1 yen, etc.). "2,000 pt!" can look like high cashback, yet flip once converted to yen — not rare. Always compare the yen-converted figure on pointnavi. Note that Pointtown was revised from "20 pt = 1 yen" to "1 pt = 1 yen" in July 2022, so watch out for old info's rate.

⑦ Adding too many sites and losing track

"Maybe there's a better site" → register ~10 → passbook management collapses → un-credited offers left unattended → you don't actually earn. Start with 3, up to 5 once you're used to it is the realistic ceiling.

The seven traps listed here all arise not from "not knowing" but from "skipping confirmation." Knowing in detail the failure patterns experienced players actually regretted, their structural causes, and the recovery after they happen (failures that can be salvaged vs. not) lets you prevent the same mistakes in advance. The psychological habits behind failures and a checklist for each application are compiled in the failure-patterns guide. Reading through it before starting lets you preemptively avoid the points beginners stumble on.

Mini glossary — key terms for point activity

Knowing the vocabulary for the mechanism and taxes lets you start safely without missing anything. Cashback rates, offers and tax thresholds change by timing and individual — check the latest with each site's official pages, the National Tax Agency and pointnavi.

Term	Meaning	Watch out for
Routing (completion reward)	Part of the ad budget an advertiser pays funds the cashback	Not shady — just an ad business
Invite link (welcome bonus)	A link that adds a bonus when you register through it	Registering directly means you forfeit it
Cashback rate	The share of the completion reward returned to users	Varies by site and timing
Routing cookie / dedicated browser	The completion-tracking mechanism and isolated environment	Ad blockers and private mode break it
Self-back	An ASP's self-affiliate	Start seriously only once you're experienced
Miscellaneous income / 200,000-yen threshold	Income category for point earnings and the filing threshold	Residential tax is judged separately by municipality

Cashback rates, offers and tax thresholds change by timing and individual. Check the latest with each site's official pages, the National Tax Agency and pointnavi. For the three sites see Moppy, Hapitas and Pointtown guides; for safety see the safety guide.

FAQ

Can you really earn 30,000 yen a month with point activity?

If you narrow the conditions, yes. The combo "1–2 card sign-ups a month + everyday shopping via Rakuten Ichiba + 1–2 video trials" hits a 30,000-yen/month pace from month 2–3. But 30,000 in the first month is tough (card sign-ups take 1–2 months to credit), so a six-month plan is realistic.

Will issuing many cards blacklist my credit?

One a month is fine. Beyond "6+ in six months", screening tends to tighten. Family cards and ETC cards are sometimes counted separately and don't add to your card count. Checking your own CIC credit file once every six months is the safe move (1,000 yen to disclose).

FX offers' risk scares me

With the "do just the minimum trade volume and close immediately" strategy, the loss stays within a few hundred yen of spread. Even subtracting a few hundred yen from a 10,000–30,000-yen reward, you're well in the black. But beware if FX trading tempts you to keep playing. If you can't keep the rule "hit the reward condition → withdraw your deposit immediately → leave it alone", give it a miss.

I want to start but have no time

Just the habit of "tapping the Rakuten-Ichiba routing button every time" is 1,200 yen a year if you spend 10,000 a month; 2–3 video trials add 7,000 a year. That alone equates to an hourly rate of thousands of yen. No need for serious FX or referral operations. Try just "search Hapitas before Rakuten Ichiba" for one month.

I want to do point activity without my family noticing

A "dedicated card + dedicated bank account + dedicated email", fully separated, keeps it invisible to family. But exceeding 200,000 yen a year triggers a tax return, and there are patterns where your employer finds out via residential tax. "Earn a million yen without your company / family knowing" is technically possible, but requires tax-handling knowledge.

Isn't "getting points for free" suspicious?

Not at all. Once you understand the mechanism, it makes complete sense. The source of the cashback is the "ad budget" that advertisers (Rakuten, Amazon, card companies, etc.) pay to acquire new customers. Advertisers pay completion rewards to point sites via an ASP (affiliate ad agency), and the point sites return part of that to users as points, using the rest for operations. In other words, users are simply "receiving part of the ad budget the advertiser paid" — it's not a pyramid scheme or investment scam, just a plain ad business. The key question is whether the mechanism results in a genuine win for advertiser, point site and user alike; choosing large sites run by listed companies (Moppy, Hapitas, Pointtown, etc.) gives you peace of mind. For how to choose safe sites and spot dangerous ones, see the safety guide.

What should a beginner do first? Where do I start?

There are roughly three steps. First, ① prepare — set up a dedicated point-activity email address (one Gmail), an online bank account for cash-outs, and a calendar to track cancel dates. Second, ② register — the first three sites to join are Moppy, Hapitas and Pointtown, because rates differ by site for the same offer, and with three sites you can get the top rate on most offers. Always register through an invite link so you don't miss the welcome bonus. Third, ③ build the habit — don't rush into high-value offers straight away; instead, spend the first month doing just one thing: routing your Rakuten Ichiba and Yahoo! Shopping purchases through a point site. That habit alone is enough to reach 10,000 yen a month. Once you're comfortable, add one fee-free card application and one video free trial per month at a steady pace and the rewards accumulate naturally. Before applying for any offer, always compare the three sites on pointnavi and choose the one with the highest rate — that small step is worth tens of thousands of yen a year.

Tips for not giving up and staying with point activity?

The vast majority of people who quit point activity do so because "it doesn't stick" — not because of skill or luck, but because they lack a system to keep going. The five systems to prevent burnout are: ① register every free-trial cancel date, card billing date and campaign deadline in Google Calendar (prevents "charged before I noticed"); ② set up a separate "point-activity browser" distinct from your everyday one (clean cookies mean stable completion tracking); ③ use a dedicated credit card and bank account for point activity so spending is separated and easy to track; ④ set aside one "point-activity check day" per month to review all sites' passbooks and un-credited offers — query anything un-credited immediately (six months later is too late); ⑤ always compare across three sites on pointnavi before applying for any offer. A particularly common trap is adding too many sites and losing track — stick to three at first, five at most once you're experienced. Rather than chasing high-value offers, the biggest key to long-term success is establishing the single habit of routing purchases before anything else.

How can I manage the money and spending from points play well?

In points play, money flows in and out more complexly than usual — free-trial monthly fees, FX/securities deposits, routed purchases, and so on. Linking your points-play cards and accounts to a budgeting app lets you automatically grasp when and how much you paid, and whether a forgotten-cancellation charge has occurred. Visualizing in numbers especially makes it easier to judge "whether point-driven purchases have exceeded spending." If you're concerned about the tax-filing threshold, having records of cash-outs and spending makes the tally at filing time easier. For how to choose a budgeting app and linking tips, see the budgeting app guide, and visualize the money flow around points play.

How do I use points accumulated across multiple sites without wasting them?

Doing points play across multiple sites like the three (Moppy, Hapitas, PointTown) scatters points by site. Left as is, they're easy to let expire as small amounts, so the basic move is to use point-exchange and relay routes to consolidate into one "shared point" you use most in everyday life. With your consolidation destination set to one, it's easy to use them up in shopping and payments, and you prevent expiration. Which shared point to make your axis is decided by the stores and economic zone you use often. For the types of shared points and how to choose, see the shared-points comparison guide, and build a flow that gathers the points accumulated at each site onto one axis and uses them up.

Start with a Moppy invite sign-up → Compare offers across sites

This article was written from publicly available information on each point site as of 2026-06-21. Cashback rates, campaign terms, and redemption rules can change without notice — always check each site's official page for the latest. This site uses each point site's referral program, but going through a referral link never changes the rate you receive.