Every first-time visitor to Japan asks some version of the same question: do I need to buy a Suica or PASMO card, or can I just tap the contactless credit card I already have in my wallet? As of October 2026 the honest answer is "it depends which train," and the lines are shifting fast enough that guides written even a year ago are already out of date. Here's what actually works where, what an IC card costs if you decide to get one anyway, and the one gap that trips up almost every tourist.
What an IC card actually does
Suica and PASMO are rechargeable prepaid cards that work on almost every train, subway and bus in Japan, plus convenience stores, vending machines and lockers. You tap in at the gate, tap out at the other end, and the fare is deducted automatically — no working out which paper ticket to buy, no fumbling with a fare-adjustment machine when you've gone one stop too far. Suica is issued by JR East, PASMO by the Tokyo-area private railways and subways, but the two are fully interchangeable: a Suica works on the PASMO network and vice versa, and either one also works on the local IC systems in Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Fukuoka and most other cities.
That universality is the whole reason tourists have been told for years to just get one at the airport. The twist in 2026 is that, for a meaningful chunk of your trip, you may not need to.
Tourist IC cards: Welcome Suica and Tourist PASMO
If you want a physical card, you have two tourist-specific options, both sold at the airport the moment you land:
- Welcome Suica — sold at Narita (Terminals 1, 2, 3) and Haneda's international terminal. It costs ¥1,500 total: ¥1,000 of that becomes your travel balance, and ¥500 is a non-refundable issuing fee. There's no separate deposit to get back later, which is the trade-off: the card stops working after 28 days and any leftover balance is gone for good, so it's worth timing the purchase close to when you'll actually start using it.
- Tourist PASMO — the replacement for the old PASMO Passport, which was discontinued in 2024 during a nationwide IC-chip shortage. At Narita it's a fixed ¥2,000, all of it usable. At Haneda you can choose ¥1,000 up to ¥10,000, and the full amount goes onto the card. Also 28 days, also no deposit, also no refund on what's left.
Neither of these is refundable, so buy only as much as you'll realistically spend, or plan to spend the last few hundred yen on a vending-machine drink at the airport before you fly home.
The phone alternative: Welcome Suica Mobile
If you have an iPhone or Apple Watch, you can skip the physical card entirely. The Welcome Suica Mobile app issues a digital Suica straight into Apple Wallet, tops up with Apple Pay using a foreign credit card, and stays valid for 180 days — six times longer than the physical version, with no deposit either. The catch is that it's iOS-only; there is currently no Android equivalent built for overseas visitors, since Android's Mobile Suica requires a Japan-issued phone with built-in FeliCa support that most travelers' handsets don't have.
Or just tap the credit card you already have
This is the part that's genuinely new. On 25 March 2026, eleven railway and subway operators in the greater Tokyo area switched on a shared contactless-payment system: tap your own Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, Discover or Diners Club card (or a phone with one loaded) directly at the ticket gate, the same way you'd tap an IC card. No setup, no app, no trip to the ticket counter. Between them, Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway, Keio, Odakyu, Keikyu, Tokyu, Seibu, Tobu, Sagami Railway and Yokohama Rapid Railway cover 54 lines and roughly 729 stations, including the route most tourists use between Haneda Airport and central Tokyo.
The gap that matters: JR East is not part of this system. That means the Yamanote Line — the loop that runs through Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Station, Ueno and Akihabara — still requires Suica, cash, or a paper ticket. So does most of the JR network that connects Tokyo to day trips outside the city. If you're heading to Tokyo Disney Resort via the Keiyo Line, for example, that's a JR line too, so the same gap applies. If your itinerary is subway-and-private-rail-heavy (central Tokyo sightseeing, Hakone, Kamakura via Keikyu/Enoden), a contactless credit card alone can cover a lot of it. If you're relying on the Yamanote Line or JR commuter lines every day, you'll still want an IC card or Suica Mobile for that half of the trip.
One more thing to flag: if your card was issued outside Japan, your bank may charge a small foreign-transaction fee on every tap. It's usually a few cents per ride, but on a two-week trip with multiple rides a day, it adds up more than people expect.
Chopi: Wait, so I could just not buy a Suica at all now?
Log: If you're only doing Tokyo Metro and the private lines, maybe. The moment the Yamanote Line is involved, you still need something else — and we found that out the inconvenient way.
We live on the Keio line, and most weekends we take the Yurikamome out to Odaiba, both of which are now part of the contactless network. When the local railways announced bonus loyalty points for tapping a Visa card on exactly those two lines starting this week, we realized our own main card is a Mastercard — it taps in fine, it just doesn't earn the bonus. That's the kind of detail worth checking before you assume your card is the "right" one for whatever perk is being advertised; the gate doesn't care which brand you tap, but promotions often do.
Suica, PASMO, Welcome Suica Mobile, or contactless card: at a glance
| Option | Cost | Validity | Where it works | Leftover balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome Suica (card) | ¥1,500 (¥1,000 usable) | 28 days | Nearly all trains/buses/subways nationwide, konbini, vending machines | Not refunded |
| Tourist PASMO (card) | ¥2,000–¥10,000, fully usable | 28 days | Same as above | Not refunded |
| Welcome Suica Mobile (iPhone) | No fixed price, top up as needed via Apple Pay | 180 days | Same as above | Keep using it until it expires |
| Your own contactless card | Free (your bank may add a small per-ride fee) | N/A | 11 operators, ~729 stations — Tokyo Metro, Toei, Keio, Odakyu, Keikyu, Tokyu, Seibu, Tobu and more. Not JR East / Yamanote Line | N/A |
What we'd actually do
If your trip is mostly central Tokyo sightseeing plus a side trip or two on the covered private lines, try tapping your own contactless card first and only buy an IC card if you keep hitting a JR-only gate. If you're moving between cities, riding the Yamanote Line daily, or you want one card that works everywhere without thinking about it (including at convenience stores), Welcome Suica or Tourist PASMO is still the simpler choice — and if you're an iPhone user doing a longer trip, Welcome Suica Mobile's 180-day validity makes it the easiest of all the paid options, since you're not racing a 28-day clock.
Whichever you pick, keep a little cash on hand too — see our guide to how much cash you actually need in Japan. IC card top-up machines at smaller stations don't always take foreign cards, and not every gate outside the core Tokyo network has gone contactless yet. And if you're landing late and staying near the airport before an early flight, the Haneda hotel guide is worth a look — it's also where you'll find both tourist IC cards on sale the moment you arrive.
FAQ
Can I use my contactless credit card on the Yamanote Line?
Not yet, as of October 2026. The Yamanote Line and most other JR East lines are not part of the contactless tap-to-ride system; you'll need Suica, PASMO, Welcome Suica Mobile, or a paper ticket for those.
Do I still need Welcome Suica if I already have Apple Pay set up?
Not necessarily. Welcome Suica Mobile essentially puts the same card in your iPhone, so if you're comfortable managing it through the app and topping up with a foreign card via Apple Pay, you can skip the physical version entirely and get 180 days of validity instead of 28.
What happens to money left on a Welcome Suica or Tourist PASMO when I leave?
It's gone. Neither tourist card refunds unused balance, so spend it down — a last coffee or a drink from a station vending machine at the airport works fine — rather than leaving yen stranded on a card that expires in a few weeks anyway.
None of this requires planning in advance. Land at Narita or Haneda, tap your own contactless card at the first gate you hit, and if it doesn't work, there's a Welcome Suica or Tourist PASMO machine a few steps away either way.
