FeliCa (or called NFC Type-F) is so great and the fact that it's dominant in Japan even made Apple to include FeliCa support on global iPhones!
Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
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Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#32If 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.
+1 you can walk through the subway turnstile and not slow down.
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...
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#33If 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.
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.
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#34It'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.
Cringe. Cards are fun, collectable, and never run out of battery. Mine is a custom limited edition card from a Japanese chocolate factory. https://matcha-jp.com/en/9482
Suica cards (and transit express payments in other regions) work after iPhone batteries die for a few hours.
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#35Huge 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.
https://japantravel.navitime.com/en/
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.
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#36There 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.
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#37Sad 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. 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 a…
Nooo the penguin is the best part of suica!
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#38The 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.
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#39If 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.
The card might be fast but getting one as a tourist is kind of a hassle
Re: Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
#40Huge 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.
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