Suica and ICOCA are Japan’s rechargeable IC fare cards: money is loaded in advance and the fare is taken when the card touches a ticket gate or shop reader. Suica is issued by JR East and ICOCA by JR West, and ten transport IC cards work across each other’s areas nationwide.
The card types compared
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JR East and JR West official guides. The deposit is ¥500, and a ¥220 fee comes off the balance on refund.
- 28 days Welcome Suica (card) from purchase
- 180 days Welcome Suica Mobile from issue, iPhone app
- ¥500 Suica and ICOCA deposit returned with the card
- ¥20,000 Top-up limit per card
JR East Welcome Suica and Welcome Suica Mobile, JR West ICOCA guides.
Welcome Suica is sold from dedicated machines at Narita Airport Terminal 1 and Terminal 2-3 stations and Haneda Airport Terminal 3 station (Tokyo Monorail), and at JR East Travel Service Centers in Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno and other stations. It comes loaded with ¥1,000 to ¥10,000, one card per person.
Welcome Suica Mobile is set up in an iPhone app and works only on devices that support Apple Pay. In some countries the law allows setup and top-up only after arrival in Japan.
Where to top up
- Station ticket machines with the IC mark
- Seven Bank ATMs in 7-Eleven and others
- Convenience store tills where top-up is offered
JR East Welcome Suica guide. A Welcome Suica card cannot be topped up by credit card.
Where it does not work
- Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen a ticket is needed
- A trip into another IC area e.g. Suica area to ICOCA
- Stations outside the areas no IC readers
JR West ICOCA usage area guide. Some exceptions apply.
ICOCA, Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, PiTaPa, Hayakaken, nimoca and SUGOCA work in each other’s areas for trains, buses and shopping. A single trip that crosses from one area into another cannot go through the gates on an IC card, and within the ICOCA area trips over 200 km cannot be paid by IC card outside a few exceptions.
