uguuchan
Joined 8 years ago
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Comment · 2 years ago
Comment · 2 years ago
Can confirmed fixed in latest iOS update. However, very high chance Visa will label as fraud, so need to call them.
Comment · 2 years ago
Current status of IC cards as of today:
Suica sales are back as of a week ago. They are available in JR East Travel Service Centers all around Tokyo, even if there is a sign saying they are not. You will have to ask the folks at the counter. Technically there is a restriction of one card per person, however if you are nice and ask them for more and say it's for friends they'll sell you more. Get one now, because they might be limited again soon.
Pasmo card sales are also back as well, however it is very rare . These can be obtained from kiosks. You can find some of them in stations in non-central Tokyo or Yokohama. It's a hit or miss, and often they'll sell out of them from the kiosk in a day or two. Have found them in random stations in the burbs. I haven't seen them at large stations in central Tokyo. Less cool than Suicas.
Toica card sales are still there, and you can get them from Tokyo Station Yaesu North. They're not as cool though, and you might encounter a weird situation where it might not work. Also they look ugly. Might as well hit up a JR East Travel Service Center.
Icocas are still available freely in the Kansai area. Great if you're flying there first. Just as cool as Suicas in my opinion, and cooler than Pasmos for sure.
Welcome Suicas are sometimes available at the airports. Sometimes they aren't. It really depends on the day (have checked multiple days). As of a week or so ago, they've become less available at the airports. I think that the whole supply chain is a bit weird at the moment, and they cannot keep up with demand. They also suck if you plan to come back.
Pasmo Passports seem to be relatively available at major stations. It kinda sucks though because you have to have your actual passport to buy one and they look really cheesy and uncool. Do not recommend. Hit up a JR East Travel Service Center instead.
Mobile IC cards as of today:
Apple: (latest update 17.2) Non-JP foreign visas are working as of now. There was a previous bug/intentional feature that blocked some non-JP foreign visas that is now gone with the newest IOS update. All the large card processors are working for foreign cards, but have only personally verified visa & amex. You can use any iPhone sold from any country. If it's not working, it's because of your credit card issuer claiming fraud detection and you will have to call them. Unfortunately, some CC's will trigger the fraud detection on every transaction trying to charge your card, especially if you're charging from the US. The fraud detection teams explained it as it seems suspicious since it's through apple pay for a foreign service, and some cc companies were unable to even whitelist the transaction due to it being through Apple Pay. You just have to call them/have them call you. Be careful trying to load if you don't have cell service though because they might disable your CC until you call.
Android: If you are going and do not have an Android with NFC-F ENABLED (not just present physically as the hardware may be built in, but ENABLED) you will be unable to use it. This causes a lot of confusion given that there are Google Pixel Pasmo ads all over the stations. Unfortunately, most android phones not sold in JP or other countries that use NFC-F will not be able to be used as a tap device for transit. Basically: did you buy your Android phone in JP? If not, don't count on it working.
Things are changing daily so might be out of date in a week or two.
The EZCard and Oyster gates often have lines because of how long it takes for the gates to recognize the EZCard; you'll have people queuing up to get into the station. They as a bottleneck where the flow of traffic is interrupted and slowed down to below walking speed.
This is important as it disrupts flow and public transit during rush hour and is unacceptable. You can see for instance in this video, when people are tapping their cards they are slowing down and waiting for the transaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TXkKDw3WWU
With Suica/Apple Wallet/NFC-F, there is 0 stoppage or slowing down. You can approach the pace of the gates at walking speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6GrIQT58ak
This makes a BIG difference for how many people can enter the station at once. With Suica/NFC-F you've essentially removed the station gates as a barrier for traffic flow, whereas with Oyster/EZCard (and EZCard being a HUGE offender) you're introducing barriers to traffic.
It may not matter if you're not at a huge station and you have tons of time, but imagine people constantly filing out of Shinjuku station during rush hour and having to queue up on the stairs outside of the gates just to get in - the delay is unacceptable and a human health hazard. When rush hour happens and someone's card is declined, the second or so it takes for them to back out creates a huge jam and crowding. During large events (for instance, people trying to file in/out of stations for performances), this is especially a problem when people don't have enough money on their cards.
In addition to the latency, Suica & these other IC cards also start the process at a further distance, and also work better through wallets/card holders. EZCards are especially bad at that (and won't work through pretty much anything). This reduces the friction required to take the card out, as people can just tap their whole wallet and it'll go through multiple credit cards as well.
The whole goal is to create a smooth process where you can walk through transit gates without stopping or slowing down, and Oyster and EZCards fail at doing that.
Oyster cards and EZCards are fine low traffic transit solutions but the requirement for walking speed not to be interrupted is why they aren't feasible in Japan. EZCards are especially terrible, as they pretty much need to contact the reader to scan. It's painful to see people coming out of the trains in Taiwan and having to line up to leave the station.