Suica Card: How to Get One and Get Around Japan
TripToJapan.com Editorial Team
May 27, 2026
TripToJapan.com Editorial Team
There is a moment at every Japanese ticket machine where a first-time visitor stands staring at a fare map covered in kanji and numbers, working out which button buys the right ticket. You can skip that moment entirely. Tap a card on the gate, walk through, tap on the way out, and the correct fare comes off automatically. That card is a Suica, and getting one should be the first thing you do after clearing customs.
A Suica is a rechargeable IC card that works on almost every train, subway, and bus in Japan, and in convenience stores and vending machines too. A regular Suica costs ¥500 as a refundable deposit plus whatever you load. The tourist Welcome Suica needs no deposit, starts at ¥1,000, and is valid for 28 days.
Suica is JR East's contactless smart card, launched in 2001 and now accepted nationwide. It is one of ten mutually compatible IC cards in Japan, including Pasmo in Tokyo and ICOCA in Kansai, and they all work on each other's networks.
That compatibility matters. A Suica bought in Tokyo works on the Osaka subway, Kyoto buses, and a tram in Hiroshima. You do not need a different card for each region.
Beyond transport, you can pay with it at convenience stores, vending machines, station lockers, many restaurants, and a growing number of shops. It functions as a small stored-value wallet, capped at ¥20,000.
We'll build a costed, pre-planned Japan itinerary you can customise to your taste.
Regular Suica cards are sold from ticket machines and ticket offices at JR East stations across the Tokyo area. Supply was interrupted for a period by a semiconductor shortage, and cards are available again. A regular Suica carries a ¥500 deposit, refundable when you return the card, plus whatever you load onto it.
Welcome Suica is the version aimed at visitors and is usually the better choice. There is no deposit, so nothing to reclaim, and it is valid for 28 days from purchase.
You can buy a Welcome Suica at:
Dedicated machines at Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station and Terminal 2·3 Station
JR East Travel Service Center counters at both Narita stations
Haneda Airport Terminal 3
JR East Travel Service Centers at Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ueno and other major stations
The first purchase is for a fixed amount: ¥1,000, ¥2,000, ¥3,000, ¥4,000, ¥5,000, or ¥10,000. After that you top up in any amount.
The catch with Welcome Suica is that any remaining balance is not refundable when it expires, so load conservatively and top up as you go.
This is the best option if you have an iPhone or Apple Watch, and you can do it before you leave home.
Open Apple Wallet, tap the plus button, choose Transit Card, select Japan, and pick Suica. Load it with a credit card. No Japanese bank account or phone number is needed, and the card lives on your phone from that moment.
It works with Express Transit, so you do not need to unlock the phone or open an app at the gate. You just touch the phone to the reader.
Topping up happens in Wallet with your saved card. Some foreign credit cards are rejected, and Visa in particular has historically been unreliable for Suica top-ups, so having a Mastercard or Amex as backup is sensible.
JR East also launched a Welcome Suica Mobile app, which is iPhone and Apple Watch only and gives a 180-day validity rather than the physical card's 28 days.
Android users generally cannot add a Suica outside Japan, because it requires a Japanese-market handset with FeliCa. Android travelers should buy a physical card on arrival.
Touch the card flat to the reader panel at the gate, wait for the beep, and walk through. Do the same on the way out and the fare is deducted.
On buses, most systems have you tap on entry and again on exit. Some flat-fare city buses only require one tap.
If your balance is too low to cover the fare, the exit gate closes and you top up at a fare adjustment machine beside it. This is common and nobody minds.
You cannot use a Suica for Shinkansen travel on its own, and it does not work for long-distance limited express reserved seats. Those need separate tickets.
A regular Suica can be returned at a JR East ticket office for the ¥500 deposit plus the remaining balance, minus a ¥220 handling fee if there is money left on it. Return it with an empty balance and you get the full ¥500 back.
Welcome Suica cannot be refunded, and a mobile Suica in Apple Wallet has no deposit to reclaim.
If you are coming back to Japan, keep the card. Balances remain valid for ten years from last use.
Functionally identical for a visitor. Suica is JR East, Pasmo is the Tokyo private railways and subways, and ICOCA is JR West in Kansai. All three work everywhere the others do.
Buy whichever you find first. The only real distinction is that Pasmo Passport is the tourist version of Pasmo, with the same 28-day limit as Welcome Suica.
These solve different problems. An IC card handles local travel. The Japan Rail Pass covers long-distance Shinkansen journeys.
The nationwide pass costs ¥50,000 for seven days, ¥80,000 for fourteen, and ¥100,000 for twenty-one until 30 September 2026, rising to ¥53,000, ¥84,000, and ¥105,000 from 1 October 2026 at overseas sales agents.
It only pays off on long routes. A Tokyo to Kyoto return is about ¥28,000, so a seven-day pass needs more travel than that to break even. Regional passes covering Kansai, Hokuriku, or Kyushu are cheaper and frequently the better option. Our guide to the Japan Rail Pass runs the numbers properly.
Most first-time visitors doing Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka do not need a national pass. They need an IC card and two Shinkansen tickets.
Local buses fill the gaps trains do not reach, particularly in Kyoto, where the bus network carries more of the city than the subway does. IC cards work on almost all of them.
Highway buses are the budget long-distance option. Tokyo to Osaka overnight costs ¥5,000 to ¥9,000 against ¥14,000 by Shinkansen, and saves a hotel night. Seats recline properly on the better services, and three-across configurations with curtains are worth the extra.
Clean, safe, metered, and expensive. Flagfall is around ¥500 in Tokyo and a short crosstown trip runs ¥1,500 to ¥3,000. Doors open automatically, so do not touch them.
Drivers rarely speak English. Show the address in Japanese, ideally on a phone screen or a hotel card. Apps such as GO and Uber work in the major cities and remove the language problem entirely.
Taxis make sense late at night after the trains stop, which in most cities is around midnight.
Japanese cities are good for cycling and rentals cost ¥500 to ¥1,500 a day. Kyoto is flat and compact enough to cover entirely by bike, which beats its crowded buses.
Share systems operate in Tokyo and other cities with app registration. For a real ride, the Shimanami Kaido runs 70 kilometers across six islands between Honshu and Shikoku on dedicated paths, with one-way rental.
Ride on the left, use lights after dark, and do not cycle with an umbrella, which is technically illegal and widely ignored.
Unnecessary in the cities and genuinely useful in rural Hokkaido, Kyushu, the Noto Peninsula, and parts of Tohoku.
You need an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention alongside your home license. Drivers from Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Taiwan, Monaco, Estonia and Slovenia need a certified Japanese translation instead. Get it before you travel, because you cannot obtain one in Japan.
Japan drives on the left. Expressway tolls are high, roughly ¥10,000 from Tokyo to Osaka, and parking in cities is expensive and scarce. Rentals start around ¥6,000 a day.
Worth it for Hokkaido, Okinawa, and the far southwest, where the Shinkansen either does not reach or takes most of a day.
ANA and JAL both sell discounted domestic fares to foreign visitors holding an international ticket with them, often around ¥7,000 to ¥11,000 a sector, which undercuts the train on long routes. Peach, Jetstar Japan, and Skymark are the low-cost options.
Factor in airport transfer time. Tokyo to Osaka by air is not faster than the Shinkansen once you count Narita.
Ferries connect the main islands and the smaller ones, and overnight services between Osaka and Kyushu or Hokkaido include cabins. The Setouchi island ferries are essential for reaching Naoshima and Teshima.
Ropeways and cable cars are transport rather than attractions in places like Hakone, where the ropeway over Owakudani is part of the standard circuit. More on that route sits in our Hakone guide.
Do not talk on the phone. Set it to silent, which signage calls manner mode.
Queue at the marked positions on the platform and let people off before boarding.
Keep backpacks off your back in a crowded carriage, either held low or on the rack.
Priority seats near the doors are for elderly, disabled, pregnant, and injured passengers. Give them up without being asked.
Eating is fine on long-distance trains and Shinkansen, where ekiben boxed meals are part of the experience, and not on commuter trains.
For a standard first trip, the answer is simple. Get a Suica on your phone before you fly or a Welcome Suica at the airport, buy individual Shinkansen tickets for the long hops, and use the card for everything else.
Add a regional pass if you are spending several days in one area. Add a car only if you are heading somewhere rural. Add domestic flights only for Hokkaido or Okinawa.
More on the capital and its transport sits in our Tokyo transport overview.
For Kansai, our Osaka city guide covers the subway and the airport links.
Further west, Hiroshima and its trams run on the same IC cards, and getting around Hokkaido is where a rental car starts to make sense.
You can also browse multi-day trips if you would rather have the routing handled for you.
For what the whole thing costs, our Japan trip budget guide breaks down transport against the rest of the trip.
