Want a souvenir of your Japan trip to take home with you? Good news: you’ll be able to buy a physical transportation card in Japan’s Kanto region again after a long dry spell.
The Suica and PASMO IC transportation cards are iconic symbols of eastern Japan’s extensive and convenient transportation network. Built using the home-grown FeliCa IC technology, the cards are good for area trains, buses, and taxis. You can also use them as a form of cashless payment at over two million locations across Japan.
However, due to a chip shortage, both JR East and PASMO Corporation have limited the sale of physical cards. In 2023, both announced they had suspended the sale of so-called “anonymous” cards – cards you can get from a vending machine without any identification of ownership printed on them.
Suica still sold its Welcome Suica card for tourists. And both companies’ cards can easily be used virtually on an iPhone, which built support for Felica into all its models years ago. (Unfortunately, only Android devices that have enabled support for the FeliCa standard – typically, phones sold in Japan and other Asian markets that use FeliCa – can use virtual IC cards.)
Now, however, local media reports that both companies have deemed the crisis past and they’ll start selling anonymous Suica and PASMO cards once again. Sales will re-commence on March 1st. Both companies resumed selling physical cards with personal information attached in September 2024.
Besides being a nice souvenir, a physical Suica card is a better option for repeat travelers, as the card essentially has no expiration date if you keep using it. By contrast, a Welcome Suica card is only valid for 180 days.
Whither the IC transportation card?
While the IC transportation cards remain popular, their influence seems to be waning in recent years. Both Suica and PASMO can be used nationwide on transportation systems that support the national IC card network. However, cities like Kumamoto have opted out of the network, claiming that it’s too expensive.
To keep up with changing times, JR East and other companies across Japan are experimenting with support for credit card touchless payments. Additionally, JR East is planning numerous changes to Suica that will make it competitive with other cashless payment options that are popular in Japan, like PayPay. The company is even planning support for a subscription service.
It’s conceivable that IC cards could become less relevant or ubiquitous than they currently are. For now, however, they remain a fun symbol of one of the world’s most convenient transit networks.
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