Suica or Pasmo: Japan's IC card

An IC card is a contactless prepaid card that works as an electronic wallet. You load it with cash and, from then on, you pay for public transport by holding it to the reader (a tap, without inserting it into any slot) and, in many places, you also shop as if it were a payment card.

Its great advantage is convenience: you do not have to calculate the ticket price or look up the exact fare at a machine every time you take the metro. You tap on entry, tap on exit and the system automatically deducts what the trip costs. It is, by far, the most convenient way to get around a Japanese city.

The best known are Suica, Pasmo and ICOCA, but there are ten regional IC cards in total. The good news, as you will see below, is that in practice almost all of them work almost everywhere in the country.

The most common question is which of the three to buy. The short answer: it hardly matters, because they are cross-compatible. The difference is who issues them and where they are bought:

• Suica: issued by JR East. It is the reference card in the Tokyo region and eastern Japan. Bought at JR stations.
• Pasmo: issued by the private metro and bus companies of Tokyo (the non-JR ones). It works exactly like the Suica; bought at non-JR metro stations.
• ICOCA: the JR West card, the equivalent for the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara). Bought at JR stations in that area.

For a traveller, the choice is usually decided by where you land: if you start in Tokyo, a Suica or Pasmo is natural; if you start in Kansai, an ICOCA. But you do not need one per region.

Using the IC card on transport is very simple:

1. On entry: rest the card on the blue reader of the gate (the area marked with the IC logo). The gate opens and records your entry station.
2. On exit: rest it again on the gate reader at your destination station. The system calculates the fare and deducts it from the balance. If you do not have enough balance, the gate does not open and you will have to top up before exiting (there are top-up machines next to the gates).

Topping up the balance is just as easy: at any ticket vending machine in the station, or at the ATM of many konbini, you choose "charge", insert cash and you are done. Top-ups of physical cards are made in cash. You can add balance in 500-yen steps, in the usual amounts of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 or 10,000 yen. The maximum balance a card holds is 20,000 yen.

Deposit and refund of the normal card

The normal Suica or Pasmo carries a deposit of 500 yen that is refundable when you return the card at a ticket office of the company that issued it. It is worth knowing the detail: on returning it, a handling fee of 220 yen is deducted from any remaining balance, but the 500-yen deposit is recovered in full in any case. So, if you spend the balance almost to zero before returning it, you get the full 500 yen back without paying the fee. Returning the card is not mandatory: if you prefer, you can keep it as a souvenir (the balance and deposit remain yours) and reuse it on a future trip.

Beyond transport, the IC card works as an electronic wallet for small purchases. Anywhere that shows the Suica or IC logo you can pay by holding the card, without counting coins:

• Konbini (7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart) and many fast-food chains.
• Vending machines for drinks with an IC reader, very widespread.
• Coin lockers at many stations, which now work with an IC card instead of coins.
• Taxis, restaurants and shops that show the IC logo.

It is very convenient for getting rid of coins and speeding up small daily payments. That said, it is a minor means of payment: for the bulk of your spending you will still use cash or a card. You have the detail of how to combine cash, card and wallet in the money in Japan guide.

JR East offers a physical card designed specifically for foreign visitors: the Welcome Suica. It works exactly like a normal Suica — same tap, same top-up, same use as a wallet — but with two important differences:

• It has no deposit. On a normal Suica you pay a 500-yen refundable deposit; on the Welcome Suica there is no deposit, so the full amount you pay goes straight to the balance.
• It expires after 28 days. The card is valid for 28 days from the first time you use it. After that period it stops working and the remaining balance is not refunded, so it is worth using it up before you leave.

The physical Welcome Suica is ideal if your trip lasts less than four weeks and you do not want to bother returning the card or recovering a deposit at the end. It is bought at JR East Travel Service Centers and dedicated machines at Narita and Haneda airports and some Tokyo stations.

The private Tokyo metro (Tokyo Metro and Pasmo companies) has its own equivalent tourist card, the Pasmo Passport: likewise with no deposit and 28 days of validity, on sale at Narita and Haneda airports and at metro stations such as Ueno, Shinjuku or Ikebukuro. In practical terms it does not matter which of the two you take; choose whichever is most to hand on arrival.

Welcome Suica Mobile (iPhone only, 180 days)

Since March 2025 there is also the Welcome Suica Mobile, a free JR East app only for iPhone and Apple Watch (there is no Android version). Its great advantage is that it lasts 180 days instead of 28, so it covers long stays, and it is issued and topped up directly from the phone — with any card registered in Apple Pay, with no need for a Japanese card. It is, today, the most convenient option for those travelling with an iPhone.

More and more travellers skip the physical card and carry the Suica or Pasmo on their phone. It has clear advantages: you top it up with a credit card from the phone itself (no queues or cash) and you have nothing to return at the end.

• iPhone: you can add a Suica or Pasmo to Apple Wallet on any modern iPhone, with no need for a Japanese model. It is the simplest option and the most recommended if you have an iPhone.
• Android: it is more limited. It only works on phones with the Japanese FeliCa chip (common in phones sold in Japan, rare in non-Japanese models). If your Android does not have it, you will not be able to use the mobile Suica and will have to fall back on a physical card. Global Samsung Galaxy phones are announced to support Suica from 2027, but as of today an ordinary non-Japanese Android does not work.

Topping up the mobile Suica with a foreign card

A detail worth knowing: when topping up the normal Suica in Apple Wallet, foreign Visa cards are usually blocked, while foreign Mastercard and American Express work normally. If you are only travelling with a Visa, the safest alternative is the Welcome Suica Mobile, whose app allows topping up with any card registered in Apple Pay. In any case, also carry some cash: with the physical card you can always top up in cash at any station machine.

To manage the app and the top-ups you need an internet connection from the first moment; if you have not sorted that out yet, see the eSIM in Japan guide.

If you have an iPhone, the Suica in Apple Wallet is usually the most convenient option for the whole trip. If you have a non-Japanese Android, assume you will need a physical card (Welcome Suica, Pasmo Passport or a normal Suica/Pasmo).

This is the part that has changed most in recent years, so it is worth clarifying. Since June 2023, a global chip shortage forced JR East and Pasmo to suspend the sale of normal physical cards to preserve stock, pushing users towards the digital versions and keeping the Welcome Suica available for tourists at key points.

That situation has now normalised. The registered Suica and Pasmo (registered with personal details) went back on sale in September 2024, and the unregistered ones (the anonymous prepaid cards, the ones most useful for a traveller) returned on 1 March 2025. As of 2026, you can again buy both the normal Suica and Pasmo cards and the Welcome Suica for tourists normally.

Looking ahead, JR East has announced a new generation of Suica based on a central cloud server instead of the card chip, with new features (QR payment, higher balance limits, unification of the regional zones) that will arrive in stages from late 2026 and during 2027. It is an announcement about the future: it changes nothing about how the card works today.

It is a very common confusion, so it is worth making clear: the IC card and the JR Pass cover different and complementary things.

• IC card (Suica/Pasmo/ICOCA): for daily urban transport — metro, commuter trains, buses within each city — and as a wallet. You pay per use, deducted from the balance.
• JR Pass: a rail pass for long-distance journeys between cities (for example, the Tokyo–Kyoto shinkansen). It has a fixed price and only pays off if you do several long journeys.

On a typical trip you will use both: the JR Pass (if it works out) to hop between cities, and the IC card to get around within each one. To decide whether the pass is worth it for your route, you have the JR Pass guide and, for the full picture of how to get around, the transport in Japan guide.