Mobile Transit Cards in Japan

IC Cards are the best way to pay transit fares in Japan. Suica and Pasmo (the most popular IC card options in Tokyo) are widely used and easily accessible. We even wrote about how the flexibility and interoperability of the IC Card across the country makes it the global standard for how transit payments should be done.

While the physical cards are still dominant, we’ve updated our Tokyo Transportation Fare & Information page to include using Suica and Pasmo on your mobile device. Both Suica and Waon (another money card in Japan) have been available on Google Pay for years, but a few days ago Apple just announced the addition of Pasmo and Suica to Apple Pay Express Transit for use on iPhone and Apple Watch.

What is Apple Pay Express Transit? You may have used Apple Pay before with a credit or debit card. Apple Pay Express Transit allows you to add transit payment cards to Apple Pay as well. The difference between normal Apple Pay cards and Express Transit cards is that you do not need to turn your display on, or even unlock your phone or watch to use the transit card. This is very helpful during COVID-19 where most riders are using masks making FaceID unlocks a bit of a longer process. You can even turn on Power Reserve mode, which will make the digital card still work for up to 5 hours after your phone runs out of battery. Pretty good if you’re out of battery and still need to get home.

For more information on Suica and Pasmo and how to add them to your Apple Pay or Google Pay wallets, visit our Tokyo Transit Fares & Transportation Info page.