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

A local girl in Nagoya — the card in my phone has not left my pocket in years, and it pays for almost everything.

Get the card before you need it

iPhone 8 or newer. Wallet → + → Transit Card → Suica. Load it with a card. Do this at home, on your sofa, and you will walk off the plane and straight through a ticket gate. This is the best ten minutes of preparation available for a Japan trip 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 — 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 hands you a QR code, which also saves you queueing 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 actually 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 genuinely intend to take. If the total is under ¥50,000, buy tickets as you go — and enjoy the flexibility of not having your route decided in advance.

TSŪ INFORMATION
what Japanese connoisseurs know

Suica is not a train ticket — it is how this country pays for small things. Convenience stores, vending machines, coin lockers, most chain restaurants, a lot of taxis. My own card leaves my pocket perhaps twice a week. The second thing visitors do not realise: 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, top it up, stop thinking about it.

Honest notes

• 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.