For almost every visitor in 2026 the answer is a Suica in your phone, not a plastic card. iPhone users add one to Apple Wallet in about two minutes and top it up with the same card they use for everything else. Travelers on a non-Japanese Android still need a physical Welcome Suica from the airport. Either way, one tap covers trains, subways, buses, convenience stores and coin lockers across the country.
The short answer
Put a Mobile Suica in your iPhone's Apple Wallet before you fly and top it up through Apple Pay. That's the fastest setup: no ¥500 deposit, no airport queue, ¥1,000 to start. Android is the catch — Suica needs Osaifu-Keitai (FeliCa) hardware and Android 9 or later, which in practice means a handset sold in Japan. Everyone else grabs a plastic Welcome Suica or Tourist Pasmo at the airport. Pasmo and Suica do the identical job.
Suica on iPhone: the 2-minute setup
Open Wallet, tap the plus button, choose Transit Card, then Suica, and load at least ¥1,000 — JR East sets that minimum on a new card, but there is no ¥500 deposit like the plastic version. Top-ups run off whatever card you have registered in Apple Pay: no Japanese bank, no Suica app account, no registration needed to ride. Apple Watch works too. Do it at home on Wi-Fi and tap straight through the gates on arrival, including on the non-reserved airport runs in our Narita and Haneda transfer guide.
Welcome Suica Mobile: the new tourist card (2026)
Launched by JR East on 6 March 2025, Welcome Suica Mobile is a free, iPhone-only tourist Suica: no deposit, 180 days of validity against 28 for the plastic card, and you issue it in the app instead of queuing at a counter. It also books Shinkansen and limited express reserved seats plus Suica Green Car tickets. It needs an Apple Pay-capable iPhone; there is no Android version. The balance is never refunded, so spend it down.
Android & physical cards: what's actually available
Mobile Suica needs Osaifu-Keitai (FeliCa) hardware, which overseas Android phones almost never have — JR East and Samsung have only announced Suica on overseas Galaxy handsets for the first half of 2027. Until then, Android means plastic. Welcome Suica is sold at the machines in Narita and Narita Terminal 2 stations and Haneda Terminal 3, and at JR EAST Travel Service Centers: no deposit, 28 days, ¥1,000 to ¥10,000 loaded, and the balance is never refunded, whatever is left on day 29. Tourist Pasmo, live since 20 May 2026 at the Keikyu and Keisei airport stations, matches those terms; Pasmo Passport, the old tourist card, was already withdrawn in October 2024. Plain unregistered Suica and Pasmo returned on 1 March 2025 after the chip shortage, at a ¥500 deposit plus whatever you load.
Recharging with a foreign card
Two different realities. In Apple Wallet you top up through Apple Pay in seconds, anywhere, with the card already in your phone. Plastic cards are cash in practice: station ticket and fare-adjustment machines take ¥500, ¥1,000, ¥2,000, ¥3,000, ¥5,000 or ¥10,000, and Seven Bank ATMs at 7-Eleven plus some convenience store registers do the same. Every IC card, plastic or mobile, stops at a ¥20,000 balance. One caveat JR East does not document: some foreign-issued Visa cards are refused at the Apple Pay top-up step, so keep a second card in Wallet.
| Option | Device | Deposit | Validity | Foreign-card recharge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Suica / Pasmo | iPhone (any region) | ¥0 | Ongoing | Yes (Apple Pay) |
| Welcome Suica Mobile | iPhone XR+ only | ¥0 | 180 days | Yes (Apple Pay) |
| Physical Welcome Suica | Plastic card | ¥0 | 28 days | No (cash) |
| Tourist Pasmo | Plastic card | ¥0 | 28 days | No (cash) |
| Plain Suica / Pasmo | Plastic card | ¥500 (refundable) | Ongoing | No (cash) |
Where IC cards work beyond trains
An IC balance is basically a tap-to-pay wallet. It covers JR, subways and almost every city bus, plus convenience stores, vending machines, coin lockers, many taxis and a lot of casual restaurants. Thanks to nationwide interoperability, a Suica bought in Tokyo works on transit in Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo and beyond. The few exceptions are some rural lines and local buses that still want cash, so keep a small balance and a few coins on hand. Getting in from Kansai Airport is the one leg to plan separately — the Haruka versus the airport bus.
Taxi acceptance matters most on departure day, when you may be paying for an airport run rather than a short hop: what a flat-fare cab to Haneda or Narita actually costs is broken down ward by ward in our departure-day guide.
IC card vs single tickets vs a rail pass
Use an IC card for everything local — city subways, buses and short JR hops. Since the JR East fare revision of 14 March 2026 the IC fare is never higher than the paper fare and is usually a few yen lower: the shortest Tokyo-area hop is ¥155 by IC against ¥160 on a paper ticket. An IC card is not a substitute for long-distance value, though: for the Shinkansen and intercity runs you either pay per trip or weigh a regional pass. Our regional JR Pass matrix shows exactly when that math works. Most trips use an IC card daily and a pass only sometimes.
Frequently asked questions
Suica or Pasmo — does it matter?
No. They are issued by different companies but share one nationwide system, so either works on the same trains, buses and shops. Pick whichever your phone or the nearest machine offers. The only practical tie-breaker is your phone: add Mobile Suica on iPhone, since it's the smoother of the two in Apple Wallet.
Can I get a refund before I leave?
Only on the plain plastic ones. Hand a regular Suica back at a JR East ticket office (a Pasmo at its issuing operator) and you get the ¥500 deposit returned; a ¥220 handling fee comes out of whatever balance is left, and if the balance is smaller than the fee you still get the ¥500. Welcome Suica, Welcome Suica Mobile and Tourist Pasmo are non-refundable by design, so run those balances down before you fly.
Do my kids need their own cards?
Yes, if they're aged 6 to 11 and you want the child fare, which is roughly half. Children's IC cards exist but usually require registration at a station office with proof of age, so many families simply buy child paper tickets for the few train rides involved. Under-6s travel free and need nothing.
Does my Tokyo Suica work in Osaka and Kyoto?
Yes. Interoperability means a Suica works on trains, subways and most buses in Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuoka and the rest, plus convenience stores nationwide, so you do not need a separate Icoca. One official limit: you cannot ride continuously across two IC areas on a single tap — a trip that crosses from the Tokyo area into another area has to be split or ticketed. JR East is merging its six Suica areas (Tokyo, Sendai, Niigata, Aomori, Morioka, Akita) by the end of its 2026 financial year, around spring 2027, which removes that limit inside JR East. A few rural lines stay cash-only.
Are plastic Suica and Pasmo cards actually back in stock?
Yes. JR East and the Pasmo operators resumed selling unregistered Suica, Rinkai Suica and Pasmo on 1 March 2025, ending the chip-shortage freeze that began in 2023. A new card costs whatever you load plus a ¥500 refundable deposit, and the balance caps at ¥20,000. For a short trip the tourist versions are still the faster grab: Welcome Suica and Tourist Pasmo skip the deposit and the paperwork entirely.
Can I ride the Green Car with a Suica on my iPhone?
On JR East ordinary trains — Tokaido, Yokosuka, Sobu Rapid, Utsunomiya, Takasaki, Joban and the Chuo Line Rapid — the double-decker Green Car needs a separate Green ticket on top of your fare. The Suica rate is ¥750 up to 50 km, ¥1,000 up to 100 km and ¥1,550 beyond; buy it on paper or from the attendant on board and it is ¥1,010, ¥1,260 and ¥1,810. Welcome Suica Mobile sells Suica Green tickets inside the app. With a plastic Welcome Suica or Suica, buy at the green-ticket machine on the platform and tap the card on the ceiling reader above your seat. For a plain Apple Wallet Suica without the Japanese Mobile Suica app, JR East documents no English purchase route — issue a Welcome Suica Mobile instead.
What is teppay, and does it matter to me?
Almost certainly not. teppay is a QR code payment layer JR East is adding inside the Mobile Suica app from autumn 2026, and inside Mobile Pasmo in spring 2027, mainly so Japanese users can pay above the ¥20,000 IC ceiling and pass balance to each other. It lives in the Japanese Mobile Suica and Mobile Pasmo apps and accounts; JR East has not said it will work on a Welcome Suica or a plain Apple Wallet Suica. On a two-week trip it changes nothing.
