Today I Learned
Suica vs Pasmo vs Welcome Suica (2026): Which IC Card Should Tourists Get?
Suica and Pasmo work identically; the real choice is deposit vs tourist card. Welcome Suica / Tourist PASMO: 28 days, no deposit, no refund. Regular: ¥500 deposit, ¥220 fee. iPhone app: 180 days.
Short answer
Suica and Pasmo are the same card in different colors. Same nationwide network, same ¥500 deposit, same ¥220 refund fee, same ¥20,000 cap, same 10-year expiry. Stop comparing them.
The real decision is deposit card vs tourist card. Staying 28 days or less and not coming back soon? Get a Welcome Suica (JR East) or a Tourist PASMO (PASMO network, at Narita or Haneda): no deposit, nothing to refund, valid 28 days, and any balance you don’t spend simply expires. Coming back within ten years, or staying longer? Get a regular Suica or PASMO and eat the ¥500 deposit and a refund queue.
Have an iPhone? Skip the plastic. JR East’s Welcome Suica Mobile app issues a Suica with no deposit, tops up via Apple Pay, and lasts 180 days — six times the physical tourist card.
Everything below is from the JR East and PASMO official pages, checked on September 8, 2026. If you want the story of why Tourist PASMO exists, our launch article covers it; this one is the decision table.
First, the shortage is over
Search results are still full of 2023–2024 advice about IC cards being unavailable. PASMO’s news page carries the two official 2023 releases suspending sales of non-personalized (June 2) and personalized (July 31) Suica and PASMO, and an October 4, 2024 notice abolishing the old PASMO PASSPORT. As of our September 2026 check, JR East lists the regular Suica for sale in six denominations, the Welcome Suica page dates its current sales points to March 27, 2025, and the Tourist PASMO page is live with prices. The cards are back; the question is which one.
The comparison table
| Regular Suica | Regular PASMO | Welcome Suica | Tourist PASMO | Welcome Suica Mobile | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issuer | JR East | PASMO network (private rail, subways, buses) | JR East | PASMO network | JR East (iOS app) |
| Deposit | ¥500, included in price | ¥500, included in price | None | None | None (no issuance fee) |
| Purchase price | ¥1,000–¥10,000 | Varies by operator; ¥500 of it is deposit | ¥1,000–¥10,000 | Narita (Keisei): ¥2,000 only; Haneda (Keikyu): ¥1,000–¥10,000 | Top up any amount via Apple Pay |
| Validity | Expires after 10 years unused | Expires after 10 years unused | 28 days including purchase date | 28 days from purchase date | 180 days from issue |
| Refund | Deposit + balance − ¥220 fee, JR East stations only | Deposit + balance − ¥220 fee | No refunds, regardless of balance | No refunds | No refunds |
| Max balance | ¥20,000 | ¥20,000 | ¥20,000 | ¥20,000 (¥10,001 if topping up on a bus) | Not stated on the pages we checked |
| Where sold | JR East ticket machines and counters | Participating operators’ machines and counters | Narita T1 / T2·3 and Haneda T3 (Monorail) vending machines; JR EAST Travel Service Centers; JAPAN RAIL CAFÉ; Takanawa Gateway | Haneda T1&2 and T3 Keikyu machines and Keikyu Tourist Information Center; Narita T1/T2 SKYLINER & KEISEI INFORMATION CENTER | App Store, before you fly |
| Lost card | Blank cards can’t be reissued | Blank cards can’t be reissued; personalized ones can | Not stated as reissuable | Cannot be reissued | — |
| Nationwide use | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Where the table says “not stated,” the official page didn’t say it and we’re not guessing.
Suica vs Pasmo: why it doesn’t matter
Both cards belong to the nationwide mutual-use service — the logo cluster (Suica, Kitaca, PASMO, manaca, TOICA, ICOCA, Hayakaken, nimoca, SUGOCA) that JR East prints on the Suica page. Any of those cards works on any of those systems’ trains, buses, vending machines, and convenience stores. Both are cash-top-up only: JR East’s page says Suica “cannot be topped up using a credit card,” and PASMO’s purchase page says “credit cards are not accepted.”
The published terms match line for line. PASMO’s rules put the deposit at 500 yen (Article 11), the refund handling fee at 220 yen or the balance if lower (Article 24), expiry at 10 years without use (Article 12), and the balance cap at 20,000 yen (Article 15). JR East’s Suica page states the same four numbers, with a worked example: a ¥1,000 balance refunds ¥1,280 (¥1,000 − ¥220 + ¥500), and a ¥0 balance still returns the full ¥500.
The one thing to know: refund where you bought. JR East says Suica cards it issued “can only be returned at JR East stations,” and a Suica issued by another company (it names Tokyo Monorail) can’t be refunded at JR East. Beyond that, buy whichever the nearest machine sells.
Two limits apply to every card here. IC cards can’t be used for continuous travel between regions — JR East’s example: you can’t ride from the Tokyo area to the Sendai area on one tap. And Shinkansen, limited express, and Green Car travel needs a separate ticket; for long-distance plans, we ran the JR Pass math.
Welcome Suica vs Tourist PASMO: the tourist cards
These are the same idea from the two networks: no deposit, 28 days, no refund. Which one you get is mostly a question of which airport counter you reach first.
Welcome Suica (JR East): sold at Welcome Suica vending machines at Narita Airport Terminal 1, Narita Terminal 2·3, and Haneda Terminal 3 (the Tokyo Monorail station), plus JR EAST Travel Service Centers at those airports and at Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Ueno, Yokohama, and Sendai stations, JAPAN RAIL CAFÉ TOKYO, and the Takanawa Gateway Travel Service Center. Denominations ¥1,000 to ¥10,000, adult or child (the child card needs the child’s ID at purchase). One card per person, in principle. Validity is 28 days including the purchase date — the card dies on the 29th day, and JR East warns the “GOOD THRU” printed on the back is not the expiry. You get a reference paper showing the validity period; keep it. Top up at station machines or Seven Bank ATMs in 7-Eleven, cash only.
Tourist PASMO (PASMO network, launched 2026): sold at Haneda’s Keikyu stations (Terminal 1&2 and Terminal 3, machines “for travelers” plus the Keikyu Tourist Information Center at T3) and Narita’s Keisei information centers at Terminals 1 and 2. At Narita it comes in one price, ¥2,000; at Haneda you choose ¥1,000 to ¥10,000. Valid 28 days from the date of purchase, no deposit, “value added to TOURIST PASMO will not be refunded,” and it cannot be reissued if lost. Rechargeable at station machines, on buses (¥1,000 bills, to a ¥10,001 cap), and at convenience stores. A child version exists.
The practical difference is small: Welcome Suica has city-center sales points (seven JR stations plus the airports), so if you skip it at the airport you can still buy one at Shinjuku; Tourist PASMO is airport-only on the official page. Don’t buy both. (A 180-day Welcome Suica (long-term use) exists, but JR East sells it in bulk only — it reaches you through a tour operator or not at all.)
Welcome Suica Mobile: the iPhone option
JR East’s page states the facts plainly: an iOS app that lets visitors “issue and top-up Suica,” valid for 180 days from issue, no deposit or issuance fee, payment by Apple Pay only, users must be 13 or over, and “the remaining balance will not be refunded.” The App Store listing (seller: East Japan Railway Company) adds the requirement of iOS 17.2 or later, with Apple Watch Series 3 or later supported, and English as the language. JR East notes app download and top-up are “restricted by law in some countries” until you arrive in Japan.
The app also sells Green Car tickets for local trains and connects to JR-EAST Train Reservation for Shinkansen and Narita Express seats. If you own an iPhone, this is the strongest option on the page: six times the validity of the plastic tourist cards, no counter, and top-ups from your hotel bed.
Android isn’t covered by Welcome Suica Mobile. The other phone route — adding a regular PASMO to Apple Wallet — carries a catch on PASMO’s official page: the device region must be set to Japan, and “some cards may not be recognized.” For most visitors that’s more friction than a plastic card.
Which one should you get?
| You | Get |
|---|---|
| iPhone (iOS 17.2+), any trip length up to 6 months | Welcome Suica Mobile |
| Android, trip ≤ 28 days, landing at Narita or Haneda | Welcome Suica or Tourist PASMO — whichever counter you hit first |
| Android, trip ≤ 28 days, already in the city | Welcome Suica (JR EAST Travel Service Centers at Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Ueno, Yokohama) |
| Trip longer than 28 days, or returning within 10 years | Regular Suica or PASMO — ¥500 deposit, refund minus ¥220 where you bought it |
| Traveling with a child under 12 | Child versions exist for Welcome Suica (ID required) and Tourist PASMO |
Whichever you choose, the card doesn’t replace a Shinkansen ticket, doesn’t cross regional boundaries in one tap, and — for the tourist cards — doesn’t give anything back. Spend it down at the airport konbini.
Closing
The Suica-or-Pasmo question survives in search because the colors are different, not because the cards are. Apparently the choice that actually costs you money is the one the guides skip: a ¥500 deposit you’ll queue to recover, versus a 28-day card whose leftover balance quietly expires — or, if you carry an iPhone, a 180-day Suica that never asks you to stand at a counter at all.