Transit IC card: do you need one

A transit IC card pays fares from a prepaid balance. Its main advantage is avoiding a new destination ticket each time you travel across different operators. That convenience may matter more than a few yen saved on ordinary fares. For only a few journeys, or routes fully covered by a suitable pass, compare paper tickets or the pass as well. An IC card alone does not include an airport limited-express reserved seat or a Shinkansen ticket.

Choose physical card or phone first. With a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch and an accepted payment card, you can create Suica or PASMO in Apple Wallet. For Android, check Mobile PASMO’s official device list and Osaifu-Keitai requirements. A physical card is simpler if device compatibility or top-up payment is uncertain. For a visit within 28 days, compare deposit-free Welcome Suica and TOURIST PASMO; for longer or repeat trips, consider regular Suica or PASMO. The separate Welcome Suica Mobile app has its own device, age and 180-day conditions in its own section.

A bank card has three separate possible roles: paying to buy a physical IC card, funding a Wallet top-up, or tapping directly at a gate. These are not interchangeable. Participating Metro and Toei gates support bank-card travel, but JR East does not. Check the operator and accepted card before relying on direct bank-card tapping across a journey.

Welcome Suica Mobile is separate from regular Suica or PASMO in Wallet. It works on supported iPhones and Apple Watches, is for ages 13 and over, lasts 180 days and has no deposit or ordinary balance refund. Check the supported devices and try to install the app before travel. Some countries restrict downloading, setup or top-up, so you may need to wait until you arrive in Japan to issue and fund the card. If the app is unavailable to you, choose a physical card at the airport.

Welcome Suica machines are at Narita Terminal 1 and Terminal 2·3 stations, and Haneda Terminal 3’s Tokyo Monorail station. JR EAST Travel Service Centers also sell it at those airports and city stations including Shinjuku, Tokyo and Shibuya. There is no deposit: the purchase amount becomes usable balance. Validity includes the purchase day and lasts 28 days. Keep the reference paper showing its expiry; bring the child’s passport or other age ID when buying a child card.

If taking Keikyu from Haneda, TOURIST PASMO is sold by traveller machines at Terminal 1·2 and Terminal 3 stations; Terminal 3 also has the information centre beside the gates on the 2F arrivals level. At Narita, Keisei information centres sell the ¥2,000 version. Haneda offers specified amounts from ¥1,000 to ¥10,000, with credit-card payment accepted for initial purchase at the designated machines. This is a 28-day card without a deposit or ordinary balance refund. Initial card payment and later cash top-ups are separate questions.

Buy regular Suica at JR East multifunction machines, Midori counters or an operator-assisted ticket machine. Not every reserved-seat machine sells the regular card. Adult purchase amounts are ¥1,000, ¥2,000, ¥3,000, ¥4,000, ¥5,000 or ¥10,000, including the ¥500 deposit. Credit cards other than VIEW cards are not accepted for this purchase, so cash is a straightforward option. Child cards are registered products requiring age identification at a counter or through operator assistance.

Regular PASMO is sold at participating rail and bus operators’ machines or counters. Adult cards can be blank or registered in your name; child cards require identity and age checks. There is a ¥500 deposit, and ordinary purchases do not accept credit cards, so bring yen cash. Top up with cash at compatible machines and other supported locations, up to a ¥20,000 balance. A lost blank card cannot be reissued; registered cards have a separate replacement procedure. Regular PASMO and TOURIST PASMO have different deposit and refund rules.

A ¥2,000 regular Suica or PASMO purchase leaves ¥1,500 to spend after the ¥500 deposit. On a deposit-free visitor card, a ¥2,000 load is all usable balance. Each traveller needs a separate fare card, with the appropriate child card for child fares. If you want less money left at departure, top up gradually for the journeys ahead rather than loading a large sum at the start.

Use the same card at entry and exit. If the exit gate reports insufficient balance, go to a fare-adjustment or top-up machine. At a compatible machine, choose a language, insert or place the card, select CHARGE and an amount, then insert yen cash. Collect the card and receipt before returning to the gate. If the card will not read or a previous gate transaction is incomplete, ask station staff. Ordinary cash top-ups for physical Suica or PASMO are separate from specialist methods such as VIEW-card charging.

Welcome Suica can also be topped up at a Seven Bank ATM: select e-money charging, place the card, choose the amount and insert yen notes. In Apple Wallet, open Suica or PASMO, choose Add Money, select an amount and payment card, then authenticate. If a phone top-up is declined, check another supported payment method or a compatible cash top-up option. Do not assume an ordinary physical-card machine accepts a credit card for reloading.

Suica and PASMO work on participating transport and at accepting shops, but they do not cover uninterrupted travel across every IC area in Japan. Buy a ticket before a journey crossing separate JR East IC areas. Limited-express and Green Car travel require the appropriate additional tickets. Tokyo Subway Ticket covers Metro and Toei, not JR’s Yamanote Line. Match the actual lines and coverage before counting how many rides you will take.

For a day returning between Tokyo M17 and Shinjuku M08 on the Marunouchi Line, the April 2026 table gives ¥209 each way by IC: ¥418 in total, against ¥420 for two paper tickets. Those two journeys alone cost less than either the ¥700 Metro-only 24-hour ticket or the ¥1,000 traveller Tokyo Subway 24-hour ticket. Add the actual further journeys before comparing a busier day. The Metro-only ticket excludes Toei; the traveller ticket includes Metro and Toei but excludes JR and has its own purchase eligibility.

Return a regular physical Suica through JR East’s procedure, or a regular physical PASMO through a PASMO operator. Both return the ¥500 deposit plus unused value after a fee of up to ¥220 from the balance. With ¥1,000 left, that is ¥1,000−¥220+¥500=¥1,280. If the balance is below the fee, only that balance is taken and the deposit is returned. Welcome Suica and TOURIST PASMO do not ordinarily refund unused value; use small final purchases at accepting shops or avoid overloading them.

Phone-card refunds differ from returning plastic. Apple Pay Suica uses its app or member procedure and a designated bank account for stored-value refunds, with a stated wait of about two weeks to one month. For Apple Pay PASMO, ordinary stored-value refunds require app membership and a Japanese domestic bank account, with a ¥210 fee and about two to four weeks. Commuter-pass refunds to the original payment card follow separate rules. Do not plan on an immediate cash refund at a station; keep the balance small if you cannot meet the refund requirements. Lost and faulty cards have their own procedures.

The comparison uses JR East and Tokyo Metro ordinary fares for IC versus paper tickets. It excludes interoperator through tickets, special sections, passes, limited-express supplements and buses. Match the lines and sections you will use before judging a pass by ride count alone.