![\"\"](\"http:\/\/japaninfoswap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/apple-pay-japan-marcom-500x333.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Back in the day, a journey on any of Japan\u2019s rail lines meant you might need a degree in Japanese cartography and computer science to figure out how to use the ticketing machines found in every station at that time. The old routine went like this: Walk into the station and look at the gigantic map plastered above the machines. Find your destination station on the said map and remember the price next to the station.<\/p>\n
Next, walk over to the ticket machine and push the button, pull a lever, touch a screen (depending on the age of said machine) with that price you memorized from before (or double-take the map like I almost always did). Shove coins\/bills into the machine and grab the ticket, head to the gates and stick it into the slot and grab the ticket back from the other side…. Better not lose it, or else you\u2019re paying whatever the highest possible fare is on that line when you get to your stop!<\/p>\n
Nowadays, IC fare cards like Suica and Pasmo came along and ended that foolishness. Just charge up your card with yen and tap, tap, tap your way around town without stopping. So what’s more convenient and time-saving than this? When you make your phone or smartwatch your IC card. Enter Mobile Suica.<\/p>\n
When I switched over to an iPhone 8 and Apple Watch in November 2018, one of the compelling reasons was the ease of the Mobile Suica app that could be used on the devices thanks to the inclusion of the same chips and antennas that are found in the cards and faregates. Apple Pay has been a thing since iPhone 7, but this particular iPhone release allows for a set of contactless near field communications protocols under the term NFC-F, a standard that has been used in Japan since 2004 from Sony.<\/p>\n
Conversely, most made-for-Japan Android smartphones, and even most feature phones before them, have had this ability for over a decade now through an app called Osaifu Keitai<\/a>. Just as Apple made smartphones easier to use and pushed the bar higher, their Apple Pay solution has done the same and the iPhone version of Mobile Suica is one of the outcomes.<\/p>\n To start your journey into the world of mobile transport payments on your iPhone, you\u2019ll need the following:<\/p>\n If you have all of this ready, go ahead and download the Mobile Suica app from the App Store.<\/a> The first thing to note is everything\u2019s in Japanese, but for our purposes right now, we don\u2019t need to worry about that.<\/p>\n Next, open up the Wallet app and tap the \u201c+\u201d icon in the upper right corner to add a new card. The next screen should have a new entry, \u201cAdd Suica Card\u201d; tap that and follow these directions from Apple<\/a> to transfer a Suica card into your phone or watch.<\/p>\n You can also go into the mobile Suica AP and generate a virtual card, but since the app is only in Japanese for now, please follow this guide from At A Distance<\/a> if you don\u2019t know Nihongo. I\u2019m hoping the language situation changes because this is the best way to get tourists and expats on their way to Japan all set up to use transport here.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve got a valid pass on your iPhone, you can easily move it to your Apple Watch through the Watch App\u2019s wallet function. The cool thing about this is even if you have an iPhone that doesn\u2019t have the NFC-F ability for Mobile Suica, Apple Watch series 3 and 4 do<\/i> and can be used.<\/p>\n Since 2010 when the first \u201cmade-in-Japan\u201d Android smartphones were released, they were the first to be able to use Mobile Suica. That\u2019s because manufacturers ported the above mentioned Osaifu-Keitai Java apps over from their gala kei<\/i> feature phone counterparts. (Remember, Japan literally invented mobile payments over a decade and a half ago.)<\/p>\n But what this also meant is that those of us bringing an Android phone into Japan are out of luck here since they are missing a certain microchip and special SIM card to make it work; iPhones have the necessary hardware built in and \u201cit just works\u2122\ufe0f.\u201d However, if you have a Japanese Android smartphone, and comparable SIM card, then all you need is the Google Play App<\/a> and just follow the instructions for adding a new card, and if your phone is compatible, then you should see the following screens to add a Suica card.<\/p>\n When I switched over to an iPhone 8 and Apple Watch in November 2018, one of the compelling reasons was the ease of the Mobile Suica app that could be used on the devices thanks to the inclusion of the same chips and antennas that are found in the cards and faregates. Apple Pay has been a thing since iPhone 7, but this particular iPhone release allows for a set of contactless near field communications protocols under the term NFC-F, a standard that has been used in Japan since 2004 from Sony.<\/p>\n Conversely, most made-for-Japan Android smartphones, and even most feature phones before them, had this ability for over a decade now through an app called Osaifu Keitai<\/a>. Just as Apple made smartphones easier to use and pushed the bar higher, their Apple Pay solution has done the same, and the iPhone version of Mobile Suica is one of the outcomes.<\/p>\n To start your journey into the world of mobile transport payments on your iPhone, you\u2019ll need the following:<\/p>\n If you have all of this ready, go ahead and download the Mobile Suica app from the App Store.<\/a> The first thing to note is everything\u2019s in Japanese, but for our purposes right now, we don\u2019t need to worry about that.<\/p>\n Next, open up the Wallet app and tap the \u201c+\u201d icon in the upper right corner to add a new card. The next screen should have a new entry, \u201cAdd Suica Card\u201d; tap that and follow these directions from Apple<\/a> to transfer a Suica card into your phone or watch.<\/p>\n You can also go into the mobile Suica AP and generate a virtual card, but since the app is only in Japanese for now, please follow this guide from At A Distance<\/a> if you don\u2019t know Nihongo. I\u2019m hoping the language situation changes because this is the best way to get tourists and expats on their way to Japan all set up to use transport here.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve got a valid pass on your iPhone, you can easily move it to your Apple Watch through the Watch App\u2019s wallet function. The cool thing about this is even if you have an iPhone that doesn\u2019t have the NFC-F ability for Mobile Suica, Apple Watch series 3 and four do<\/i> and can be used.<\/p>\n Since 2010 when the first \u201cmade-in-Japan\u201d Android smartphones were released, they were the first to be able to use Mobile Suica. That\u2019s because manufacturers ported the above mentioned Osaifu-Keitai Java apps over from their gala kei<\/i> feature phone counterparts. (Remember, Japan literally invented mobile payments over a decade and a half ago.)<\/p>\n But what this also meant is that those of us bringing an Android phone into Japan are out of luck here since they are missing a certain microchip and special SIM card to make it work; iPhones have the necessary hardware built in and \u201cit just works\u2122\ufe0f.\u201d However, if you have a Japanese Android smartphone, and comparable SIM card, then all you need is a compatible SIM card and the Google Play App<\/a>. Just follow the instructions for adding a new card, and if your phone is compatible you should see the following screens to add a Suica card.<\/p>\n\n We\u2019ve come a long way already; not only can you ride trains, buses, and taxicabs, but rent bicycles, use coin lockers, play video games and buy groceries with Suica. With it and other regional transit passes becoming another payment method for goods and services, officials are looking at ways to extend the technology. The next step is to make Suica a transit pass app for all of Japan, that\u2019s set for 2021 when the infrastructure behind the pass network [gets a huge upgrade.](https:\/\/www.sony.co.jp\/SonyInfo\/News\/Press\/201809\/18-0925\/index.html)<\/p>\n While you can use Mobile Suica on the majority of transport systems nationwide now, it still cannot be used as a commuter pass outside of JR East\u2019s rail lines.; it isn\u2019t possible to create a mobile PASMO or Nimoca, etc., yet. The new update will change that and more to enable even more seamless travel and use around Japan and beyond. Back in the day, a journey on any of Japan\u2019s rail lines meant you might need a degree in Japanese cartography […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[331,47,45],"class_list":["post-3308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous","tag-e-money","tag-tokyo-city-2","tag-tokyo-metropolis-2"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50616,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions\/50616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Apple Pay + Mobile Suica<\/h3>\n
\n
How to generate a virtual Suica instead<\/h4>\n
What about Apple Watch?<\/h4>\n
What about us out-of-country Android users?<\/h3>\n
What\u2019s a Ticket Vending Machine (because I can\u2019t remember)<\/h3>\n
Apple Pay + Mobile Suica<\/h3>\n
\n
How to generate a virtual Suica instead<\/h4>\n
What about Apple Watch?<\/h4>\n
What about us out-of-country Android users?<\/h3>\n
Coming Soon<\/h3>\n
\n—
\n\u2014 By Jason L. Gatewood<\/a>
\nImages:
\ncourtesy https:\/\/appllio.com\/google-pay-suica*<\/a>, Apple Support<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"