Good News for Travelers: Sales of non-personalized Suica, Pasmo IC cards in Japan to resume in March

[RS18U]

In case you don't want one with your name on it.

 

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250218_30/

 

Has more background about the cards:

https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan’s-ultra-convenient-unregistered-prepaid-train-cards-return-after-nearly-two-year-absence

 

Will

Edited Thursday at 10:01 PM by RS18U

[kuro68000]

That's great news. Could foreigners even get a named one? Usually you need an address in Japan?

 

The other advantage, other than not having your name on it, is that these ones only expire after 10 years or something, unlike the visitor cards.

[Abushoni]

Great news as some people keep them as a souvenirs.

 

Please make note that unless you are an Android user, you have always have the option of the digital Suica which is not prone to theft/loss and can easily be topped up without the queue to machines, no need to pull it from your bag etc.

 

Abushoni  

Edited yesterday at 01:24 PM by Abushoni

[RS18U]

9 hours ago, kuro68000 said:

That's great news. Could foreigners even get a named one? Usually you need an address in Japan?

 

The other advantage, other than not having your name on it, is that these ones only expire after 10 years or something, unlike the visitor cards.

I bought 2 in November, one for my wife and one for me.  Only had to provide a name/phone number/date of birth, no address, and it worked.  Had to ask where to get the cards through, not all ticket machines sell them.

[nscalestation]

That is great news.  My wife and I both have had Suica cards since 1999 and have been back and forth at least 10 times and it's always worked, it's a great technology.  This time we tried the app on our phones and no problems using it.  My wife transferred the credit from her card to the app and I think now she can't re-charge the card any more.  I did not transfer anything to the app as a backup in case the app didn't work.

 

 

[RS18U]

5 hours ago, nscalestation said:

My wife transferred the credit from her card to the app and I think now she can't re-charge the card any more

I've heard you can use one or the other, but not both.  I know that is the case for the similar card we can use for transit around here too.