“Should I get a Suica vs PASMO?” is one of the first questions Tokyo visitors ask — and the honest answer is that it barely matters: get whichever one you can buy first. Both are prepaid IC (integrated circuit) cards, they work identically across Tokyo’s trains, buses, and tens of thousands of shops, and they’re accepted interchangeably almost everywhere. Tap to enter a gate, tap to leave, and the right fare comes off automatically.

That said, a few real differences are worth ten minutes of your time before you land — how to buy each card in 2026 after the chip shortage, when a phone beats a plastic card, and which version (regular vs Welcome Suica) suits a short trip. If you’re still mapping out the bigger picture, our Tokyo transportation guide covers the whole network; this page zooms in on the card that gets you through the gates. We’ll also point you toward the smartest way to save money on transport along the way.

Suica vs PASMO at a Glance

If you only read one thing, read this table. Everything below it is detail.

	Suica	PASMO
Issued by	JR East (Japan Railways)	Consortium of Tokyo Metro, Toei & private rail/bus operators
Mascot	Penguin	Pink robot
Deposit	¥500 refundable	¥500 refundable
Tourist version	Welcome Suica (no deposit, 28-day expiry)	PASMO PASSPORT (no deposit, 28-day expiry)
On iPhone	Yes — Apple Wallet & Welcome Suica app	Yes — Apple Wallet
On overseas Android	Generally no (needs FeliCa)	Generally no (needs FeliCa)
Trains & buses in Tokyo	All of them	All of them
Shops, konbini, vending	Yes	Yes
Works in other cities	Yes (nationwide IC network)	Yes (nationwide IC network)
Max balance	¥20,000	¥20,000

Suica is JR East’s card. The name puns on suika (watermelon), it carries a penguin mascot, and it’s the brand most international visitors recognize. PASMO is run by a consortium of private railways and bus companies — Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway and dozens of others — its name comes from the older “PASSNET” magnetic system it replaced, and it wears a pink robot. Under the hood they share the same technology and the same nationwide agreements, which is why staff will shrug if you ask which is “better.” Either card lets you ride any train in Tokyo, ride any city bus, pay at 7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart and Ministop, buy a drink from a vending machine, open a coin locker, and tap through gates in Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Fukuoka or Sapporo.

Physical Cards vs Mobile IC Cards in 2026

The chip shortage, and where things stand now

From 2023, a global semiconductor shortage froze sales of unregistered (anonymous) physical cards, and for a while the only plastic on offer was the tourist versions. That’s largely over: by March 2025 standard physical card sales had resumed at most major stations, and through 2026 supply is steady at the big hubs. The lingering quirk is that some smaller suburban stations still ration anonymous cards, and JR East continues to steer first-time buyers toward mobile and tourist cards to keep stock flowing. Translation for a visitor: at Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ueno or either airport you’ll have no trouble; at a tiny station out in the suburbs, don’t count on buying a fresh card on the spot.

Where to buy a physical Suica: JR East ticket machines (the green ones) and staffed service counters at major stations — Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ueno, Ikebukuro and more. You pay a ¥500 refundable deposit plus an opening charge (¥1,000 is the sensible minimum).

Where to buy a physical PASMO: Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway and private-railway ticket machines and station offices, and it’s easy to grab at both Haneda and Narita via the airport rail operators. Same ¥500 deposit, same idea.

Welcome Suica and PASMO PASSPORT (the tourist cards)

Both brands sell a tourist-only card that skips the deposit in exchange for an expiry date. The Welcome Suica is sold at JR East Travel Service Centers at Narita, Haneda, Tokyo Station and Shinjuku. PASMO’s equivalent is the PASMO PASSPORT, sold at airport and Tokyo travel counters. They behave the same way:

• No deposit — you only pay for the balance you load
• 28-day life — the card dies 28 days after purchase, and any leftover balance is forfeited
• No refund — so load conservatively and top up as you go
• Souvenir design — the Welcome Suica’s cherry-blossom art is a keeper

The trade-off is simple. A regular card ties up ¥500 you have to queue to reclaim, but never expires (it stays valid for 10 years from last use, so it’s ready for your next trip). A tourist card skips the deposit and the goodbye-queue, but you lose whatever balance is left after 28 days. For a one-week visit where you’d rather not stand in a refund line on departure day, the tourist card usually wins.

Mobile Suica and Mobile PASMO

For most visitors, a card on your phone is the best version of all — nothing to buy, nothing to return, and you can top up from your hotel bed at midnight.

iPhone (Apple Wallet): Both Suica and PASMO add cleanly to Apple Wallet on any iPhone 8 or later. The Welcome Suica Mobile app (launched March 2025) is built for overseas visitors — English interface, works with a non-Japanese Apple ID, and takes foreign Visa/Mastercard/Amex. Set it up at the gate, on the plane, or before you leave home, load it with your normal card, and you can be tapping through the gate the minute you step off your flight. This is now the easiest route for the majority of travelers.

Android (Google Wallet): here’s the catch. Adding Suica or PASMO to an Android phone requires Osaifu-Keitai (FeliCa) hardware, a Japan-specific NFC chip that almost no phone sold outside Japan includes. In practice, most overseas Android users cannot run mobile Suica or PASMO and should plan on a physical card. If your Android was bought in Japan, or is a FeliCa-equipped Pixel model, you may be the exception — check your phone’s spec sheet for “FeliCa” before you rely on it.

How to Use Your IC Card

On trains

1. Entering: tap the blue IC reader at the gate; it opens and logs your start station
2. Exiting: tap again at your destination and the fare comes off automatically
3. Transfers: within one station complex, just walk to your next platform — no need to tap out and in. Between separate connected stations, you tap out and back in at each gate
4. Short on balance: if your card can’t cover the fare at the exit, use the fare adjustment machine (精算機, seisanki) by the gates to add money, then tap through

On buses

Most Tokyo city buses use a flat fare (¥210 for adults in the 23 wards): tap once as you board at the front door. Some suburban routes are distance-based, so you tap on boarding and on exiting. IC cards also work on airport limousine buses.

At konbini, vending machines and shops

• Convenience stores: 7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart, Ministop — all take IC cards
• Vending machines: most drink and snack machines have an IC reader on the front
• Coin lockers: station lockers increasingly take a card instead of a fistful of ¥100 coins (and let you retrieve bags with the same tap)
• Restaurants and chains: many fast-food outlets, cafés and retailers accept IC — look for the IC symbol at the register
• Supermarkets: Aeon, Ito-Yokado and Life all take it

Single purchases cap at ¥20,000. Just hold the card to the reader — no PIN, no signature. It’s genuinely faster than fishing out cash, which matters more than you’d think in a country that still loves coins. Watching your card balance also keeps a quiet running tally of small spending, which folds neatly into the bigger picture of transport costs for your trip.

How to Top Up (Recharge) Your Card

• Station machines: insert the card, pick an amount (¥1,000 / ¥2,000 / ¥3,000 / ¥5,000 / ¥10,000), feed in cash. Hit the “English” button first if you want
• Convenience stores: hand the cashier your card and cash and say “charge, please” — ¥1,000 to ¥10,000 at a time
• Mobile (iPhone): top up in the app with your credit card, anywhere, no machine — including mid-journey on the platform
• Ceiling: ¥20,000 maximum balance

One catch worth knowing: physical-card top-ups at machines and konbini are cash only — you can’t reload a plastic Suica with a foreign credit card. That alone is a strong argument for going mobile on iPhone, where every top-up is a card transaction.

How much to load? For a typical week in Tokyo riding daily, ¥5,000–¥7,000 for transport is a solid start. If the card will also cover konbini runs and vending machines, add another ¥3,000–¥5,000. Loading light and topping up beats overloading and losing it — especially on a tourist card with an expiry. Working all this into planning your trip early means you arrive knowing roughly what to load and never stall at a gate doing mental math.

Which Card Should a Tourist Actually Pick?

Skip the agonizing. Here’s the decision in four lines:

• iPhone user? Add Suica to Apple Wallet (or use the Welcome Suica app). Done before you land, nothing to return.
• Overseas Android user? Buy a physical card at the airport. Welcome Suica or PASMO PASSPORT if you want to skip the deposit; a regular card if you may return to Japan and want it to keep its balance.
• Short trip, hate queues? A tourist card (Welcome Suica / PASMO PASSPORT) — no deposit, no refund line on departure day.
• Coming back to Japan? A regular Suica or PASMO. The ¥500 deposit is annoying once, but the balance survives ten years for next time.

And to settle the title fight: between Suica and PASMO themselves, there is no meaningful tourist difference. Buy whichever the machine in front of you dispenses. The only choice that actually changes your trip is physical-versus-mobile and regular-versus-tourist — not the mascot.

IC Card vs Day Passes

An IC card isn’t always the cheapest option for a given day — Tokyo’s day passes can win when you ride a lot:

• Tokyo Metro 24-Hour Ticket (¥700): unlimited Tokyo Metro for 24 hours; pays off after about three rides. Doesn’t cover JR, Toei or private lines
• Tokyo Subway Ticket (¥1,000 / ¥1,500 / ¥2,000 for 24 / 48 / 72 hours): covers Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. Tourist-only, sold at the airports and select spots — outstanding value on heavy sightseeing days
• JR Tokyo Wide Pass (¥15,000 / 3 days): for day trips, covering JR in greater Tokyo including some shinkansen out to Karuizawa, GALA Yuzawa and Izu

Want the full breakdown? Our guide to the best Tokyo subway passes runs the break-even math on when each ticket beats tapping your IC card. And if you’re still untangling which line goes where, the Tokyo Metro guide explains the lines, color codes, and ticket gates.

Our recommendation: carry both. Keep an IC card as your default for simple hops and konbini, and add a day pass on days you’ll cross the city station to station. The tourist-only Tokyo Subway Ticket is the single best-value move for a packed sightseeing day.

Using Your Card Outside Tokyo (Regional Compatibility)

Thanks to Japan’s IC card interoperability agreement, your Tokyo Suica or PASMO works on local trains and buses far beyond the capital:

• Osaka / Kyoto / Kobe: JR West, Osaka Metro, Hankyu, Hanshin, Keihan and the rest
• Nagoya: JR Central, Nagoya Metro, Meitetsu
• Fukuoka: JR Kyushu, Fukuoka Metro, Nishitetsu
• Sapporo: JR Hokkaido, Sapporo Metro
• Hiroshima, Sendai and most other major cities

The one rule that trips people up: you can’t tap across regions in a single ride. Tapping in at a Tokyo station and trying to tap out in Osaka won’t work — intercity travel needs its own ticket (a shinkansen ticket, say). Within each city’s local network the card just works; it simply won’t bridge two networks on one journey. A handful of small rural lines also sit outside the IC system entirely, so in the deep countryside keep a little cash for paper tickets.

Common Problems and Quick Fixes

• Gate beeps red and shuts: usually low balance or you forgot to tap in. Step aside to the fare adjustment machine, top up, and try again — don’t backtrack through the crowd.
• “Card error” at the gate: you may have tapped too fast or held two IC cards (a second card in your wallet) over the reader at once. Take the card out of the wallet and tap it alone.
• Two cards in one wallet: readers get confused by stacked IC cards. Keep your transit card in its own slot, or tap the whole phone instead of plastic.
• Forgot to tap in: tell a station attendant at the window; they’ll sort the fare. Don’t try to force the exit gate.
• Balance vanished after a tourist-card expiry: there’s no recovery on Welcome Suica / PASSPORT after 28 days — this is by design, which is why we say load light.

Refunds and Getting Your Deposit Back

On your way out of Japan, you can return a physical card to reclaim the ¥500 deposit:

• Suica: any JR East ticket office (Midori no Madoguchi). You get the deposit back plus any remaining balance, minus a ¥220 handling fee if there’s leftover balance (spend it down first and you keep the full ¥500)
• PASMO: any PASMO-member railway or bus service counter
• At the airport: both Narita and Haneda have JR East counters that take Suica returns

Or just keep it. Physical cards stay valid for 10 years from last use, so if Japan’s on your list again, pocket the card and recharge it next trip — no refund queue, no re-buy. Plenty of visitors keep them as souvenirs, the cherry-blossom Welcome Suica especially.

Your First 30 Minutes: Getting a Card at the Airport

Most travelers sort their IC card the moment they land, and the process is quick once you know the order of operations. Here’s the realistic flow at Narita or Haneda.

1. Decide before the queue. iPhone users: add Suica in Apple Wallet while still on the plane or in the arrivals hall — you won’t need any counter at all. Everyone else: head for the train-floor ticket area.
2. Find the right counter. For Welcome Suica, look for the JR East Travel Service Center (signposted in English). For a regular card, the green JR machines do the job; for PASMO, use the airport rail operator’s machines (Keisei at Narita, Keikyu/Monorail at Haneda).
3. Load a starter amount. ¥2,000–¥3,000 covers your ride into the city plus the first day with margin to spare. You can top up anywhere later.
4. Tap straight onto your airport train. Skyliner, N’EX and the rapid trains all accept IC for the base fare; reserved limited-express seats may need a separate seat ticket, so check the train type.

Total time at the counter is usually under five minutes outside peak arrivals. If the line is long and you have an iPhone, that’s your cue to skip it entirely and set up the card on your phone while you walk to the platform.

Do IC Cards Actually Save Money?

A little, and reliably. JR and the Tokyo subways price IC fares a yen or two below the equivalent paper ticket on most journeys, so over a week of daily riding the card quietly pays for a coffee or two. The bigger saving is in time and stress: no fare charts to decode, no machine queue before every ride, no standing aside to count change. For travelers watching the budget, the move that matters most isn’t Suica versus PASMO — it’s pairing the card with the right pass on busy days and avoiding taxis, which is exactly the kind of math our save money on transport tips walk through. Map your daily routes once, and the card does the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Arriving at Narita — which card?

At Narita you can grab either. The JR East Travel Service Center sells Welcome Suica (no deposit, 28-day expiry) and the green machines sell regular Suica; PASMO is available at the Keisei/Skyliner windows. iPhone in hand? Skip plastic and set up Mobile Suica through the Welcome Suica app before you even clear customs.

Arriving at Haneda — which card?

At Haneda, PASMO is marginally easier to buy because the Tokyo Monorail and Keikyu Line machines both dispense it. JR East’s Welcome Suica is also there at the Travel Service Center. Either way, Mobile Suica on iPhone is the smoothest option overall.

Can children use IC cards?

Yes. Ages 6–11 can get a child IC card (kodomo Suica or kodomo PASMO) that charges the half-price child fare. Bring the child’s passport to a staffed counter — child cards aren’t sold by machines. Under-6s ride free in Tokyo.

What if I lose my card?

A physical card is like cash — lose it and the balance is gone. That’s a real edge for Mobile Suica/PASMO, where the balance is tied to your phone and Apple ID and survives a lost or replaced device. With plastic, only a registered (personalized) card can be reissued with its balance restored.

Can I use it on the shinkansen?

Not directly for long-distance bullet-train rides — those need a separate ticket. But Smart EX lets you link your IC card to a shinkansen reservation and use the card itself as your boarding pass on the Tokaido Shinkansen (Tokyo–Nagoya–Kyoto–Osaka). Register at smartex.jp first.

Do I really need one, or can I just buy paper tickets?

You can buy a paper ticket for every ride — we just wouldn’t. IC fares run a few yen cheaper than paper, you skip the fare-chart guesswork at every machine, and you sail through gates in seconds. Getting an IC card should be one of the first things you do in Tokyo.

Can I share one IC card between two people?

No — each person passing a gate needs their own tap, so two travelers need two cards (or two phones). The system records one entry per card, so a single card can’t cover two riders through a fare gate. It’s fine to share for shopping, just not for transit.

Suica or PASMO — does either save more money?

Neither. They charge identical IC fares and run the same promotions in practice, so there’s no cost advantage to one over the other. Your savings come from choosing IC over paper tickets and adding a day pass on heavy days — not from the brand of card.