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  • Using a SUICA / PASMO card to travel

    If you are a foreigner and not having a international driving license, 70% of the time you have to travel by train in Japan because they are more convenient and fast.

    No sooner I arrived Japan, within first 12 hours, I ended up having to ride dreadful Japanese train all by myself and I must say that it was amazing. With time, I began to ride more and more and the dreadful challenge went to being pretty mundane. Almost 2 months passed, I was using my little tickets (which I used to buy) to travel between 2 stations. Conversely, I would see that many Japanese people use some type of wizardry to travel by train as they touch or wave their hand at the ticket gate and go right through.

    They weren’t buying tickets always as I do which was much easier than my method.
    It turned out that Japanese commuters use special cards created by Japan Rail (JR) to make train rides much simpler. These special cards are called PASMO or SUICA cards. You can make your own cards at the station and charge them with some X amount of money, isn’t it so easy??

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    Additionally, these PASMO or SUICA cards can also be used to buy stuffs at the convenient store within the stations; they can be used as flotation devices, as a razor, as shuriken etc.

  • #2
    Hi Ankur!!

    This is indeed great information for me as I really don’t like to wait/stand in long queue to buy tickets. As you know girls hate waiting

    I will be arriving Tokyo soon and making my SUICA card will be on the top in my TO DO LIST!!

    Thank you!!

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    • #3
      I couldn't agree more! Just swipe and walk through the gate, and so easy to charge at most recharge ticket machines at train stations. Originally I could only use the PASMO card in Tokyo, but since 2013 it can be used all over Japan

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      • #4
        You are right. I was talking with one of my friends in Kyoto recently. According to her, Suica is better than pasmo. Suica is accepted in most of the convenience stores too! Even, you can use it in any wending machines, Buses and even Taxis.

        I have heard that they are coming up with some APP which will replace the physical card. You can just scan your barcode and move ahead with your purchase!

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        • #5
          I've been researching these for when I go to Japan. You have to put a deposit into the ticket machine at the train station to get your card, then you can keep reloading it. I hope I don't lose it, that could get expensive! But once you've finished with it, you can hand it in to a station employee and get the deposit back. You can even do it at the airport station, and spend it on a last-minute souvenir at the airport gift shop, ha ha. I also heard that using the card can be cheaper than buying tickets, but I don't know if that's right or not.

          Ankut Gupta, don't forget their usefulness as a ring-pull can opener, or a make-shift coaster

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