Split payments for cc purch’s in Japan?

Hi, I have lived in Japan for nearly 4 years. I might be here for the rest of my life, I love it here. I have a question about credit card purchases in Japan. Every time I use a credit card to buy nearly anything in nearly any store in Japan, the store staff ask me if I would like to pay in one payment charge to my card, or in 2 or more, up to several. I usually like to pay and be done with it, so I almost always say '1'. The one or two times I have said '2', just to try it, the store staff have run the card and then had a worried look, and told me that it did not work. Then they tried again for 1 payment, and it worked fine. My credit card is 100% Japanese, it is through a Japanese company, and I applied for it after being here for a while, with a 100% Japanese address.

Does anyone have any idea why my card would be refused regarding paying in 2 payments, even though it seems like paying in 2 or more payments is available to everyone else, as far as I can tell, because I am always asked about how many payments I would like to choose by the store staff in nearly every store for just about any purchase?

Thanks!

It depends on what kind of credit card it is, and what payment options you signed up for when you applied for the card.

I believe all credit cards allow for either single payment or revolving (with interest payment of course), unless you say no to revolving from the start. I thought that all cards also allowed two installments (free of any fee or interest), which the store clerk assumes as well, but apparently yours does not come with that facility. (Revolving or payment in "more than" two installments normally incur interest rate.) I cannot say any further without knowing which card it is.