Japan IC Card Guide 2026: Suica, PASMO and How to Use One

Japan runs on tap-and-go. An IC card is a rechargeable plastic card, or a phone wallet entry that behaves like one, that you hold against a reader instead of buying a paper ticket. It pays for local trains, subways and municipal buses, and for spending beyond travel such as coin lockers, vending machines and convenience store tills. Ten different regional brands talk to each other. This Japan IC card guide covers which of those cards a visitor should actually buy in 2026, where the airport machines are, how topping up works in cash, and the four situations where the card quietly fails.

Key Takeaways

• Two visitor cards have no deposit: Welcome Suica and TOURIST PASMO. Both last 28 days and neither refunds a yen of leftover balance.
• A regular Suica or PASMO charges a 500 yen deposit, refundable at its own operator’s stations minus a 220 yen handling fee.
• Machines load 500 to 10,000 yen in cash, up to a 20,000 yen balance. Haneda’s traveller machines also take credit cards.
• The card will not pay for a shinkansen seat, and it will not take you from one IC region to the next in a single journey.
• On an iPhone, the mobile Welcome Suica lasts 180 days instead of 28 and removes the machine queue entirely.

Which IC card should you get in Japan?

An IC card is one of ten interoperable brands: Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, TOICA, manaca, Kitaca, SUGOCA, nimoca, PiTaPa and Hayakaken. A Suica bought in Tokyo will open the gates in Osaka and Fukuoka, so the brand matters far less than the terms attached to it. For a visitor the choice collapses into four options, and only two of them have a deposit.

Card	What it costs to start	How long it lasts	Deposit	Where you buy it
Welcome Suica	No deposit; you pick the load amount	28 days from purchase	None	JR East stations, and the Suica app
Welcome Suica Mobile	No deposit; balance capped at 20,000 yen	180 days from first charge	None	iPhone and Apple Watch, through the Suica app
TOURIST PASMO	1,000 to 10,000 yen, set at the machine	28 days from purchase	None	Haneda terminals 1, 2 and 3; Narita terminals 1 and 2
Suica (regular)	Your load plus 500 yen	Until you refund it	500 yen, returned at JR East stations minus a 220 yen fee	JR East stations nationwide
PASMO (regular)	Your load plus 500 yen	Until you refund it	500 yen, returned on refund minus a 220 yen fee	PASMO area stations
Visitor ICOCA	2,000 yen, of which 1,500 yen is usable	Sold as a fixed package	500 yen sits inside the 2,000 yen price	JR Ticket Office, Kansai Airport

Welcome Suica is the green penguin card JR East sells to overseas travellers. It has no deposit, expires 28 days after the machine prints it, takes a maximum balance of 20,000 yen, and gives no money back at the end (JR East Welcome Suica). TOURIST PASMO is the equivalent on the PASMO side, released in 2026 for overseas visitors. The deal matches Welcome Suica: no deposit, no refunds, 28 days of validity from the day you buy it, and no reissue if you lose it (TOURIST PASMO).

The regular cards are the sensible choice for a trip longer than a month, or for anyone who wants the deposit back. Both were withdrawn from sale during the semiconductor shortage. They went back on sale on 1 March 2025, so ticket machines in Tokyo, Osaka and beyond sell unregistered Suica and PASMO cards again without a waiting list (JR East and PASMO joint release).

Airport details decide more trips than the marketing does. At Haneda, TOURIST PASMO comes from the traveller ticket machines at the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 gates. Terminal 3 sells it through the Keikyu Tourist Information Centre and the machine beside it. Those machines take credit cards and sell 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and 10,000 yen versions (purchase points). At Narita, the Keisei SKYLINER and KEISEI INFORMATION CENTRES in terminals 1 and 2 sell TOURIST PASMO too, but only the 2,000 yen card. If you land at Narita and want a 5,000 yen card in your hand, buy a regular Suica or PASMO from the station machines instead.

Land in Kansai instead? JR West sells a visitor ICOCA at the JR Ticket Office inside Kansai Airport Station, priced at 2,000 yen and sold to temporary visitors with a passport, one card each (JR West ICOCA for visitors).

In short: trip under a month, buy a Welcome Suica or TOURIST PASMO at the airport. Trip longer than a month, or a repeat visit, buy a regular Suica or PASMO and take the 500 yen back when you leave. Starting in Kansai, take the visitor ICOCA. Travelling with an iPhone and no interest in ticket machines, skip the plastic and use the phone option described further down.

How do you buy and top up an IC card?

Buying takes about two minutes. Find the ticket machines inside the station, look for the Suica or PASMO branding on the screen, and press the English button before you touch anything else. The machine asks for a load amount, takes your cash, and prints the card with the balance already on it. Regular unregistered cards need no passport, because the sale is anonymous. The visitor cards are different: TOURIST PASMO and visitor ICOCA are sold only against a passport carrying a temporary visitor stamp, and only one card per person.

IC gates and a fare adjustment sign at Tokyo Station. Walk up to any lane with the blue IC mark and tap through.

Topping up is the same machine, or any machine carrying the same brand. Station machines load fixed amounts in cash, typically 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 or 10,000 yen, and refuse any charge that would push the balance past 20,000 yen (JR East Suica). Insert the card first, then the notes, then press the green button: the order matters more than the language setting. Convenience stores and many shops top the card up as well, usually at the till while you are buying something else.

Buses have their own rule. A driver will top up a card in 1,000 yen steps using 1,000 yen notes only, and the machine refuses the transaction if the balance would rise above 10,001 yen. That is worth knowing on a day when you have already used the card for a morning train and have no station machine in sight.

Charge and fare adjustment machines. The fare adjustment machine is the one to use when the exit gate beeps at you.

The exit gate is where a low balance bites. If the card cannot cover the fare you just rode, the gate blocks you and the screen points at the fare adjustment machine nearby. That machine takes the card, shows the shortfall, takes cash for the difference, and returns a card with enough on it to leave. On a bus, the driver does the same job by hand. Keep a 1,000 yen buffer on the card and you will never meet that machine in a hurry.

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Where does an IC card work, and where does it fail?

The card covers local and rapid JR trains, private railways, subways, municipal buses, the Tokyo Monorail, the Keikyu lines into Haneda, city trams, coin lockers, vending machines, convenience store tills and a growing list of shops and restaurants. JR East lists the regions where a Suica opens gates: the Tokyo metropolitan area plus Sendai, Niigata, Aomori, Morioka, Akita, Hokkaido, Tokai, West Japan, Kyushu and Okinawa (valid areas).

Four failure modes catch people out.

Shinkansen and limited express trains. Reserved seats on the bullet train go through smartEX, EkiNet or a ticket window, not through a tap. JR East’s handling rules allow an IC balance on only a short list of designated shinkansen sections, and forbid boarding most limited express trains with one at all (handling rules, article 24). For a Tokyo to Kyoto leg, buy the ticket or use a pass, and save the IC card for the subway at each end. Our Japan Rail Pass guide prices that comparison properly.

Region boundaries. Each card works inside its own IC region. JR East states it plainly: you cannot travel between areas on one IC journey. For example, a Tokyo to Sendai run on a Suica is not possible and a ticket is required instead. The same rule stops a Suica at Odawara in the Suica area from paying through to Numazu in the TOICA area. Long hops between regions need a ticket, and the card resumes work at the other end.

Two cards, one ride. The handling rules forbid using more than one IC card on a single journey, and forbid combining an IC card with another ticket except in the listed cases. If you hold a Japan Rail Pass, enter the JR gates with the pass and do not tap the card at the same gate. Use the card for the subway after you leave the JR network, which is most of what a 7-day Japan itinerary spends money on.

Cash-only corners. Some rural buses, small private lines and market stalls still run on cash alone, and temple counters rarely take a card. Carry 5,000 to 10,000 yen alongside the IC card and the Japan trip cost breakdown shows how little of a daily budget that actually is.

The tap itself. Hold the card flat on the reader until the gate beeps and the display turns green.

Airports deserve their own note. Keikyu and the Tokyo Monorail both take IC cards, so an airport run into central Tokyo does not need a separate ticket provided the card is loaded. What the airport cannot do is hand back a Welcome Suica or a TOURIST PASMO, because neither card refunds a yen. A regular Suica is refunded only at JR East stations that handle refunds, so the last of the balance is better spent at the airport shops than left sitting on the card.

The same card works at the vending machine. Look for the interoperable IC marks on the payment panel.

Money left on a deposit-free card is money spent. A Welcome Suica abandoned with 1,800 yen on it and a TOURIST PASMO abandoned with 2,500 yen cost 4,300 yen, which is a night’s casual dinner in Osaka or two days of station lunches. Consider the last two days of a trip as spending-down time: convenience store breakfasts, a coin locker, a vending machine drink, a souvenir till. On a regular card the arithmetic is cleaner. Refund it at a JR East station machine before you fly, get the 500 yen deposit back minus the 220 yen handling fee, and walk away with cash instead of plastic. Neither tourist card offers that choice.

Should you use your phone instead of a plastic card?

If you carry an iPhone, the answer is usually yes. Welcome Suica Mobile sits inside the Suica app, needs an Apple ID in your own name, is open to anyone aged 13 or over, and lives in Apple Pay like any other card (terms of use). It carries no deposit, takes a balance up to 20,000 yen, refunds nothing, and lasts 180 days from the first charge rather than the 28 days the plastic card gives you. For a month-long trip, that difference alone decides it. Setup takes five minutes in the app before you fly, and it removes the queue at the ticket machine entirely.

Android is a different story. Mobile PASMO runs on Android devices sold in Japan, and the PASMO side states that phones bought outside Japan cannot add a mobile PASMO. JR East announced in April 2026 that Welcome Suica Mobile would reach Samsung Galaxy phones sold overseas in the first half of 2027 (JR East and Samsung release), which is good news eventually and useless for a trip this year. If you arrive with an overseas Android phone, buy the plastic card.

One practical warning applies to both. A phone with a flat battery cannot tap, and a dead phone on a long travel day between Tokyo and Kyoto leaves you at the gate with a train to catch. Keep a plastic card as a backup, or enough cash for a single paper ticket, and check the balance before you leave the hotel rather than at the platform. For the rest of a Japan trip, from street food money to temple entries, the card or the phone does most of the work and the cash rarely comes out.

How this page is checked: fares, deposit rules, validity periods and airport purchase points in this guide were fact-checked against the linked JR East, PASMO and JR West pages in October 2026. The about page explains the editorial standards behind this site, and the contact page takes corrections.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an IC card if I have a Japan Rail Pass?

You still want one. A Japan Rail Pass covers JR trains only, so subways, municipal buses, private railways, coin lockers and shop tills all need either an IC card or cash. Enter the gates with the pass on JR legs and do not tap an IC card at the same gate: the rules forbid using two cards or combining an IC card with another ticket on one journey.

Can I get the money back on an IC card before I leave Japan?

Only on a regular Suica or PASMO, and only where refunds are handled. Both return the 500 yen deposit and the remaining balance minus a 220 yen handling fee, at JR East stations for a Suica and at PASMO stations for a PASMO. Welcome Suica and TOURIST PASMO carry no deposit and no refunds at all, so spend the balance down before you fly.

How much money should I load on an IC card?

Start with 2,000 to 3,000 yen for a day of city travel, which covers a few subway hops, a bus ride and a konbini purchase. Station machines load 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 yen in cash, and the card cannot hold more than 20,000 yen.

Can I use Suica or PASMO on my phone instead of a plastic card?

Yes on an iPhone or Apple Watch. Welcome Suica Mobile lives in the Suica app, needs an Apple ID in your own name, is valid 180 days from the first charge and holds up to 20,000 yen with no refunds. On Android, mobile PASMO works on Japanese-bought devices, while phones bought abroad generally do not support it.

Where can I buy an IC card at the airport?

At Haneda, TOURIST PASMO is sold from the traveller ticket machines at the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 gates, and at Terminal 3 through the Keikyu Tourist Information Centre and the machine beside it; those machines accept credit cards. At Narita, the Keisei SKYLINER and KEISEI INFORMATION CENTRES in terminals 1 and 2 sell TOURIST PASMO, but only the 2,000 yen version. Regular Suica machines sit at both airports on the rail lines that serve them.

Can I use an IC card on the shinkansen?

Not as a simple tap. Reserved shinkansen seats are bought through smartEX, EkiNet or a ticket window, and JR East's own handling rules allow an IC balance on only a short list of designated sections. For long intercity legs, buy a ticket or a pass, and keep the IC card for local trains, buses and shops.

Useful links (8)

1. Suica, JR East— jreast.co.jp
2. Resumption of sales of unregistered Suica and PASMO cards, JR East and PASMO press release— jreast.co.jp
3. Welcome Suica mobile, terms of use, JR East— jreast.co.jp
4. Partnership between Welcome Suica Mobile, Mobile Suica and Samsung, JR East— jreast.co.jp
5. IC Card Ticket Handling Rules, JR East— jreast.co.jp
6. Use TOURIST PASMO, PASMO— pasmo.co.jp
7. Rules for Using PASMO, PASMO— pasmo.co.jp
8. ICOCA for visitors, JR West— westjr.co.jp

Photo credits

Thank you to Ravi Dwivedi for sharing this beautiful photograph and helping bring this guide to life.

Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0