If you haven’t experienced suica, it’s like magically fast. Faster than NFC, faster than Apple Pay, faster than tap to pay, faster than Disney magic bands, faster than your work badge. It absolutely floored me every time I used it in Japan and it’s a full payment transaction.
pknomad
It's not only magically fast, but it's super useful. You can use it at vending machines + convenience stores anywhere (unless it's one of those old ones that only take cash/coins and print paper tickets) and at the shops as well.
People not in Japan/Singapore/Korea/China should experience what a proper transit card done looks like.
Tor3
I've used a Suica card for many years now. I agree it's both fast and reliable.
One summer I was crisscrossing Tokyo by train over several days, using the Suica card, so I got to see a LOT of commuters. Lots of people were in a hurry and would run through the gates (the default state is open, it closes quickly if your card is out of funds or some other problem). Running through the gates while quickly touching the card to the reader. I've done that a couple of times myself.
It's also useful in that you can pre-order a Shinkansen ticket, for example, and link that purchase to your Suica card, which you then use for the Shinkansen gate. If there are other fees (which there may be) they're just deducted from the money the card holds, as usual. Makes everything very simple.
For me a physical card is easier than using a phone. A phone is so much larger so I would need to get it from a pocket somewhere, while the Suica card I can keep in my jeans pocket or some other easy place.
nihonde
For a long time in Japan, the physical cards were limited because of IC inventory shortage. There was a big push to get people to use their phones during this time.
Also, travelers beware: some of the special "Suica" sold at Haneda (and maybe Narita, too?) expires and is completely dead after 30 days, even if it has a balance. I found this out the hard way. Buy a proper Suica at Shinagawa or another non-airport station.
Shank
That’s the red “Welcome Suica”. Green or any other IC card at any other location like ICOCA don’t expire functionally ever. The stated time on some cards is 10 years since last use, but they’re practically infinite in that they can be used even after this point.
ks1723
I also did prefer my plastic Pasmo (essentially the same as suica) card until I learned during my last trip, that it can only be recharged with cash :-/
Marsymars
This doesn't especially bother me, but it is a kinda funny workflow to go to an ATM to withdraw cash (with your bank card) only to immediately put it back into the machine (to charge your IC card).
glitchbot
Word!
wst_
You can create digital Pasmo and charge it through mobile wallet.
eloisant
It doesn't work with most Android phones not bought in Japan, because they don't support FeliCa.
m4rtink
It was funny during Expo in Osaka on the massive metro station - you could just zip in with the suica, while the less knowledgeable foreign tourists would form long queues in front of the special gates where they could pay by a payment card, which were glacialy slow in comparison.
flaunf221
> People not in Japan/Singapore/Korea/China should experience what a proper transit card done looks like.
In Prague city transit does not have limiting gates. If you bought unlimited ticket, you just walk in bus/tram/metro and that is it. No touching, scanning, showing, nothing. Maybe once a month (or even rarer) you might encounter a patrolling controller who would ask you to show your ticket, but that's it.
disposedtrolley
Same in Berlin. I think the reasoning is that it'd cost more money to fit ticket gates compared to loss of revenue from fare evaders.
Makes for such a smooth journey as most people are doing the right thing.
spasmo
In Germany you now just get the Deutschlandticket and take every bus, tram, metro or regional trains anywhere.
sandmn
In Vienna they don't have gates at all or even much indication where gates supposed to be. My first visit I accidentally didn't pay for my ticket - I'm used to ticket machines being near the gates but I couldn't spot any. I also arrived on a train so I thought that since there was no gates or visible ticket machines between train and subway, maybe my train ticket is valid for a subway trip (happens in some places) but it was not the case.
imp0cat
> If you bought unlimited ticket
And that's the difference. IIRC, you have to periodically top up your Suica card with money which then gets deducted from the balance each time you use it.
In Europe, there is no such thing - sure, you can buy a lot of single ride tickets and then use them when you need to, but you have to stamp the ticket when you start each ride, which does seem a little more inconvenient.
PetitPrince
I don't think it's fair to conflagrate "Europe" as a single entity. From what I'm reading and my distant recollection:
- In London you top up your Oyster card and pay a fare according to the zone your travelling to. Metro is gated.
- In Paris your load up tickets in your Navigo pass and pay a flat rate every time you take the metro or RER. It's also gated.
- In most (all ?) Swiss cities you don't have any card to charge and have to get a ticket for every travel (like in London your fare amount depends is zone dependent); however there's an app that let you get your location at the start of your travel and end of your travel and automatically charges you the correct fare. There are no gates.
cpt_sobel
There are no gates anywhere in Switzerland, but one will encounter patrollers much more frequently in the trains (seldom in the trams/buses). I was flabbergasted by the low-trust look of the 2.5-meters high gates in the Paris subway
rimaye
> In Europe, there is no such thing
The European public transport system is not some centralised system that should be generalised like this.
The system in the Netherlands has worked like Suica for years (but without the extremely fast card reading unfortunately). You simply tap on with your public transport card or bank/credit card and tap out when you get off. Subscriptions, automatic/manual top ups, it's all possible.
phatfish
In London you can use a contactless (UK) bank card, and it works just like the "Osyter Card". I think that started around 2016. For journeys on the TFL network you should get billed the lowest fare, as long as you touch at the right points when changing.
glitchbot
I still have an old laminated underground pass with my picture on it from 92'.
dluan
I much prefer convenient over fast, being able to just tap my phone's uploaded IC card/alipay without having to open it up or switch cards is maybe 200ms slower, but I don't have to think or change what I'm doing. Plus with alipay it will just autodeduct so I don't ever have to think about that as well, though Apple wallet Suica makes it easy to reload too.
numpad0
JRE required Suica to be instantly accessible so there's a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card(forgot the exact name). If configured as such, just poking the gate antenna with earpiece end of an iPhone instantly completes the transaction just as fast as a real card does.
(yes, the antenna is in the top FaceID/Dynamic Island area, Osaifu Keitai spec requires a □つ icon wherever antenna is located, which Apple managed to completely ignore)
Terr_
FWIW on Android, Google Wallet tells me "Transit Cards: These cards never require verification", and indeed I can just wave my phone at the terminal without unlocking it.
mikestew
a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card
Because it's not the easiest setting to find: Settings/Wallet & Apple Pay/Express Transit Card
disposedtrolley
The Wallet app prompts you to set this up when you initially add the transit card too, IIRC.
jtokoph
It’s also enabled by default now if I remember correctly.
blks
And here I was all this time double pressing power button to open wallet like a fool. The more you know.
jen20
Is this different to Express Mode, which has been a thing for years for all kinds of cards (including car keys)?
kalleboo
Express Mode originally launched as Express Transit with only support for Suica, Beijing and Shanghai cards. It was then renamed to Express Mode when support for the other modes was added.
kevin_thibedeau
This is a consequence of the world being eaten by managed code. IBM made POS checkout terminals that were blazingly fast 40 years ago. Now every modern data processing technogy is glacial by comparison.
otterley
The story makes clear that constraints matter. Product teams build against specified constraints. If latency isn’t one of them, they’re going to sacrifice it if it helps meet the defined requirements more quickly and cost-effectively.
Every time I see a shoddy piece of work, I know which constraint was sacrificed.
mi_lk
Just came back from Singapore and their transit card is the normal kind you’ll find in big cities in the west
Only Japan is on another level
hbarka
Alipay in China for transit and pay is also easy. No card, just a QR on your phone. It can even be a screenshot of the QR code.
dyllon
QRs will always be so much more cumbersome than blindly tapping a card or your phone.
disposedtrolley
Agreed. It also requires that you unlock your phone.
seanmcdirmid
But you should probably just get a suica in your apple or google wallet, you don’t actually need an IC card. I’m not sure if using a phone makes it less fast though, I couldn’t tell (we had to get a card for my kid since he doesn’t have a phone).
Definitely better than the QR codes used by China.
sagarun
You can use a digital Suica in Google Wallet only if your Android phone has Japan-spec hardware . International Android phones bought outside Japan generally cannot support digital Suica cards in Google Wallet.
rafram
All iPhones can.
kelnos
Hardware/software-wise, yes, but putting money on the card is a problem if you don't have a credit/debit card issued by a Japanese bank (or perhaps a few others). That's fine for locals, of course, but not helpful for many foreign visitors.
bebimbop
I had no problem topping it up with apple pay while in Japan.
bchasknga
Correct. No Japanese CC needed.
eloisant
Yes but I'm not going to buy a phone with an OS that I dislike just for my occasional trips to Japan.
xingped
Pixel phones bought outside Japan supposedly can if you do a little adb hacking to enable it, but I don't have a Pixel to try it myself.
mathrawka
Pixel phones outside of Japan are missing the Felica chip.
Apple pays the fee for all phones in the world to have the chip. Google only pays for Japan devices.
xingped
As far as I could tell from everything I've read from multiple sources, every Pixel since Pixel 4 _has_ the chip, it's just not enabled and you can enable it with rooting.
I assume it's a licensing issue, where Google is too cheap to pay JR for the phones sold outside of Japan, so only setup the JP models and only pay the license for those.
kelnos
No, the chip is there, gated by a SKU check, so that Google only pays the licensing fees for their Japanese SKU.
seanmcdirmid
Thanks, I forgot about. I have an iPhone so didnt have to worry about the incompatibility with Android. If it makes android users feel any better, here in Seattle orca cards can go on android phones but not iPhones.
dluan
You can move your alipay card into apple wallet and have it as the default payment method, so do you don't even have to swipe or turn on your phone, it will even work in low-power/off mode.
seanmcdirmid
Thats interesting, but it seems most subway systems are still QR code based? Anyways, I’ll try to see if I can get that to work next time I go to China.
seanmcdirmid
Oh, now I remember: Tianfu Tong (Chengdu) isnt supported, and I didn’t spend anytime in Shanghai or Beijing on my last trip.
Shank
It doesn't make it less fast! The same model is implemented on the mobile side, which uses the same technology.
dawnerd
It’s sooooo convenient to buy Shinkansen tickets digitally too with it all linked.
imglorp
It appears to be based on NFC-F with latency under 200 ms, called FeliCa. Similar to regular NFC at around 300 ms latency plus any network times.
It was a completely custom standard conceived by JNR/JRE and Sony during 1990s-2000s, that they eventually managed to be included into the common NFC specification through years of lobbying and pressuring.
eloisant
The Japanese gate machines with tickets are even more impressive because they're mechanical, and super fast. You can put a single tickets or 2, insert in any direction, and in a few seconds the tickets is out at the other end of the machine so you don't have to stop walking at a fast pace.
ranger_danger
The inside of these machines are a sight to behold. Even more than 2 tickets are supported, including different sizes, and they're always sorted and re-oriented properly when they come out.
The card might be fast but getting one as a tourist is kind of a hassle
filoleg
I heard from friends that physical Suica cards tend to be difficult to obtain these days at times, but digital one isn't at all.
Took me roughly a minute to create one within Apple Wallet ahead of my trip, and that was it. Didn't need to install any apps or register on any websites, because creating a Suica card is natively supported in the wallet app.
Idk how the situation is like with Suica card on Android though, outside of the fact that unless the phone was purchased in Japan, it will typically lack the necessary hardware for it (which isn't a concern with iPhones, because all regional versions include it).
alerighi
Well you can get it only in some kind of machines, and you need to pay it cash. Also you need to use cash to charge it, and you can charge it minimum by 1000 or 500 yen at a time depending on the station, not less.
The digital version only works on iPhones, since Android phones sold outside Japan doesn't have the Felica chip, or if they have it (e.g. Google Pixel) is disabled in EU/US firmware because the manufacturer doesn't want to pay a fee for every phone to Sony for something 99.999% of people that will never travel to Japan would use.
filoleg
> Well you can get it only in some kind of machines, and you need to pay it cash. Also you need to use cash to charge it
Totally forgot about that aspect, you are 100% correct.
I remember traveling with my friend who had a physical card, and more than once we had to reroute to a nearby kiosk and wait in line, so he could recharge the balance on the card. Apple Wallet felt more convenient, because recharging it was as simple as picking the amount to recharge and hitting "submit."
kelnos
Many Android phones have the hardware, regardless of where they are sold, but it's disabled for non-Japanese SKUs so the manufacturer can avoid paying the licensing fees for it.
filoleg
Thanks for bringing this up, I actually had no idea it was simply disabled, and assumed it was simply not included at all (for whichever miniscule savings it would bring).
Your explanation makes more sense, because it is definitely cheaper/easier to just disable (but include) that hardware to avoid licensing fees (as opposed to having an additional factory manufacturing line just to produce the SKUs that physically exclude that hardware).
numpad0
It's completely anonymous and available on many ticket machines. There are some half-wrong info that you have to fill in a form, but that's only for commuter passes and registered cards.
You just tap Buy Suica and insert two 1000 yen bills. The system keeps 500 yen as a deposit, which is refunded when you return the card, but it's also $3.50 for a little memorabilia.
If you absolutely don't want the keepsake, you can create a virtual card from Wallet on iPhone(7 or later). I believe an app is not needed through that path. Those can be loaded from your credit card, or at pink ticket vendors with the cavity for devices(IIRC the latter didn't work initially).
rtpg
I think the reason some people are complaining about the Suica stuff nowadays is that since... I think 2021 there's been stock shortages so getting a physical Suica involves going to specific places (I think at airports for example?) to get one. There's also now this "Welcome Suica" that you can get but it only works in certain areas of the country (so much for the IC standard...)
I believe you can't get a physical one from the ticket machines anymore unless you are getting a commuter pass, but I might be wrong.
Dedime
Yeah, at airports (where most travellers arrive). I recently arrived at Narita airport, you go down to the trains and there's an office you go to where a human being spends a couple minutes helping you get a Suica. It's great because you can also ask any questions you have about usage at the same time.
HaloZero
There was a brief period where it was difficult but that's gone now, you can set it up easily on Apple Wallet at least (apparently Google wallet is different?).
It used to be easy to get one from a 7-11, then it was hard for a bit, then it was easy again with digital wallets.
Tor3
Yes, that was during the period where there was a chip shortage for things like cars and other industrial products, this also affected production of Suica cards at the time. During that period you couldn't buy unregistered Suica cards, but you could still buy registered cards (registered to your name). This was simply used as a mechanism to limit the number of cards because of the shortage, and you could also buy those "visitor" Suica cards (those I don't like, for various reasons).
Anyway, that problem is long gone.
spike021
I've been able to get multiple over the past nearly 10 years, very easily. I think there was a relatively brief shortage toward the end of the COVID closure, maybe the first year or so Japan was re-opened. But generally you could still get them, just not at major hubs.
On iPhone it’s insanely easy to you just request right from the wallet app and you can even reload it there.
m463
I noticed that. I could have sworn I got one with a credit card, but can't refill it.
Maybe you can refill it with cash? Or did I have to buy it with cash? and when you leave everything expires.
riffraff
nah, you walk to a machine at the airport and get the tourist one.
I had to get 4 as I was traveling with kids who don't own phones and could get cheaper rates, took a few minutes, you waste a few yen but get to keep the souvenir.
Banditoz
Recently the physical cards are sold at a machine inside Haneda airport.
vvilliamperez
I bought one from a machine easily at a train station. It spits the card out for you.
contentkraft
No, just download the Suica app and top it up with Apple pay.
qurren
Really? In 2009 I just bought one at a vending machine, but I haven't really explored Japan since then
my-next-account
We purchased it from a machine recently. By the way, can I just say: Japan cares about UI in a very different way to Europe. The screens had pleasant graphics and sound, and the buttons for pressing in numbers felt so good. It just felt like someone who cares designed that machine. I did not like the refill-your-IC-card machines though, they made very loud noises so you wouldn't forget to take your IC card with you.
qurren
The best part is if you press the help button a real person pops out of the machine in a few seconds.
rozenmd
Same deal with Opal in Sydney - the old school opal card processes a second or so faster than a card/apple pay/google pay that you can just keep walking. Smashed into the barrier the one time I forgot my card.
left-struck
Something that is amazing about Sydney’s system though is that as a visitor to Sydney you can likely use the train system without needing an app or any sign up. Just use your credit or debit card via nfc on your phone (or the physical one)
I was honestly so impressed by that, you mean I can just tap on? Don’t need to stand here outside the gates for 10 minutes entering my info into a frustrating app? Don’t need to buy a $10 card, only $5 of which I’ll ever use? Even with suica being pretty easy to set up on iPhone, this is definitely something Sydney’s got over Japan’s system.
aldonius
Yep, and it's increasingly common around the world. In Australia, it's also fully rolled out in Brisbane and I believe it's just about finished being rolled out in Melbourne too.
moorow
It's now rolled out in Perth too, I think.
aldonius
Turns out Adelaide too, and Canberra.
Meanwhile Hobart and Darwin are free PT right now.
left-struck
Ah that’s great news, I’m from Perth but currently living abroad.
qmarchi
Many systems within Japan are also setup to accept Tap-to-pay/PayWave/contactless (though JR East is a notable exception), but many locals just use Suica/Pasmo because it's the much _faster_.
wolrah
New York and Seattle both have the same thing and it's wonderful. Google Wallet even allows the user to set it to not require an unlock for transit transactions.
JSR_FDED
Singapore too
globular-toast
Same in London, at least for Transport for London (TfL) services (including buses and trams).
ehnto
Meanwhile in another city not far away, the cards are instant but the gate has to think for a while. It's inconsistent too, so you inevitably run into it.
I feel either the gate is making international round trip calls through the internet to some SaaS service. Our it's actually doing a face scan and lookup.
hdgvhicv
I’ve never noticed any delay on the London underground with Apple Pay or a normally debit card - certainly not a second. Havent used an oyster for years but I don’t remember it being faster.
koyote
Definitely slower to use a card or your phone in London.
I remember when they first allowed card use more than a decade ago and it broke the flow quite a bit at rush hour as people were so used to the Oyster card's timing that they'd run into the back of people using cards or people using cards would run into the gate as it had not opened as quickly as they were used to. Quite a bit of commentary around it during that time:
Maybe I am just plainly wrong or encountered some specific stations, but this does not feel true from my experience.
During my last visit to London (in 2025), it felt noticeably slower than even NYC subway tap-to-pay.
Suica is a whole other beast that isn't even in the same category of speed. It genuinely feels sub-200ms instantaneous.
Symbiote
Correct, Suica is faster than Oyster (card), which is faster than paying with bank cards or phones in London.
(I haven't used the NYC system.)
LPisGood
It has really surprised me a few times.
It reminds me of that oft touted experiment where a light lit up within some number of milliseconds of a person hitting a button, and people perceive it as happening before they hit the button.
> Every Suica card has a chip storing two things: a unique card ID, and your current balance. Both of those live on the card itself, rather than a central server.
When you remove the network and run locally, you’d expect it to be amazingly fast.
But it’s also effectively physical cash. And that has many downsides as well.
spot5010
+1 you can walk through the subway turnstile and not slow down.
cute_boi
Anything is faster than NY turnstile lol.
In NY, sometime i have to double pay because the card that worked on bus doesn't work on subway...
lelandfe
OMNY with iOS Express Mode is crazy fast. I don't even have to do anything besides hold my wrist or phone next to the entrance: https://support.apple.com/en-us/105123
I don't often do transfers, though.
anigbrowl
Pleasant alternative from a lot of US transit systems, eg BART int eh Bay Area which is the most customer-hostile service I'eve ever used. giant gates that seem right out of a dystopian science-fiction movie, an achingly slow card readers which absolutely force you to break stride no matter how ready you are. Add in the extremely unhelpful station attendants and you've got a recipe for a public transport service that people actively avoid if they possibly can. Then they turn around and ask for voters to approve extra tax money. I'm convinced none of the people on the BART board actually use the service.
torton
> ... giant gates ...
There's a big difference in antisocial behaviour and visible mental health issues between Tokyo and San Francisco.
"San Francisco’s BART found that systemwide crime fell 41 percent after new gates were installed. Even more impressively, across the ten stations with the most corrective maintenance needs, staff time spent on in-system maintenance fell 96 percent, which suggests that fare evaders also cause most unreported crime, like littering, vandalism, and graffiti."
From the underlying press release (emphasis added):
BART PD boosted the visible safety presence in the system by doubling officer presence systemwide and ensuring police are riding trains more. This approach is strengthened by BART’s ongoing use of unarmed Crisis Intervention Specialists, Transit Ambassadors, Fare Inspectors, and Community Service Officers.
Safety efforts were also bolstered by the installation of 715 new fare gates at all 50 stations, a project completed in August 2025, four months ahead of schedule.
More to the point, mone of that is relevant to the fact that the giant gates impose a burden on lawful users as well as any criminals they might deter, nor is it relevant to the extremely slow performance of the automated gates themselves. The experience of riding BART sucks for law-abiding paying passengers.
ezfe
That was not my experience in Japan; I found that it still took a second to go through every time, just like in New York/etc.
jen729w
Am in Japan now and can confirm: you got a broken one. It's magically fast, everywhere. I prefer it even at the 7-eleven. Why wait the interminable 2 seconds for your Visa 'cardo touchy' to work when Suica is literally instant.
Reading this article it makes sense why it feels too fast to be real, especially when using a powered phone. The things are already communicating as my hand is moving towards the reader. By the time it gets there, it's happened.
Stunningly good.
ezfe
I spent 2 weeks in Japan and used the Suica card near-daily in multiple cities. Sometimes it wouldn't even activate until I tapped it again, other times there was a delay.
speak_plainly
Sad to see the mascot going in March. Apparently this entire brand reset is tied to something JR East is calling 'Suica Renaissance,' which is about a ten-year effort to turn Suica into a lifestyle brand.
They're planning on moving beyond the ¥20,000 prepaid balance limit, they are adding QR code payments (think WeChat and Alipay), making Suica work across regions and support more touchless and cloud-based systems, and connecting it more with banking, shopping, loyalty, discounts, and local services.
So essentially they want to become your default payment platform which is a huge opportunity given how paper-money-driven Japan is.
Shank
The penguin isn't owned by JR East, which is the problem. It's owned by a specific artist and licensed by Dentsu, who has to approve all usage. The other transit networks actually fully own their mascots, but Suica's Penguin isn't theirs to control.
echohack5
The weirdest payment method has got to be the Coke ON vending machines that do not support SUICA but instead require you to QR code-IR blaster you to a website where you bluetooth pair with the vending machine then buy it on your mobile browser.
Like....somehow they turned a sub 1ms operation into a 4 minute 32 second one. It boggles the mind
cyberrock
Most Coke On machines do support Suica/Felica but you have to press IC on the blinking pad. The problem is that the pad doesn't seem like a touchscreen and it can be difficult to precisely tap. However Suntory does have app-only machines now.
It's not really mentioned in the article, but Suntory and transit operators out in Hiroshima etc. are turning away from Felica simply because the licensing fee is too high for them. That's also why Samsung and Google don't enable it on non-Japanese phones. Sony and JR missed the part where they have to generous first to eliminate all competition before jacking up fees, and now they're getting eaten by QR payment and Visa.
freetime2
Coke ON Pay uses an app that automatically pairs with the machine when you open it [1]. It’s pretty quick and takes less than 30 seconds once you set it up.
I think you might be referring to QR de Kessai [2], which was introduced in 2023 and is targeted more at inbound international tourists who don’t want to download the app and may not have an E-Money card. Basically they aim to support to support the widest possible audience - at the cost of a slow/clumsy experience. These machines should also accept payment via the faster Coke ON app method and often have E-Money tap-to-pay options too.
From that perspective it kinda sorta makes sense. But yeah I wouldn’t bother with it unless I was dying of thirst and I had no cash or other payment options available.
So they turned a couple of millisecond operation to a 30 second operation?
freetime2
30 seconds is the complete user flow to open the app, select a drink, approve payment with face id, and dispense the drink. Maybe a few seconds longer in the end than paying with Suica, but pretty negligible.
And a lot of coke machines in train stations, service areas, etc also accept Suica if you prefer (but then you don't get the stamps).
Typically the machines I see which only accept the Coke ON app are in more rural areas that traditionally would have only accepted cash. And I much prefer the app to cash.
ak217
Nooo the penguin is the best part of suica!
gkanai
＞how paper-money-driven Japan is.
JFYI, over 50% of payments in Japan in 2026 are digital now. So not as high as other markets but certainly much less paper money than pre-pandemic.
They're a bit late to the party. It's still no China, but Japan has taken up digital payments big time post COVID and PayPay now has the lion's share.
totetsu
No Location based services please :(
alerighi
Maybe it was advanced for the time being created, to me it's just any other RFID card that is issued everywhere else in the world in the matter of read speed, from every public transit card that I find in every EU country I've visited (maybe for a US citizen not used to public transit it seems something special, I don't know), to skipasses, to even your gym card.
Having the option to also pay with credit card would be much more convenient to tourists, when I visited Japan I've had difficulties finding the right place to get a SUICA card (being that my Android phone didn't have Felica chip, as most phones sold outside Japan), and on top of that you almost everywhere need to charge it with only cash. And you can charge it only by 500 or 1000 yen at the time (depending on the machine), and of course tickets always have not round prices like 110 yen. And you have 500 yen of deposit for a card that probably costs to them 10 yen to manufacturer, unless you get the red SUICA card that you can get only in some special machines at the airport but with that you don't get back the unused credit when you leave (you can spend it at vending machine tough).
So the speed saving of a couple of ms of not having to pay by tapping your normal credit card is completely vanished by wasting time to charge that card.
BTW even if they don't want to put credit card POS on every station (I get it, it's expensive and they need to pay fees if someone uses a card, compared to cash) they could make a system that uses regular NFC (would be 100ms slower, who cares) at least for tourists so they can use it with a regular NFC card in their phone wallet that they can charge with an app without requiring a technology that only works in phone sold in Japan?
makeitdouble
There is a perhaps a trend of local payment means being less accessible to tourists. I haven't experienced it first hand but WeChat/Alipay are in the same boat as I understand, and PromptPay in Indonesia can be somewhat be used but needs preparation before making the trip.
Now, if you're not a tourist passing by for 3 days, Suica has most of your gripes solved and is an incredibly useful general payment mean. I use the Felica version on my phone (so no card), charge it with 3 taps in the app from my credit card, could have it auto charge if I really wanted to and is my payment choice wherever QR codes or QuickPay won't cut it.
BTW you can now use your credit card to ride JR trains.
philipwhiuk
> There is a perhaps a trend of local payment means being less accessible to tourists.
It's because you want to price differentiate tourists and local people. Tourists will pay more for travel than your electorate.
makeitdouble
Could be part of it. Another angle is payment processors longing for stronger KYC.
Felica is bound to a phone with a carrier on a national network, which basically guarantees full traceability of the user. Same for WeChat. PromptPay also binds to a bank account, so again it can be tracked at a gov. level.
fendy3002
others have said KYC but the main reason is to keep the local currency flow domestically and to prevent money laundering.
Marsymars
> I've had difficulties finding the right place to get a SUICA card
It's not that hard unless you fly into somewhere other than Narita/Haneda where Welcome Suica cards are readily available. They're not available to Japanese residents, their only purpose is to function for tourists, so they're made to be easy for tourists.
> And you can charge it only by 500 or 1000 yen at the time (depending on the machine), and of course tickets always have not round prices like 110 yen.
Whatever I have leftover I spend at Starbucks at the airport on my way out. They'll happily split your purchase up so you can drain your Suica card balance and pay the remainder on credit.
blks
Not sure about android, but first time I went to Japan I managed to install Suica app on my iPhone, that added Suica card to the wallet. So now I can pay with Suica and also top it up using apple pay. Only downside is that Suica app is all in Japanese, but there are guides online that explain what to press.
varun_ch
In Japan right now. I didn’t even have to install anything, just went to Apple Wallet, add card, selected Suica, and then could create and load up a card. Plus it gets set up as an express transit card so I can tap my locked phone to pay for transit or snacks (even when it’s dead). Super pleasant experience.
blks
Just checked my phone, and yea there is an option to do it via Wallet, even easier. I’ll show this to my colleagues if I go there again someday.
blks
Some googling revealed that apparently all iphones starting from version 8 support nfc-f/felica.
jen729w
> would be 100ms slower, who cares
It's almost like you didn't read the article.
miki123211
The chips in these cards are a perfect example of a computer you own but don't control, and when that's a good thing.
The only reason fast transit cards work is that the chips on them are under control of the transit agency, and designed in a way that makes it impossible for the card owner to hack in and modify the balance. If somebody finds a fundamental flaw in Suica, I suspect things will get pretty interesting indeed.
If you tried to implement Suica with cards where the card owner had full control, you would have to do this with asymmetric keys, cryptographic signatures, and a round trip to the server for every transaction.
ben1040
It's a bummer that while Google Wallet on Android phones supports Suica, they only offer the feature if the device was sold originally in Japan. Presumably they didn't want to pay Sony the licensing fees for the technology on non-JP devices.
iPhones have it worldwide, so a visitor to Japan can use Apple Pay to stand up a card and fund it.
cosmic_cheese
Apple Watches also support it, which can make it even more convenient in some circumstances (no need to fish anything out of pockets/bags/etc, can be used while holding other things).
klausa
Only if you’re left handed, or wear your watch on your right hand for whatever reason.
Or you have a contortionist spirit in you, whatever works :)
cosmic_cheese
I'm right handed and wear my watch on my left wrist, never had an issue.
klausa
I've tried it once and found it very inconvenient, compared to pulling out my phone out of my pocket, but glad to hear it works for you!
ericmay
The only annoying thing is, well at least in 2023 or so, was that you had to actually load the card with funds even if you had a payment method attached on the iPhone wallet. That got me once as I was tapping like normal throughout my time in Japan and ran out of funds and held up a bunch of Japanese schoolgirls (judging by their attire) who definitely laughed at me and I of course laughed at myself too.
If you’re in Japan here is a tip though. If you’re not super close to the main cities and you’re in an area without as many tourists and you see a group of Japanese school children and they all are eating something - the same thing or stuff from the same place, copy them. You won’t be disappointed. Probably. Had the best curry pan or whatever it’s called in my life following that trick.
arjie
That also happens with Clipper Card in the Bay Area. Happened to me a couple of weeks ago on BART. I wonder if all transit cards need to be loaded with money when used on iPhone. I remember having a Clipper Card with autoload and that would work just fine without balance.
ericmay
You might be right. I like how NYC is set up with just tap to pay with your wallet app without needing to unlock or anything.
arjie
Yeah, I particularly like London’s implementation (I moved away just short of a decade ago - might have changed since) where if you just use the same card you don’t need a pass because there are daily/weekly/monthly maximums and you travel for free afterwards. Very good system. But it is slower that Suica/Pasmo.
panny
Cringe. Cards are fun, collectable, and never run out of battery. Mine is a custom limited edition card from a Japanese chocolate factory.
Suica cards (and transit express payments in other regions) work after iPhone batteries die for a few hours.
aqfamnzc
Are you saying that an iphone can be used as a Suica card even with a dead battery? Or just that a discrete card still works when your phone is dead?
Zee2
iPhones still let you use certain contactless features (like Suica) even when the battery has "run out" (ie., the main OS has shut off). The reserve battery power is enough to run Suica, CarKey support, and FindMy.
klausa
I imagine there are only maybe three people as stupid as me to try this, but just in case: it works fine when the battery runs out; but it does _not_ work during the OS update process.
ezfe
Interestingly, but not exactly related - the OS update process will not start if you're connected to CarPlay. Probably to avoid automatic updates from triggering when you plug it in to charge in the car.
SenHeng
I don't know about the iPhone but the Apple Watch definitely doesn't work when the battery is dead.
ink_13
It's not just a patent fee, IC-card support takes special hardware that enables the low latency of the transaction. Only Android phones sold in Japan (including Pixels) get it installed at manufacturing.
skiman10
All Pixels have the hardware, it's only activated on Japan-based skus. You can root and change the sku to the japanese model and it works. Allegedly the Pixel 11 is only the US sku and the international sku, so all international 11s should have it activated unless they do some serious shenanigans.
taeric
Huge shout out that if you are going to be in Japan, you need one of these cards. I had thought I could just buy a two day pass in Tokyo. Which, you can, but you are almost certainly going to be limited to what routes and lines you can use, then. Which is brutal when you can't tell google maps which card you have.
Pooge
The Tokyo Metro Ticket (24h/48h/72h) is very convenient, though. I just looked at the prices and the longest one went from ¥1500 to ¥2000 since November 2025 but I think it's still very valuable, especially if you've never been to Tokyo and want to travel between a lot of places.
JR is better if you go to the countryside of Tokyo but for the city itself Metro is much more convenient, IMO. Perhaps it depends on the station you commute to, though.
When I travel to Tokyo, I usually do at the very least 4 Metro trips per day, and let's say the minimum fare is ¥178,it would come down to ¥712 daily.
taeric
Yeah, what bit me was the place we were staying was off a JR line. Oops.
Allows you to specify up front what passes you have, worked brilliantly on our honeymoon, especially when figuring out which Shinkansen reservations we needed to make.
decimalenough
As a rule, unless you have a very specific itinerary that involves a ton of travel within a single train company's network, passes in Japan are not worth it. This applies to both local subway passes and the sadly nerfed Japan Rail Pass for bullet trains. Even the Seishun 18 (unlimited travel for ¥2000/day, but local JR trains only) ain't what it used to be since they switched to requiring continuous days.
Marsymars
And there are several calculators online where you can punch in your itinerary and it will tell you the best pass to buy, if any.
On my last trip it only made sense to buy a pass for a single ~4 day segment that included two long Shinkansen rides plus an expensive sight-seeing bus.
usrnm
What happened to buying a single ticket at the station, when you need one? That's what I did when I was in Tokyo, but it was a long time ago
numpad0
They're still available, but the card is more convenient(phones even more so). Tickets are also now priced slightly higher than card rides.
spike021
If you're doing any transfers it could get reasonably complicated. SUICA makes those easy, unless you need a recharge to top it up.
rwmj
You can do that, but the card is far more convenient and journeys are cheaper too.
clifdweller
yeah they still have the ticket stations next to the one to refill/buy IC cards. and thanks to the 20/21 Olympics in english now too(not 2 levels of menus deep like many of them used to be) so pretty easy to do
haunter
tbh if you only stay in Tokyo then the combined Tokyo subway pass (Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway) is the best all around deal, you don't need anything else. ¥2000 for 72 hours
decimalenough
Hard disagree. It doesn't cover JR lines, and with subway fares starting from ¥160 a pop, that's a lot of riding.
Pooge
If you do 5 Metro journeys per day—which is very reasonable if you're a tourist—at the bare minimum of ¥160 per trip, you would save money by buying the Tokyo Metro Ticket for 72h.
sowbug
When you pay with Suica, the merchant pays a transaction fee of between 2 to 3.2%, similar to a credit card.
That's surprising. IC cards are so universally and cheerfully accepted that I assumed they had no per-transaction costs. Compare the US, where merchants can be surly about card payments.
Conan_Kudo
There's a mindset difference. People are more willing to pay to reduce inconvenience for customers there, whereas here the inconvenience to the merchant sometimes matters more.
ryan_lane
This simply isn't true, or you'd see these places accept credit cards.
The most prevalent mom & pop approach is either cash only or it's cash and PayPay. You may also see cash, PayPay and IC. PayPay, at first, had extremely low fees and an army of sales people that targeted mom & pops, pushing the low fees. They've since then increased fees as their saturation has increased, and now you'll see shops adding things like setapay or hachipay (which are annoyingly ku specific payment methods that are very low fee).
Larger businesses are owned by massive conglomerates, or are housed in shopping complexes owned by massive conglomerates that require them to accept more payment methods.
Like all businesses, they aim to reduce their costs and increase their margins. They aren't adding payment methods to reduce your inconvenience, unless they think doing so will increase their volume enough to offset the fees.
jen20
> Compare the US, where merchants can be surly about card payments.
I rarely encounter this - I find it far more common to see places that won’t accept cash at all (even small businesses like food trucks).
kube-system
Attitudes depends on margin and cash-handling costs.
And prior to a 2013 class-action lawsuit that changed the situation, merchants were widely banned by payment processors from charging credit card transaction fees. But now many low margin businesses pass along the cost: for instance, it is common at gas stations, and almost universal at truck stops across the US. And some businesses have long opted for minimum transaction amount for credit purchases.
On the other hand, in places where the target clientele is fully-banked and handling cash is more costly, some businesses find it advantageous to opt solely for card transactions: for instance, an upscale establishment in a city. They may have higher margins that can easily eat the cost, and being card-only also decreases the attractiveness to robbers and discourages unbanked patrons. It has also been criticized for being discriminatory in the same way.
jacobgkau
> When you tap your card on a terminal, it reads and rewrites the card locally in an instant, with the entire transaction processed in under 200 milliseconds. For each tap, the card and terminal mutually authenticate each other and generate a fresh encryption key to prevent spoofing.
This is the part that I'd be interested in reading more about. I'd known there must be some data on the card itself (since I can still use smartphone apps to read my cards now that I'm back in the US), but assumed there must have been some server connection too since storing anything authoritative on the card would invite tampering, and wondered why they would've bothered to store a log of recent trips on the card itself in addition to the hypothetical servers. It does make sense for latency reasons that they'd design it for the card itself to be authoritative, but I wonder how they do prevent tampering.
numpad0
It's largely the same as credit cards - the card have multiple data partitions and secure read/write are encrypted. Balances are logged on both the card and the station-level servers and correctable errors and/or mid-ride updates, if any, are propagated while the user is in motion, so that they can be written upon exit.
^ that was the official explanation for a long time, but they've reportedly transitioned to more credit-card like online system with no station-level servers, and also raised fees, which was negatively received by many rail operators aside JR East itself(which owns the system). There had been few rail companies experimenting with NFC credit card rides, though I'm personally suspecting it's more of bargaining power development.open threat than those lines seriously considering a switch.
The chips in the cards are secure enough that physical tampering is extremely difficult and software tampering is difficult enough with security by obscurity + encryption - the catch is that, it turns out, early Suica cards used DES(not even 3DES it seems), and they just didn't tell anybody until those went out of circulation. Plus, the prepaid limit of 20k yen(local equivalent of $200) limits abuse potential of the system; it's not worth trying to commit blatant frauds on the train-and-sandwiches card.
jacobgkau
> Plus, the prepaid limit of 20k yen(local equivalent of $200) limits abuse potential of the system; it's not worth trying to commit blatant frauds on the train-and-sandwiches card.
I don't think a limit on the value stored on the card limits the potential of fraud. I'm not imagining someone would load tens of thousands of yen onto their card. I'm more imagining someone setting the card to have enough money to get through the gate, every time they want to use the train. I'd agree fare is cheap enough that it's probably not worth someone's time to figure that out, but it would add up over time if someone did it (and especially if the method for doing so got passed around).
I also understand that there's two-way communication with one-time/expiring keys that would prevent a simple replay attack from working. Really just interested in understanding the entire mechanism in more detail! It gets handwaved as just "encryption" in a lot of discussions, probably due to a combination of intentional obscurity (like you mentioned) and it just not being super interesting or relevant to most contexts.
(Also, good point that the servers would still allow significant deviations to be caught and the card rejected/flagged in the system-- I've also seen that concept mentioned elsewhere after trying to research it a bit more.)
kalleboo
I remember the stored-value transit cards in Sweden in the 90's/00's. They were just magstripe cards with the value on it and a basic checksum value. It was not hard to figure out how to rewrite the card with a higher value, or just clone it, value and all, onto a separate card. No online component, as mobile networks weren't great when the system was designed.
They'd download their transaction logs out of the buses every night and do a reconciliation. If they found a card where the value went up or had impossible travel times, they'd look at the travel routes/dates and wait around on the "hackers" commute route with a police officer until they showed up. Very manual.
LM37
I’ve visited Tokyo four times, and I’ve been using the same Suica card since my very first trip! I love it, and I’d really like to collect all the Suica-like cards, such as PASMO, ICOCA, Kitaca, and more.
I was hoping the author would also discuss a bit more about the security / encryption side of it. If transactions are done only between the card and the reader, could one use a reader at home to alter the balance? If you can load the card on you phone I assume you can use the phone to read it, but that might not be true.
Anyway it was a great read! Glad to see somebody writing without (obvious) use of LLMs.
KateLawson
Various versions of these cards could be accessed to change the balance, including extracting the key by differential power analysis
I live in Switzerland, and they don't use a tap in/tap out system at all. There are no barriers to enter the station, anywhere.
There are multiple ways to purchase a ticket, I usually use the app Fairtiq or the official SBB app, where I swipe right before boarding the train/tram/bus(it's a national system, so even works on the regional networks) and swipe left when I'm done with my travel.
It then calculates the best price for me. If I do multiple journeys, it will know what I should have gotten a 24 hour pass, and subsequent travel is free.
tap in/tap off sucks no matter how good the system is.
It is fundamentally a wrong think.
I travel by public transport in many countries, I travel over the world for work, it is my preferred mode of transport. Switzerland has by far the best ideas. Luxembourg is great as well, totally free, but small.
pscanf
I can see how for a local this system might be better, but as a tourist I strongly prefer the tap in/tap out system, especially if I can just use my credit card.
I used the SBB app a few times, and it's actually very good, but it's still an "app experience". First, I need to set it up (download, login, add payment method), for which I need an internet connection (which I might not have as soon as I enter the country). Then, every time I need to purchase a ticket I need to open the app and figure out how to do what I need to.
Tapping in and out is superior in my view, even though I might end up overpaying a bit (though I'm probably still paying much less than what I'd pay in Switzerland :D ).
Gud
Ok, even as a tourist I prefer not to have to fiddle with my card on every ride. I can't comprehend how people can prefer the tap in/tap off. Seems like another unnecessary inconvenience in life to me.
Additionally, SBB offers many different ways of purchasing tickets in the app(week ticket, 24 hour pass, etc, etc).
ValdikSS
>tap in/tap off sucks no matter how good the system is. It is fundamentally a wrong think.
Tap system doesn't have to end billing period on tap out, if that's what you're trying to say.
Moscow/Saint Petersburg cards have many options which you can combine (add-on packages), as well as a regular balance (wallet).
"90 minutes unlimited" does how it is named, and if you travel first by metro, then switch to a bus, you pay less in the bus.
Gud
As long as there is a barrier, and as long as I have to actively be doing something while moving around, it's a poor system.
I enable my travel when I leave home ideally, and and stop it when I have reached my destination.
Not at a location most convenient for the train operator.
ValdikSS
I don't know how it works in your country, but in RU you only tap to get in, not to get out. There are no barriers to get out.
1. The card stores not only your ticket/cash data, but also your trips
2. You live far from the metro, so you ride by bus to the metro station. The metro station knows that you've just been on the bus (the bus activated 90 minutes window) and either don't account you or gives you a discount
3. You can also top-up the card using your smartphone with NFC. The smartphone writes data to the card (and can read your balance and a trip of course). But also, if your smartphone don't have NFC or you don't want to install the app, you can top-up using the web and write it to the card anywhere (inside the bus / on a metro station) with the regular validator (it not only reads, but writes the data received from the net as well)
ororoo
go try it out, it works great in japan.
it fundamentally works.
Gud
I've used many similar systems. Netherlands has an identical system.
I prefer when there are no turnstiles or other forms of gates blocking my way. Just step onto the train.
awruko
from personal experience in swiss system, I always forget to swipe left. Less personal experience: there is also a bit of a stress with swiping right and hopping on the train. If for whatever reason there is a delay (location, network), and you get checked on the train you will pay a fine.
Gud
I typically swipe at home before leaving and leave the automatic swipe off, on. Otherwise I swipe off at my desk at the office.
soco
True, the Swiss is the simplest way around - and in planning is to activate it even without swiping (I'm not sure I remember details): But let's face it the tap system is not that far behind, because in some implementations it can do that calculation by itself (I believe having seen it in London?) so at the end of the day you end up paying the optimal price.
Gud
The problem is that the tap in/tap off is an unnecessary inconvenience. I often travel with suitcases(always on the road for my work) and it's a pain in the ass sometimes due to the mechanism in my way.
Why should I have to fiddle with some card, just to verify I've paid?
Every day, for the rest of my life?
I prefer the Swiss way, where there are random checks.
These random checks are done everywhere else anyway. It just seems that these boundaries have been put in place because some people believe that they are necessary. They may be necessary in some locations(London, like you mentioned) but I doubt they are necessary in Japan.
cpt_sobel
They're indeed planning a BiBo (“Be in – Be out”) alternative to EasyRide [0], which will rely on BT beacons placed in the cars and stations, as well as the motion sensors and GPS (like now).
[0]: https://www.vybe.ch/ov-wird-einfacher-sbb-testet-automatisch...
cube00
When you tap your card on a terminal, it reads and rewrites the card locally in an instant, with the entire transaction processed in under 200 milliseconds.
It's depressing that some transport systems around the world delivered decades later couldn't match this (using a proprietary card not a credit card), looking at you Myki.
daremocooon
I live in Tokyo and use my Suica almost every day.
Suica is very convenient because it makes entering station gates very smooth.
I have a question: how do people enter stations in cities outside of Japan?
I have never been outside of Japan, so I was curious.
mailund
In Norway, the trains and subway don't have physical barriers, you just enter! You will get a fine if you are stopped in a random control without a valid ticket (although the controllers are apparently reasonably lenient if you can show that you usually have an active ticket and just happened to forget), but there's nothing physically stopping you from trying!
I believe the reason is mostly historical (it wasn't deemed necessary when most of the system was built, and the later attempt to introduce the gates later failed for a bunch of different reasons)
klausa
Depends on where.
Many cities have their own cards, that are used for transit only (so no vending machines etc., and no interoperability between cities), increasingly many places just let you use your credit card in place of the special transit card, some places (Germany, some parts of Scandinavia) don’t have ticket gates at all.
crote
In The Netherlands it is exactly the same, just from a different vendor and with different branding. Of course the "not invented here" mentality resulted in it being woefully insecure when it was introduced in 2014, and NFC tap-to-pay with credit/debit cards, smartphones, and wearables still isn't properly implemented.
They now made the decision to completely retire the current RFID solution, because the chip vendor discontinued the lineup it relies on. Its replacement proprietary card is based on NFC tap-to-pay, so on top of terrible product compatibility during the transition period we're also getting a nice extra tap-in delay out of it.
pjc50
Most countries have a similar system in the most popular places. London Oyster may be technically not as fast but it's the same basic experience.
The challenge in the UK is getting tap-to-pay through bank cards onto all the little local bus operators.
kubb
One thing that surprised me was that certain ramen and soba shops didn’t accept cards at all and the only non-cash payment option was the IC card.
Tor3
An Indian curry restaurant in "my" local Aeon only accepts PayPay or cash and that's it, so you get all kinds. Other than that I've been able to use my Suica card in surprising places.
RIMR
>Project leader Akio Shiibashi originally set a symbolic launch target: January 1, 2001, the first day of the new millennium.
I'm getting off-topic here, but I really appreciate it when people get this date right.
varun_ch
I’m in Japan right now on a holiday and I was blown away by how easy it was to get set up with Suica through Apple Wallet / Apple Pay. In fact, I did the initial set up back home in Toronto just by tapping a few buttons in the native Apple Wallet app. Took probably 30 seconds.
It is so convenient to use Express Transit Cards on iOS… I also just found out that there’s something similar for Presto cards in Toronto so I’m going to have to set that up too.
trzy
I still have my Passmo card from my very first visit to Japan in 2008. I went back in 2018 and it still worked and had a balance. I used it as recently as 2025. Pretty cool!
jacobgkau
It's a bit of a shame that the long-term "wow" factor has been somewhat negated by the new tourist cards that expire after four weeks ("Welcome Suica" and "Passmo Passport"). It looks like you can get the regular cards everywhere again if you want now, but when I visited in early 2024, there was a months-long shortage of regular cards going on,* so the airports only had those temporary cards available, meaning a whole lot of people came and left only ever getting a temporary one. (I went out of my way to get "real" permanent cards from a couple of other regions, although I regret not collecting more of them at some places I passed through.)
* I have no idea how a shortage of hardware would make it better to give out temporary, expiring cards than permanent cards, since I assume they use the same technology (and the temporary ones would cause more churn, if anything). But that was the story at the time.
clifdweller
The joys of single supplier most likely. Probably contracted to provide 1 mil a year or something then if tourism greater than that have the "disposable" ones... doesn't need to be any hardware difference though a simple time limited cards get activated with expiration date and server auto permanent inactivates them.
numpad0
Could be because of some payment regulation. IIUC prepaid payment method in Japan has to maintain a large sum of deposit to cover cost of refunds in case of insolvency situation. Balances on expired cards probably aren't used for that deposit calculation.
Also IIRC, relationship between Sony and JRE had soured few years ago and the fab in Japan that manufactured Suica cards was shut down. The contract went to Panasonic, but looks like Panasonic then sold off the smartcard unit to Nuvoton, and likely some security/nationalistic issues around that was the cause of the card supply issue.
There are really subtle cues to tell the model number(smartcards have model numbers!) and manufacturer of cards, most simply in tiny dent created by the cavity to hold the chip. Sony ones were circular and current cards are racetrack shaped.
jjice
Suica was excellent when I had the chance to use it. I used the Apple Pay version and it worked flawlessly. I think I do prefer what I'm seeing more and more in the US with a tap-to-pay so I don't have to learn a new system, but Suica was so universal that I really couldn't complain. Makes sense especially with the larger diversity of digital payment methods and cash prevalence in Japan.
TulliusCicero
The really nice advantage of Suica is its speed. Yeah credit card tap to pay is alright, but it's relatively slow, taking multiple seconds.
Now QR code payment seems to be taking off in Japan, but unfortunately you can't access it as a tourist.
crote
Credit card tap-to-pay doesn't have to be slow. The transaction could be done asynchronously, and some payment schemes even explicitly classify transit transactions as impossible-to-fail and will ignore things like overdraft limits.
Similarly, it could also be implemented via a rolling payment hold loop. Unattended petrol stations do something similar: you first insert the card to authorize a hold (say $200), then fill up the car, then finalize the transaction - at which point your $50 bill is actually deducted and the hold on the remaining $150 is released. Transit could do the same, with only the very first transaction being slow, and each terminal containing a list of pre-authorized cards.
Tor3
There are several types of QR code payments getting introduced, so it would be interesting to know the specifics. I'm only aware of using a QR code for Shinkansen tickets, which is something I have used and something a tourist can use as well. And then there's the new tickets slowly getting introduced in some areas, where the paper ticket has a QR code. I've not seen those yet, but it sounds like just an ordinary ticket otherwise.
TulliusCicero
I mean general QR code payments as opposed to QR codes on tickets. First noticed them at convenience stores, but vending machines have them too, and I think some restaurants.
Tor3
When you mention it I may have seen that too. I'll investigate when I get back again. Thanks!
cmiles8
The combination of its speed and universal acceptance across Japan makes this by far the best system anywhere. Despite being decades old, it’s still better than “new” systems being rolled out elsewhere.
Want to buy a drink while waiting for your train? Just tap the same card. It’s magical and way faster than ApplePay or similar tech.
haunter
The best thing that you can add a Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, or TOICA card anytime to your Apple Wallet. You don't even have to be Japan. Just add transit pass and that's all, when you are there you can start using it instantly. But it works with a lot of cards all around the world (Hong Kong Octopus, Korea Tmoney, SF Clipper etc.) it's in the Wallet app itself.
juliansimioni
I am literally on a flight to Japan right now, and one of my main goals is to add a Suica card to my collection of transit cards from around the world (currently 31 cards large).
Sadly physical cards may only have a few years left, for the most part using tap-to-ride is superior. So I really have to get out there and grab them while I can.
MarkSweep
A noble goal. Last I heard the best bet to gete a physical Suica card is to get the Welcome Suica. It is available at a few airports and a few large train stations:
I got both (because of course I did) with no problem. The welcome Suica came with a free notebook which I’m also using to collect the Japan Rail stamps
> They found that tilting the reader exactly 13.5 degrees made it match the natural ergonomic motion of a hand moving forward.
Japan is, due to its history and culture, is very good at finding these kinds of nature inspired solutions to their somewhat hard problems in a very elegant way.
I really like them when they do that. This is why some of the Japanese wares look a bit unconventional but extremely delightful to use.
forthwall
Suica is incredible, I remember when I first visited Japan in the 2010’s I was amazed at the speed and ubiquity, now in America that tap to pay on transit terminals are becoming more ubiquitous I feel somewhat disappointed at the “lag” I feel compared to the suica transactions
rwmj
Wait, the balance is stored on the card? I'm fairly sure the balance is shown in the JR app too, so presumably that cannot be the case. [Update: or maybe not? I opened the app now and it's asking me to enable NFC and hold it up to the card.]
Anyway I love my Suica. I got it a good decade or more ago, I have a few thousand yen on there, and it's always ready for me when I go back to Japan. Useful on the Metro, trains and in shops. Easy to top up at the plentiful, dedicated top up machines. I also loaded Shinkansen tickets on it last time and travelled "ticketless".
abdullahkhalids
Yes, they do store the value. There was a blogpost posted to HN last year that discusses the cryptographic features of these cards [1,2]. It's amazing that these cards are almost solving the problem of secure digital money.
The card definitely stores the balance. They probably sync the transaction records to their servers, but during the transaction the value on the card is presumed to be the truth AFAICT.
Remember when the system was designed in the early 2000s the Internet was much less available and reliable, and when so many transactions happen every day, you don't want to get thousands of passengers stuck inside a metro station only because some Wifi router was down.
This is basically a limitation of the CAP theorem, in these situations there's really no choice but to sacrifice "consistency" and settle for eventual consistency.
I think even credit card payments for transit also make that sacrifice. I had a weird experience using a Visa card to pay for a tram ride because they were promoting it and had a discount. The machine indicated success and let me through, but since I rarely used the card, somehow the payment didn't go through afterwards (the credit card was in a very weird state). If they insisted that all the payment transactions complete successfully for a transit payment, it would be too inconvenient and unreliable to use.
kalleboo
Credit card payments have an "offline" mode for the same reason - before ubiquitous broadband, a shop may have to dial-up to the bank to verify a card, which is slow. Debit cards that run on the credit networks can have that enabled or disabled depending on trust.
Remember originally credit card payments worked by putting the card under a slip of carbon-copy paper and rubbing off the raised digits. All the digital stuff ontop of that was just for efficiency.
kube-system
Some digital payment terminals don’t have full-time internet connections today, dial-up or not… think, handheld terminal in areas of poor wireless signal.
But yeah, even settling up at the end of the day with those terminals is still way faster than settling up carbon copies via mail.
crote
The original Dutch system used a very similar approach: the card not only stores the balance, but also a history of taps, and information about the travel products. Your travel history is available on a website, but new trips are only shown after a terminal has asynchronously uploaded your new data.
Fixed terminals (like at a train station) near-instantly upload it, movable terminals (like in a bus) have a bit of a delay and sometimes only upload when the bus arrives back at the depot. It is possible to add new travel products or balance from an app / website, but you have to visit a special "pick-up terminal" to update the card.
santaboom
Op mentions that server side sync occurs outside of 200ms card/reader interaction.
reaperducer
I'm fairly sure the balance is shown in the app too
Can confirm that Suica shows the balance in Apple Wallet.
chrysoprace
In the past I've purchased a rail pass because I figured it'd be more economical but last trip we just got a couple of IC cards and just booked our shinkansen and that was honestly the best experience. The problem with the rail pass was that it could only be used on some services, and the IC card was usable on most. The most confusing thing is just figuring out which local transport companies have a slightly different network, but it was honestly not bad.
spicyjpeg
The FeliCa NFC standard made its way into more than just transit cards in Japan. One notable user is the Amusement IC network, which lets you quickly log into arcade games across multiple manufacturers using a single card. Some implementations (Konami's e-amusement most notably) even go as far as to allow any FeliCa-compatible card or device to be linked to a profile, including transit cards, phones (with no app required!) and certain models of Sony Bluetooth earbuds which use FeliCa for quick pairing.
kalleboo
> Some implementations even go as far as to allow any FeliCa-compatible card or device to be linked to a profile
This is also put in use in many karaoke joints to save a list of your favorite songs/song history.
MisterTea
Coming from NYC and being used to swiping once to pay a flat fair, my first Suica lesson was they vary the fair by the distance traveled. This means you have to tap in AND out of buses and subways. It was a bit embarrassing and frustrating when I almost could not board a bus in Sapporo with my friends after they all tapped in and my card was rejected. WTF? Thankfully the bus driver showed me a sign in English telling me I forgot to tap out of a station or bus. Oh. He let me board the bus with my friends. Found a train station and the woman at the counter began holding up a series of English signs so we could figure out where I forgot to tap out to ensure the correct charge is applied then sent me on my way. Turns out I goofed up transferring between the Tokyo subway and Shinkansen where I didn't tap out of the subway, got stuck, and a frustrated transit worker just opened the gate to let my dumb tourist ass through meaning I didn't tap out of the subway.
I was floored when I found out you could pay for stuff with my "Japanese MetroCard." It's quite a wonderful system.
nihonde
99% sure you passed through a transfer gate in Tokyo station that requires you to produce two "tickets" (physical or virtual)—one for subway and one for Shinkansen. Always plenty confusing. I have to hold my phone (Suica app) and an EX card (Shinkansen card) together for a dual-NFC tap. I always forget one or the other.
MisterTea
YES! That was it!
sandmn
That tap in and out system causes unexpected issues sometimes. Many subway stations in Tokyo have different extrances for different directions that are not connected underground. Once I entered such station for a train that went in a wrong way and when I tried to exit gates didn't let me. It was unmanned station so it took me a while to find an intercom and explain my issue to a person so they can unblock me.
rangestransform
We should have tap in/out in NYC too, it gives another opportunity to catch a fare evader
crote
It also allows for easy in-transit checking: anyone on the "secure" side of the fare gates must be in possession of a card whose last transaction was a tap-in. There's no chance of a cheeky "it wasn't me who jumped the turnstyles - it was my lookalike", and you can have roaming groups of ticket validators who board random carriages and check everyone.
Lammy
Even though I've never been to Japan I have one of these loaded onto my phone so I can use it to sign in to beatmaniaⅡᴅx arcade machines lol
syntaxing
If you get a children’s card, they print your kids name right on it. It’s a nice little souvenir to keep.
charcircuit
>Every Suica card has a chip storing two things: a unique card ID, and your current balance.
This is not true. It also stores some history on where you have last entered so it can do things like transfers or block you from exiting an area that you never entered.
pohuing
And they're also easy to read. So if you find a wallet you can figure out where the owner lives for a visit/s
Was a bit shocked to find that I can just read my suica using my European Pixel. I had expected that part to be encrypted somehow.
kenjackson
There also seems to be some state logic as well. The card knows when I’m in the middle of a trip and doesn’t update the balance until a future tap when it can determine the extent of the trip (presumably). Very cool that it’s all done locally.
ggm
Why was it quicker? Better antenna & RF analog circuit design? Shorter software path to token recognition? Single vendor vertical integration? Protocol overheads?
slillibri
For me, other than the speed and convenience, I was amazed that I could use my same Suica card (on my iPhone) in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Even though each region has their own card, they have mutual use in most areas.
rrr_oh_man
> fast
What are y'all comparing it with?
I’ve tried to find videos online but they all seem… normal?
OneDeuxTriSeiGo
It's normal speed for a transit card. in that you can tap and walk without slowing down.
But it's really quite fast compared to more general balance card services like NFC/tap to pay, etc.
dadoum
Probably compared to widespread MIFARE cards or more complex Calypso cards, which are noticeably slower (not a dealbreaker though imo).
insane_dreamer
> The cards have no battery and aren’t self-powered in any way. Instead, the reader on the gate emits an electromagnetic field that powers the card just long enough to complete the transaction.
Brillant!
trescenzi
This is how all passive RFID works. It's pretty cool. There's even systems that are both passive and active. For example, as a Disney adult, I'm familiar with their magic bands which do have a battery but also work passively. For tying ride photos automatically to you the battery matters because you're either moving too fast or are too far from the camera for passive to be consistently effective. But for simply using it as payment or a ticket you're pressing the device up against a reader and no matter how old the battery is it'll continue working.
dfox
At a first glance passive RFID would be a perfect match for ride photos, the whole mechanism is ridiculously fast so speed of the ride would not matter much (the technology works at highway speeds just fine) and can work over ~15 meters.
But there are two somewhat significant issues with the radio layer in this application: the geometry of tag antenna is somewhat critical (making it into a band would be problematic) and the back scatter is attenuated by salt water blobs (ie. people) almost perfectly.
reaperducer
> The cards have no battery and aren’t self-powered in any way. Instead, the reader on the gate emits an electromagnetic field that powers the card just long enough to complete the transaction.
Brillant!
AT&T showed this in television commercials back in the 1980's.
"Can you go through a toll booth without stopping? You will. And the company that will bring it to you is AT&T."
Imagine if you could pay with the Oyster card everywhere from Tesco to Greggs to National Rail to Uber
Actually you can find some small family shops, restaurants etc where they don't accept credit cards but Suica only
gregjw
All the IC cards are great, so useful, I even use one for identification at my office.
mrbonner
I’m going to Japan soon. Should I just use the iPhone Suica version or get the physical one?
fizwidget
I was in Japan last year. iPhone version was super easy and worked flawlessly for me.
franksvalli
Agree! Just a heads up for folks that you’ll likely want to download the Welcome Suica app which is aimed at tourists.
The regular Suica app is separate and is not English-friendly (this may be worth it for you only if you’re staying long term, ok with the language barrier, and want a card that doesn’t expire).
mrbonner
Is it the Apple Wallet version or the actual Suica app? I'm wondering about the Apple Wallet one.
thrdbndndn
Apple Wallet version is enough for 99% case. You do need the suica app for things like purchasing green car ticket etc.
parl_match
i imagine not being reliant on american payment networks for your nation's retail economy has lit a fire under their asses.
pjc50
Hardly, the country is still heavily cash-using, and where transitioning to electronic payments the local PayPay system seems to be popular. Suica payments for stores are basically only for dense areas of Tokyo.
parl_match
Hardly? Credit cards passed cash for retail purchases last year. They're neck and neck.
If you break down by age demographic, you'll probably guess who's using what. And the ones using cash are quickly disappearing.
And let's say it wasn't, and if cash was still king: 10% of Japan's payments infra being weaponized during tariff negotiations would still be a huge dent to their economy. The country had been migrating over heavily, but Trump 2 actions put the brakes on a lot of EMV rollout.
PayPay is an evolution/merge of Line Pay (long story), which struggled to capture market share in Japan past peer-to-peer payments, due to a bunch of factors. You'll see it in stores, of course, but it's adoption isn't amazing (not bad, just not amazing). Suica benefits from FeliCa/NFC-F lock-in, and considerable existing deployment, plus integration with the rail network. Almost everyone in Japan has a FeliCa/NFC-F device with currency loaded.
FWIW I am an American, but I am working on payments infrastructure and billing for a American owned subsidiary of a Japanese corporation. This happens to be a subject that I am wading into on a daily basis, at least from a technical side.
Oh, and you might be interested to hear what's happening in the UK with OysterCard. They recently finished their EMV rollout and then paused all OysterCard sunset timelines. I wonder why.
philipwhiuk
I was expecting it to be a massive hassle but the Apple Wallet integration surprised me. It was so easy to create a card and add funds
Credit to the Suica folk and Apple folk for making it seamless.
As for the speed.. idk I think it's about as quick as the Oyster card.
Phone payments have a bunch of extra latency on TfL too.
People not in Japan/Singapore/Korea/China should experience what a proper transit card done looks like.
It's also useful in that you can pre-order a Shinkansen ticket, for example, and link that purchase to your Suica card, which you then use for the Shinkansen gate. If there are other fees (which there may be) they're just deducted from the money the card holds, as usual. Makes everything very simple.
For me a physical card is easier than using a phone. A phone is so much larger so I would need to get it from a pocket somewhere, while the Suica card I can keep in my jeans pocket or some other easy place.
Also, travelers beware: some of the special "Suica" sold at Haneda (and maybe Narita, too?) expires and is completely dead after 30 days, even if it has a balance. I found this out the hard way. Buy a proper Suica at Shinagawa or another non-airport station.
In Prague city transit does not have limiting gates. If you bought unlimited ticket, you just walk in bus/tram/metro and that is it. No touching, scanning, showing, nothing. Maybe once a month (or even rarer) you might encounter a patrolling controller who would ask you to show your ticket, but that's it.
Makes for such a smooth journey as most people are doing the right thing.
And that's the difference. IIRC, you have to periodically top up your Suica card with money which then gets deducted from the balance each time you use it.
In Europe, there is no such thing - sure, you can buy a lot of single ride tickets and then use them when you need to, but you have to stamp the ticket when you start each ride, which does seem a little more inconvenient.
- In London you top up your Oyster card and pay a fare according to the zone your travelling to. Metro is gated.
- In Paris your load up tickets in your Navigo pass and pay a flat rate every time you take the metro or RER. It's also gated.
- In most (all ?) Swiss cities you don't have any card to charge and have to get a ticket for every travel (like in London your fare amount depends is zone dependent); however there's an app that let you get your location at the start of your travel and end of your travel and automatically charges you the correct fare. There are no gates.
The European public transport system is not some centralised system that should be generalised like this. The system in the Netherlands has worked like Suica for years (but without the extremely fast card reading unfortunately). You simply tap on with your public transport card or bank/credit card and tap out when you get off. Subscriptions, automatic/manual top ups, it's all possible.
(yes, the antenna is in the top FaceID/Dynamic Island area, Osaifu Keitai spec requires a □つ icon wherever antenna is located, which Apple managed to completely ignore)
Because it's not the easiest setting to find: Settings/Wallet & Apple Pay/Express Transit Card
Every time I see a shoddy piece of work, I know which constraint was sacrificed.
Only Japan is on another level
Definitely better than the QR codes used by China.
Apple pays the fee for all phones in the world to have the chip. Google only pays for Japan devices.
https://xdaforums.com/t/global-pixel-device-unlock-felica-su...
I assume it's a licensing issue, where Google is too cheap to pay JR for the phones sold outside of Japan, so only setup the JP models and only pay the license for those.
https://www.sony.co.jp/en/Products/felica/NFC
https://i.redd.it/karotzuqw8uf1.jpeg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NyoXbsS1Jo
Took me roughly a minute to create one within Apple Wallet ahead of my trip, and that was it. Didn't need to install any apps or register on any websites, because creating a Suica card is natively supported in the wallet app.
Idk how the situation is like with Suica card on Android though, outside of the fact that unless the phone was purchased in Japan, it will typically lack the necessary hardware for it (which isn't a concern with iPhones, because all regional versions include it).
The digital version only works on iPhones, since Android phones sold outside Japan doesn't have the Felica chip, or if they have it (e.g. Google Pixel) is disabled in EU/US firmware because the manufacturer doesn't want to pay a fee for every phone to Sony for something 99.999% of people that will never travel to Japan would use.
Totally forgot about that aspect, you are 100% correct.
I remember traveling with my friend who had a physical card, and more than once we had to reroute to a nearby kiosk and wait in line, so he could recharge the balance on the card. Apple Wallet felt more convenient, because recharging it was as simple as picking the amount to recharge and hitting "submit."
Your explanation makes more sense, because it is definitely cheaper/easier to just disable (but include) that hardware to avoid licensing fees (as opposed to having an additional factory manufacturing line just to produce the SKUs that physically exclude that hardware).
You just tap Buy Suica and insert two 1000 yen bills. The system keeps 500 yen as a deposit, which is refunded when you return the card, but it's also $3.50 for a little memorabilia.
If you absolutely don't want the keepsake, you can create a virtual card from Wallet on iPhone(7 or later). I believe an app is not needed through that path. Those can be loaded from your credit card, or at pink ticket vendors with the cavity for devices(IIRC the latter didn't work initially).
I believe you can't get a physical one from the ticket machines anymore unless you are getting a commuter pass, but I might be wrong.
It used to be easy to get one from a 7-11, then it was hard for a bit, then it was easy again with digital wallets.
Anyway, that problem is long gone.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/welcomesuica/welcomesuica....
Maybe you can refill it with cash? Or did I have to buy it with cash? and when you leave everything expires.
I had to get 4 as I was traveling with kids who don't own phones and could get cheaper rates, took a few minutes, you waste a few yen but get to keep the souvenir.
I was honestly so impressed by that, you mean I can just tap on? Don’t need to stand here outside the gates for 10 minutes entering my info into a frustrating app? Don’t need to buy a $10 card, only $5 of which I’ll ever use? Even with suica being pretty easy to set up on iPhone, this is definitely something Sydney’s got over Japan’s system.
Meanwhile Hobart and Darwin are free PT right now.
I feel either the gate is making international round trip calls through the internet to some SaaS service. Our it's actually doing a face scan and lookup.
I remember when they first allowed card use more than a decade ago and it broke the flow quite a bit at rush hour as people were so used to the Oyster card's timing that they'd run into the back of people using cards or people using cards would run into the gate as it had not opened as quickly as they were used to. Quite a bit of commentary around it during that time:
https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/2zc104/that_extra_s...
During my last visit to London (in 2025), it felt noticeably slower than even NYC subway tap-to-pay.
Suica is a whole other beast that isn't even in the same category of speed. It genuinely feels sub-200ms instantaneous.
(I haven't used the NYC system.)
It reminds me of that oft touted experiment where a light lit up within some number of milliseconds of a person hitting a button, and people perceive it as happening before they hit the button.
When you remove the network and run locally, you’d expect it to be amazingly fast.
But it’s also effectively physical cash. And that has many downsides as well.
In NY, sometime i have to double pay because the card that worked on bus doesn't work on subway...
I don't often do transfers, though.
There's a big difference in antisocial behaviour and visible mental health issues between Tokyo and San Francisco.
"San Francisco’s BART found that systemwide crime fell 41 percent after new gates were installed. Even more impressively, across the ten stations with the most corrective maintenance needs, staff time spent on in-system maintenance fell 96 percent, which suggests that fare evaders also cause most unreported crime, like littering, vandalism, and graffiti."
https://www.city-journal.org/article/transit-crime-fare-gate...
From the underlying press release (emphasis added): BART PD boosted the visible safety presence in the system by doubling officer presence systemwide and ensuring police are riding trains more. This approach is strengthened by BART’s ongoing use of unarmed Crisis Intervention Specialists, Transit Ambassadors, Fare Inspectors, and Community Service Officers.
Safety efforts were also bolstered by the installation of 715 new fare gates at all 50 stations, a project completed in August 2025, four months ahead of schedule.
More to the point, mone of that is relevant to the fact that the giant gates impose a burden on lawful users as well as any criminals they might deter, nor is it relevant to the extremely slow performance of the automated gates themselves. The experience of riding BART sucks for law-abiding paying passengers.
Reading this article it makes sense why it feels too fast to be real, especially when using a powered phone. The things are already communicating as my hand is moving towards the reader. By the time it gets there, it's happened.
Stunningly good.
Whitepaper: https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/press/2024/pdf/20241210.pdf
They're planning on moving beyond the ¥20,000 prepaid balance limit, they are adding QR code payments (think WeChat and Alipay), making Suica work across regions and support more touchless and cloud-based systems, and connecting it more with banking, shopping, loyalty, discounts, and local services.
So essentially they want to become your default payment platform which is a huge opportunity given how paper-money-driven Japan is.
Like....somehow they turned a sub 1ms operation into a 4 minute 32 second one. It boggles the mind
It's not really mentioned in the article, but Suntory and transit operators out in Hiroshima etc. are turning away from Felica simply because the licensing fee is too high for them. That's also why Samsung and Google don't enable it on non-Japanese phones. Sony and JR missed the part where they have to generous first to eliminate all competition before jacking up fees, and now they're getting eaten by QR payment and Visa.
I think you might be referring to QR de Kessai [2], which was introduced in 2023 and is targeted more at inbound international tourists who don’t want to download the app and may not have an E-Money card. Basically they aim to support to support the widest possible audience - at the cost of a slow/clumsy experience. These machines should also accept payment via the faster Coke ON app method and often have E-Money tap-to-pay options too.
From that perspective it kinda sorta makes sense. But yeah I wouldn’t bother with it unless I was dying of thirst and I had no cash or other payment options available.
[1] https://szabo.jp/2021/05/16/coke-on/
[2] https://en.ccbji.co.jp/business/installation/qr-de-kessai/
And a lot of coke machines in train stations, service areas, etc also accept Suica if you prefer (but then you don't get the stamps).
Typically the machines I see which only accept the Coke ON app are in more rural areas that traditionally would have only accepted cash. And I much prefer the app to cash.
JFYI, over 50% of payments in Japan in 2026 are digital now. So not as high as other markets but certainly much less paper money than pre-pandemic.
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2026/0331_005.html
Having the option to also pay with credit card would be much more convenient to tourists, when I visited Japan I've had difficulties finding the right place to get a SUICA card (being that my Android phone didn't have Felica chip, as most phones sold outside Japan), and on top of that you almost everywhere need to charge it with only cash. And you can charge it only by 500 or 1000 yen at the time (depending on the machine), and of course tickets always have not round prices like 110 yen. And you have 500 yen of deposit for a card that probably costs to them 10 yen to manufacturer, unless you get the red SUICA card that you can get only in some special machines at the airport but with that you don't get back the unused credit when you leave (you can spend it at vending machine tough).
So the speed saving of a couple of ms of not having to pay by tapping your normal credit card is completely vanished by wasting time to charge that card.
BTW even if they don't want to put credit card POS on every station (I get it, it's expensive and they need to pay fees if someone uses a card, compared to cash) they could make a system that uses regular NFC (would be 100ms slower, who cares) at least for tourists so they can use it with a regular NFC card in their phone wallet that they can charge with an app without requiring a technology that only works in phone sold in Japan?
Now, if you're not a tourist passing by for 3 days, Suica has most of your gripes solved and is an incredibly useful general payment mean. I use the Felica version on my phone (so no card), charge it with 3 taps in the app from my credit card, could have it auto charge if I really wanted to and is my payment choice wherever QR codes or QuickPay won't cut it.
BTW you can now use your credit card to ride JR trains.
It's because you want to price differentiate tourists and local people. Tourists will pay more for travel than your electorate.
Felica is bound to a phone with a carrier on a national network, which basically guarantees full traceability of the user. Same for WeChat. PromptPay also binds to a bank account, so again it can be tracked at a gov. level.
It's not that hard unless you fly into somewhere other than Narita/Haneda where Welcome Suica cards are readily available. They're not available to Japanese residents, their only purpose is to function for tourists, so they're made to be easy for tourists.
> And you can charge it only by 500 or 1000 yen at the time (depending on the machine), and of course tickets always have not round prices like 110 yen.
Whatever I have leftover I spend at Starbucks at the airport on my way out. They'll happily split your purchase up so you can drain your Suica card balance and pay the remainder on credit.
It's almost like you didn't read the article.
The only reason fast transit cards work is that the chips on them are under control of the transit agency, and designed in a way that makes it impossible for the card owner to hack in and modify the balance. If somebody finds a fundamental flaw in Suica, I suspect things will get pretty interesting indeed.
If you tried to implement Suica with cards where the card owner had full control, you would have to do this with asymmetric keys, cryptographic signatures, and a round trip to the server for every transaction.
iPhones have it worldwide, so a visitor to Japan can use Apple Pay to stand up a card and fund it.
Or you have a contortionist spirit in you, whatever works :)
If you’re in Japan here is a tip though. If you’re not super close to the main cities and you’re in an area without as many tourists and you see a group of Japanese school children and they all are eating something - the same thing or stuff from the same place, copy them. You won’t be disappointed. Probably. Had the best curry pan or whatever it’s called in my life following that trick.
https://matcha-jp.com/en/9482
JR is better if you go to the countryside of Tokyo but for the city itself Metro is much more convenient, IMO. Perhaps it depends on the station you commute to, though.
When I travel to Tokyo, I usually do at the very least 4 Metro trips per day, and let's say the minimum fare is ¥178,it would come down to ¥712 daily.
Allows you to specify up front what passes you have, worked brilliantly on our honeymoon, especially when figuring out which Shinkansen reservations we needed to make.
On my last trip it only made sense to buy a pass for a single ~4 day segment that included two long Shinkansen rides plus an expensive sight-seeing bus.
That's surprising. IC cards are so universally and cheerfully accepted that I assumed they had no per-transaction costs. Compare the US, where merchants can be surly about card payments.
The most prevalent mom & pop approach is either cash only or it's cash and PayPay. You may also see cash, PayPay and IC. PayPay, at first, had extremely low fees and an army of sales people that targeted mom & pops, pushing the low fees. They've since then increased fees as their saturation has increased, and now you'll see shops adding things like setapay or hachipay (which are annoyingly ku specific payment methods that are very low fee).
Larger businesses are owned by massive conglomerates, or are housed in shopping complexes owned by massive conglomerates that require them to accept more payment methods.
Like all businesses, they aim to reduce their costs and increase their margins. They aren't adding payment methods to reduce your inconvenience, unless they think doing so will increase their volume enough to offset the fees.
I rarely encounter this - I find it far more common to see places that won’t accept cash at all (even small businesses like food trucks).
And prior to a 2013 class-action lawsuit that changed the situation, merchants were widely banned by payment processors from charging credit card transaction fees. But now many low margin businesses pass along the cost: for instance, it is common at gas stations, and almost universal at truck stops across the US. And some businesses have long opted for minimum transaction amount for credit purchases.
https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/N...
https://wpcdn.us-east-1.vip.tn-cloud.net/www.41nbc.com/conte...
On the other hand, in places where the target clientele is fully-banked and handling cash is more costly, some businesses find it advantageous to opt solely for card transactions: for instance, an upscale establishment in a city. They may have higher margins that can easily eat the cost, and being card-only also decreases the attractiveness to robbers and discourages unbanked patrons. It has also been criticized for being discriminatory in the same way.
This is the part that I'd be interested in reading more about. I'd known there must be some data on the card itself (since I can still use smartphone apps to read my cards now that I'm back in the US), but assumed there must have been some server connection too since storing anything authoritative on the card would invite tampering, and wondered why they would've bothered to store a log of recent trips on the card itself in addition to the hypothetical servers. It does make sense for latency reasons that they'd design it for the card itself to be authoritative, but I wonder how they do prevent tampering.
^ that was the official explanation for a long time, but they've reportedly transitioned to more credit-card like online system with no station-level servers, and also raised fees, which was negatively received by many rail operators aside JR East itself(which owns the system). There had been few rail companies experimenting with NFC credit card rides, though I'm personally suspecting it's more of bargaining power development.open threat than those lines seriously considering a switch.
The chips in the cards are secure enough that physical tampering is extremely difficult and software tampering is difficult enough with security by obscurity + encryption - the catch is that, it turns out, early Suica cards used DES(not even 3DES it seems), and they just didn't tell anybody until those went out of circulation. Plus, the prepaid limit of 20k yen(local equivalent of $200) limits abuse potential of the system; it's not worth trying to commit blatant frauds on the train-and-sandwiches card.
I don't think a limit on the value stored on the card limits the potential of fraud. I'm not imagining someone would load tens of thousands of yen onto their card. I'm more imagining someone setting the card to have enough money to get through the gate, every time they want to use the train. I'd agree fare is cheap enough that it's probably not worth someone's time to figure that out, but it would add up over time if someone did it (and especially if the method for doing so got passed around).
I also understand that there's two-way communication with one-time/expiring keys that would prevent a simple replay attack from working. Really just interested in understanding the entire mechanism in more detail! It gets handwaved as just "encryption" in a lot of discussions, probably due to a combination of intentional obscurity (like you mentioned) and it just not being super interesting or relevant to most contexts.
(Also, good point that the servers would still allow significant deviations to be caught and the card rejected/flagged in the system-- I've also seen that concept mentioned elsewhere after trying to research it a bit more.)
They'd download their transaction logs out of the buses every night and do a reconciliation. If they found a card where the value went up or had impossible travel times, they'd look at the travel routes/dates and wait around on the "hackers" commute route with a police officer until they showed up. Very manual.
I love it when little everyday things bring a tiny bit of happiness and color into daily life. (for more info: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html)
Anyway it was a great read! Glad to see somebody writing without (obvious) use of LLMs.
[edit] Looks like this finally became public recently https://www.techtimes.com/articles/321138/20260721/japan-con...
I live in Switzerland, and they don't use a tap in/tap out system at all. There are no barriers to enter the station, anywhere.
There are multiple ways to purchase a ticket, I usually use the app Fairtiq or the official SBB app, where I swipe right before boarding the train/tram/bus(it's a national system, so even works on the regional networks) and swipe left when I'm done with my travel.
It then calculates the best price for me. If I do multiple journeys, it will know what I should have gotten a 24 hour pass, and subsequent travel is free.
tap in/tap off sucks no matter how good the system is. It is fundamentally a wrong think.
I travel by public transport in many countries, I travel over the world for work, it is my preferred mode of transport. Switzerland has by far the best ideas. Luxembourg is great as well, totally free, but small.
I used the SBB app a few times, and it's actually very good, but it's still an "app experience". First, I need to set it up (download, login, add payment method), for which I need an internet connection (which I might not have as soon as I enter the country). Then, every time I need to purchase a ticket I need to open the app and figure out how to do what I need to.
Tapping in and out is superior in my view, even though I might end up overpaying a bit (though I'm probably still paying much less than what I'd pay in Switzerland :D ).
Tap system doesn't have to end billing period on tap out, if that's what you're trying to say.
Moscow/Saint Petersburg cards have many options which you can combine (add-on packages), as well as a regular balance (wallet).
"90 minutes unlimited" does how it is named, and if you travel first by metro, then switch to a bus, you pay less in the bus.
Not at a location most convenient for the train operator.
1. The card stores not only your ticket/cash data, but also your trips
2. You live far from the metro, so you ride by bus to the metro station. The metro station knows that you've just been on the bus (the bus activated 90 minutes window) and either don't account you or gives you a discount
3. You can also top-up the card using your smartphone with NFC. The smartphone writes data to the card (and can read your balance and a trip of course). But also, if your smartphone don't have NFC or you don't want to install the app, you can top-up using the web and write it to the card anywhere (inside the bus / on a metro station) with the regular validator (it not only reads, but writes the data received from the net as well)
it fundamentally works.
I prefer when there are no turnstiles or other forms of gates blocking my way. Just step onto the train.
Why should I have to fiddle with some card, just to verify I've paid? Every day, for the rest of my life?
I prefer the Swiss way, where there are random checks. These random checks are done everywhere else anyway. It just seems that these boundaries have been put in place because some people believe that they are necessary. They may be necessary in some locations(London, like you mentioned) but I doubt they are necessary in Japan.
It's depressing that some transport systems around the world delivered decades later couldn't match this (using a proprietary card not a credit card), looking at you Myki.
I believe the reason is mostly historical (it wasn't deemed necessary when most of the system was built, and the later attempt to introduce the gates later failed for a bunch of different reasons)
Many cities have their own cards, that are used for transit only (so no vending machines etc., and no interoperability between cities), increasingly many places just let you use your credit card in place of the special transit card, some places (Germany, some parts of Scandinavia) don’t have ticket gates at all.
They now made the decision to completely retire the current RFID solution, because the chip vendor discontinued the lineup it relies on. Its replacement proprietary card is based on NFC tap-to-pay, so on top of terrible product compatibility during the transition period we're also getting a nice extra tap-in delay out of it.
The challenge in the UK is getting tap-to-pay through bank cards onto all the little local bus operators.
I'm getting off-topic here, but I really appreciate it when people get this date right.
It is so convenient to use Express Transit Cards on iOS… I also just found out that there’s something similar for Presto cards in Toronto so I’m going to have to set that up too.
* I have no idea how a shortage of hardware would make it better to give out temporary, expiring cards than permanent cards, since I assume they use the same technology (and the temporary ones would cause more churn, if anything). But that was the story at the time.
Also IIRC, relationship between Sony and JRE had soured few years ago and the fab in Japan that manufactured Suica cards was shut down. The contract went to Panasonic, but looks like Panasonic then sold off the smartcard unit to Nuvoton, and likely some security/nationalistic issues around that was the cause of the card supply issue.
There are really subtle cues to tell the model number(smartcards have model numbers!) and manufacturer of cards, most simply in tiny dent created by the cavity to hold the chip. Sony ones were circular and current cards are racetrack shaped.
Now QR code payment seems to be taking off in Japan, but unfortunately you can't access it as a tourist.
Similarly, it could also be implemented via a rolling payment hold loop. Unattended petrol stations do something similar: you first insert the card to authorize a hold (say $200), then fill up the car, then finalize the transaction - at which point your $50 bill is actually deducted and the hold on the remaining $150 is released. Transit could do the same, with only the very first transaction being slow, and each terminal containing a list of pre-authorized cards.
Want to buy a drink while waiting for your train? Just tap the same card. It’s magical and way faster than ApplePay or similar tech.
Sadly physical cards may only have a few years left, for the most part using tap-to-ride is superior. So I really have to get out there and grab them while I can.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/welcomesuica/welcomesuica....
https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/eki-train-stamps
Japan is, due to its history and culture, is very good at finding these kinds of nature inspired solutions to their somewhat hard problems in a very elegant way.
I really like them when they do that. This is why some of the Japanese wares look a bit unconventional but extremely delightful to use.
Anyway I love my Suica. I got it a good decade or more ago, I have a few thousand yen on there, and it's always ready for me when I go back to Japan. Useful on the Metro, trains and in shops. Easy to top up at the plentiful, dedicated top up machines. I also loaded Shinkansen tickets on it last time and travelled "ticketless".
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43993711
[2] working link since original blog is down https://web.archive.org/web/20250517082035/https://aruarian....
Remember when the system was designed in the early 2000s the Internet was much less available and reliable, and when so many transactions happen every day, you don't want to get thousands of passengers stuck inside a metro station only because some Wifi router was down.
This is basically a limitation of the CAP theorem, in these situations there's really no choice but to sacrifice "consistency" and settle for eventual consistency.
I think even credit card payments for transit also make that sacrifice. I had a weird experience using a Visa card to pay for a tram ride because they were promoting it and had a discount. The machine indicated success and let me through, but since I rarely used the card, somehow the payment didn't go through afterwards (the credit card was in a very weird state). If they insisted that all the payment transactions complete successfully for a transit payment, it would be too inconvenient and unreliable to use.
Remember originally credit card payments worked by putting the card under a slip of carbon-copy paper and rubbing off the raised digits. All the digital stuff ontop of that was just for efficiency.
But yeah, even settling up at the end of the day with those terminals is still way faster than settling up carbon copies via mail.
Fixed terminals (like at a train station) near-instantly upload it, movable terminals (like in a bus) have a bit of a delay and sometimes only upload when the bus arrives back at the depot. It is possible to add new travel products or balance from an app / website, but you have to visit a special "pick-up terminal" to update the card.
Can confirm that Suica shows the balance in Apple Wallet.
This is also put in use in many karaoke joints to save a list of your favorite songs/song history.
I was floored when I found out you could pay for stuff with my "Japanese MetroCard." It's quite a wonderful system.
This is not true. It also stores some history on where you have last entered so it can do things like transfers or block you from exiting an area that you never entered.
Was a bit shocked to find that I can just read my suica using my European Pixel. I had expected that part to be encrypted somehow.
What are y'all comparing it with?
I’ve tried to find videos online but they all seem… normal?
But it's really quite fast compared to more general balance card services like NFC/tap to pay, etc.
Brillant!
But there are two somewhat significant issues with the radio layer in this application: the geometry of tag antenna is somewhat critical (making it into a band would be problematic) and the back scatter is attenuated by salt water blobs (ie. people) almost perfectly.
Brillant!
AT&T showed this in television commercials back in the 1980's.
"Can you go through a toll booth without stopping? You will. And the company that will bring it to you is AT&T."
Lots of those things happened (maybe not faxing from the beach), but AT&T didn't bring us very many of them.
Imagine if you could pay with the Oyster card everywhere from Tesco to Greggs to National Rail to Uber
Actually you can find some small family shops, restaurants etc where they don't accept credit cards but Suica only
The regular Suica app is separate and is not English-friendly (this may be worth it for you only if you’re staying long term, ok with the language barrier, and want a card that doesn’t expire).
If you break down by age demographic, you'll probably guess who's using what. And the ones using cash are quickly disappearing.
And let's say it wasn't, and if cash was still king: 10% of Japan's payments infra being weaponized during tariff negotiations would still be a huge dent to their economy. The country had been migrating over heavily, but Trump 2 actions put the brakes on a lot of EMV rollout.
PayPay is an evolution/merge of Line Pay (long story), which struggled to capture market share in Japan past peer-to-peer payments, due to a bunch of factors. You'll see it in stores, of course, but it's adoption isn't amazing (not bad, just not amazing). Suica benefits from FeliCa/NFC-F lock-in, and considerable existing deployment, plus integration with the rail network. Almost everyone in Japan has a FeliCa/NFC-F device with currency loaded.
FWIW I am an American, but I am working on payments infrastructure and billing for a American owned subsidiary of a Japanese corporation. This happens to be a subject that I am wading into on a daily basis, at least from a technical side.
Oh, and you might be interested to hear what's happening in the UK with OysterCard. They recently finished their EMV rollout and then paused all OysterCard sunset timelines. I wonder why.
Credit to the Suica folk and Apple folk for making it seamless.
As for the speed.. idk I think it's about as quick as the Oyster card. Phone payments have a bunch of extra latency on TfL too.