Arrival at Narita - Some thoughts for May 2024

[hubofhockey]

Got in yesterday.  Love being at the Conrad in Shiodome.  1800 Yen taxi ride from Tokyo Station.

 

It did take close to 1.5 hours to get out of Narita on the JR Express train from Narita to Tokyo Station.  We did buy green car seats, which I believe were $25 each for the 1 hour ride to Tokyo Station.  

 

We had reserved the 6:19 pm train from Narita which was an hour fifty from our landing.  That was a mistake.  While we made our train with three minutes to spare, we did want to pick up IC cards.  You cannot get physical cards outside of airports right now.  However, as I quickly discovered, it is so much easier getting a SUICA app on your iPhone than a card.  It is easier to load funds on it because it can be done electronically, without putting yen into a machine.  This only works if you have an iPhone.  Androids do not work with the App, if purchased outside of Japan.  My advice with those with Androids is to get the physical hard PASMO card at Narita in the JR office where you pick up train tickets.  JR only sells PASMO, not SUICA, but there is virtually no difference.  

 

Hope this helps some who will be taking cruises out of Japan this spring.  It’s 73 today and sunny.  Happy we chose May after Golden Week.  While cherry blossoms would have been nice, great weather on a vacation is good too.  In Tokyo for the next three days and off to Kyoto on Monday and then our cruise on Wednesday.  The Conrad is beautiful.  So glad we switched to Hilton AMEX cards and got three free night certificates here and the fourth with points.  We probably wouldn’t pay the regular prices they charge, but it’s convenient and beautiful.  Being a Hilton, they understand Americans well.

 

[thehowlingroad]

1 hour ago, hubofhockey said:

While we made our train with three minutes to spare, we did want to pick up IC cards.  You cannot get physical cards outside of airports right now.

 

It depends on where you're staying and when exactly you'll need your cards. I got our Welcome Pasmo cards at Shimbashi Station; our hotel was only a few blocks away and we had pre-reserved tickets for the limousine bus, so we didn't need the IC card until we actually got into Tokyo. The IC cards' websites have listings of where you can still buy physical cards, airport offices included.

[monkey@cruise]

2 hours ago, thehowlingroad said:

 

It depends on where you're staying and when exactly you'll need your cards. I got our Welcome Pasmo cards at Shimbashi Station; our hotel was only a few blocks away and we had pre-reserved tickets for the limousine bus, so we didn't need the IC card until we actually got into Tokyo. The IC cards' websites have listings of where you can still buy physical cards, airport offices included.

Last month, my friend bought a physical Suica card from JR tourist office in Shinjuku. I bought an Icoca card from Osaka KIX airport, works across Japan.

Edited May 10 by monkey@cruise

[hubofhockey]

I don’t see much use for the physical card if you have an iPhone.  If you have a hard card, you need to reload yen value by putting yen in a machine.  With an iPhone, you can move cash from the card you use in your Apple wallet.  The benefit to the physical card would be not worrying if your phone battery dies on you, but worst case is you use cash at a station.  In any case, to me, this was a big worry over nothing.  Go iPhone, click on the wallet, hit the + button and and add transit pass.  It gives you choice by country with three IC cards in Japan.  From there, choose an amount and it will automatically authenticate withe bank linked to your card and you’re all set.  So easy.

[monkey@cruise]

1 hour ago, hubofhockey said:

I don’t see much use for the physical card if you have an iPhone.  If you have a hard card, you need to reload yen value by putting yen in a machine.  With an iPhone, you can move cash from the card you use in your Apple wallet.  The benefit to the physical card would be not worrying if your phone battery dies on you, but worst case is you use cash at a station.  In any case, to me, this was a big worry over nothing.  Go iPhone, click on the wallet, hit the + button and and add transit pass.  It gives you choice by country with three IC cards in Japan.  From there, choose an amount and it will automatically authenticate withe bank linked to your card and you’re all set.  So easy.

With the latest IOS 17.2+, Suica mobile still not working with some foreign Visa cards, OK with Mastercard or AMEX. The work around is top up with cash through an IC capable station kiosk (identify with flashing purple lights)
Make sure you add money outside of the Mobile Suica nightly downtime maintenance period: 1am~5am JST.

I will use Apple Watch instead of iphone for digital IC.

[rinshin]

On 5/9/2024 at 8:47 PM, hubofhockey said:

I don’t see much use for the physical card if you have an iPhone.  If you have a hard card, you need to reload yen value by putting yen in a machine.  With an iPhone, you can move cash from the card you use in your Apple wallet.  The benefit to the physical card would be not worrying if your phone battery dies on you, but worst case is you use cash at a station.  In any case, to me, this was a big worry over nothing.  Go iPhone, click on the wallet, hit the + button and and add transit pass.  It gives you choice by country with three IC cards in Japan.  From there, choose an amount and it will automatically authenticate withe bank linked to your card and you’re all set.  So easy.

I had my nephew purchase a welcome suica card good for 28 days at JR station when he came to stay with us in Tokyo last year.  suica cards are sold at JR stations as well as in Narita and Haneda.  It is good that it is available with Iphone or Apple watch app now.   I am sure he would have preferred that.  
 

We have regular suica cards purchased over at least 25 years ago and as long as is used once in a decade, it stays active. We normally keep upwards of 5000 yen on. 

Edited May 11 by rinshin

[monkey@cruise]

21 hours ago, rinshin said:

I had my nephew purchase a welcome suica card good for 28 days at JR station when he came to stay with us in Tokyo last year.  suica cards are sold at JR stations as well as in Narita and Haneda.  It is good that it is available with Iphone or Apple watch app now.   I am sure he would have preferred that.  
 

We have regular suica cards purchased over at least 25 years ago and as long as is used once in a decade, it stays active. We normally keep upwards of 5000 yen on. 

I purchased a Hello Kitty ICOCA card, a cute collection IC card. Handy to use the card to lock and unlock the luggage compartments on Shinkansen. Seems not working for mobile app, may be need a registered card number??

Edited May 12 by monkey@cruise

[hubofhockey]

On 5/12/2024 at 3:20 AM, rinshin said:

I had my nephew purchase a welcome suica card good for 28 days at JR station when he came to stay with us in Tokyo last year.  suica cards are sold at JR stations as well as in Narita and Haneda.  It is good that it is available with Iphone or Apple watch app now.   I am sure he would have preferred that.  
 

We have regular suica cards purchased over at least 25 years ago and as long as is used once in a decade, it stays active. We normally keep upwards of 5000 yen on. 

Tokyo station JR office is no longer selling hard cards.  The Welcome cards are sold at Narita.  I find the iPad wallet to be very convenient.  We put 5,000 on and have a little less than 3,000 left after three full days (four nights) in Tokyo.  On the iPhone, hitting one button adds value to the card.  

 

One thing that surprised me about Tokyo, which I hope is the same elsewhere in Japan, is that just about all take AMEX cards.  It’s limited the amount of cash we have had to use. If we do have to get more yen, it would be one withdrawal at most here.