Suica and Getting Around Japan: IC Cards, Airport Trains and the JR Pass Maths

By Sachi, in NagoyaWritten from what we bought, booked and ate ourselves

I have had Suica on my phone for years, and I pay for almost everything with it.

Get the card before you need it

iPhone 8 or newer. Wallet → + → Transit Card → Suica. Load it with a card. If you do this at home before the trip, you can walk off the plane and straight through a ticket gate. It takes ten minutes, and almost nobody does it in advance.

Android bought outside Japan. Almost none have the FeliCa chip Japanese transit needs, so the phone route is closed. Buy a physical Welcome Suica instead, from vending machines at Narita Terminals 1 and 2·3, Haneda Terminal 3, or a JR EAST Travel Service Center. No deposit, load ¥1,000–10,000 at purchase, top up anywhere.

Airport to the city

From Narita:

• Keisei Limited Express: ¥1,030 , about 70 minutes to Ueno. The value choice, and an ordinary commuter train
• Keisei Skyliner: ¥2,570 , 41 minutes to Ueno. Reserved seat, luggage space
• Narita Express: ¥3,070 , about 55 minutes, but it runs to Shinjuku and Shibuya directly
• Taxi: ¥20,000–25,000 . Do not

From Haneda, which is much closer to the city:

• Keikyu line: ¥300–600 , 14 minutes to Shinagawa
• Monorail: ¥500 , 18 minutes to Hamamatsuchō
• Both take Suica. Just tap

The Skyliner and Narita Express are both cheaper booked in advance than at the airport counter. Klook discounts them and gives you a QR code, so you also skip the queue at 06:00 with your luggage. For the Keisei Limited Express and the Haneda trains there is nothing to book: tap in with your IC card.

The JR Pass question, answered honestly

Since the price rise it is ¥50,000 for 7 days, ¥80,000 for 14, ¥100,000 for 21. The green car version is ¥70,000 for a week.

Now the maths. A Tokyo–Kyoto shinkansen is ¥13,970 each way, ¥27,940 return. That is the trip most first-time visitors take, and it is ¥22,000 cheaper than the pass.

The pass only starts winning when you add real distance: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and back, or a Hokkaido leg. Add up the individual fares for the long-distance trains you really plan to take. If the total is under ¥50,000, buy tickets as you go, and you keep the freedom to change your route.

TSŪ INFORMATION
what Japanese connoisseurs know

In Japan, Suica is for paying small amounts, not only for trains. Convenience stores, vending machines, coin lockers, most chain restaurants, a lot of taxis. I take the physical card out of my pocket maybe twice a week. Another thing visitors often do not know: the regional cards are interchangeable. Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, manaca, SUGOCA: they look different and they are issued by different companies, but one card works on trains and buses in nearly every city in Japan. You do not need a second card for Osaka. Buy one and keep it topped up.

Notes from a local

• Welcome Suica dies 28 days after your first tap, and the leftover balance is gone. No refund, no exception. Load in small amounts near the end of a trip
• Suica in Apple Wallet has no expiry and keeps its balance for your next trip. Another reason to use the phone if you can
• The shinkansen is not fully covered by tapping. Local and city trains, yes. Bullet trains still want a ticket; buy at the machine or counter
• Cash still tops up the card. Machines take ¥1,000 notes and coins; many do not take foreign credit cards

More from us: this is one step of the full order of preparation. Sort out getting online first, and use your Suica to pay for coin lockers once you are here.

Once you have your transport sorted, the next question is where to sleep near the trains you will use: ten Tokyo hotels under ¥17,000 a night, with real prices (most of them on the Keikyu line to Haneda).