When does Tourist PASMO start and where can I get it?

The card launches in May 2026 and is sold at Narita Airport and Haneda Airport ticket counters and dedicated machines. You only need to show your passport — there is no application form to mail in or web account to create. At Narita, the card costs 2,000 yen and comes preloaded with 2,000 yen of usable balance, with no separate deposit. Haneda offers multiple denominations from 1,000 to 10,000 yen. Outside the airports, sales are limited at launch but may expand to major hub stations.

Who is affected and how is it different from regular PASMO?

Tourist PASMO is for short-term foreign visitors on a temporary-visitor stamp, the same group covered by tax-free shopping. Regular PASMO and Suica require a 500-yen refundable deposit and are sold to anyone, but the deposit refund process is awkward if you leave Japan. Tourist PASMO removes the deposit entirely — the full price you pay equals usable balance, no refund needed at departure. The trade-off is a strict 28-day validity window: after 28 days the card stops working, even with balance left on it.

How does it work compared to JR's Welcome Suica?

JR East's Welcome Suica covers the same role on the Suica side and is bought at JR ticket offices. The two cards are functionally equivalent on Tokyo trains, buses, subways, and konbini payments — both are part of the unified IC card network. Welcome Suica is also valid for 28 days and has no deposit. Practical advice: pick whichever you encounter first at your arrival airport. Narita has both, Haneda has both. Don't buy two.

Today I Learned

Japan, apparently, finally has a real tourist transit card again from May 2026

Tourist PASMO launches May 2026 at Narita & Haneda. Valid 28 days, no deposit, instant purchase with passport — replacing the discontinued Pasmo Passport.

Published 2026-05-07 · 3 min read · By Daichi

◇ A pair of hands holding a brightly colored Tourist PASMO IC card with the kanji character for journey at its center, hovering over a transit fare gate at Narita Airport with the green arrow lit and other travelers passing through in the background

The card the tourist guides have been waiting for

For about two years, buying an IC card in Tokyo as a tourist was harder than it should have been. The legendary Pasmo Passport — pretty card, no deposit, made for short-stay visitors — was discontinued in 2024 during a global semiconductor shortage. JR East’s Welcome Suica quietly carried the load. Regular Pasmo and Suica required a 500-yen deposit you could only get back by queuing at a JR or Pasmo office.

In May 2026, Tourist PASMO finally arrives — and Japan once again has two airport-distributed, no-deposit, tourist-only IC cards.

The fact

Tourist PASMO launches in May 2026. Confirmed details:

Sold at Narita Airport and Haneda Airport, with potential expansion to other major hubs after launch.
Validity: 28 days from first use.
Price: 2,000 yen at Narita, preloaded with 2,000 yen of usable balance — no deposit. Haneda sells multiple denominations from 1,000 to 10,000 yen.
Buyer: short-term foreign visitors on a temporary-visitor stamp; passport required at purchase.
Design: kanji theme, with the character 旅 (“journey”) at center.
Network: full IC card compatibility — trains, subways, buses, vending machines, konbini, taxis, anywhere the standard Pasmo/Suica logo appears.
No refund at departure: there is nothing to refund. Whatever balance you leave on the card simply expires after 28 days.

It runs in parallel with JR East’s Welcome Suica, which also carries 28-day validity and no deposit.

Why it changed

The original Pasmo Passport was popular but its production stopped in 2024 amid the global IC chip shortage that hit transit cards worldwide. Pasmo and Suica even paused new sales of regular IC cards for several months in 2023.

Recovering chip supply meets a different problem: foreign visitor numbers above 30 million per year, with most arriving in Tokyo and needing a transit card within 30 minutes of clearing customs. The 500-yen deposit on regular cards — refundable but awkward — created a steady trickle of unrefunded yen and queue traffic at every JR office.

Pasmo’s response: rebuild the tourist product, drop the deposit entirely, accept the 28-day expiry as the price of simplification, sell it at the two airports where 90%+ of inbound tourists land.

What it means for visitors

If you arrive in Tokyo from May 2026, the IC card decision tree is now:

Land at Narita or Haneda. Look for either Tourist PASMO or Welcome Suica. Both work. Buy the first one you find.
Skip the regular Pasmo / Suica. As a short-stay visitor you do not want the deposit hassle.
Pre-load enough for arrival transit. A typical Narita-to-central-Tokyo train is 1,200–3,200 yen one way. The 2,000-yen Narita Tourist PASMO covers most of one direction; you will recharge at any station kiosk.
Tap and walk. Same gates, same kiosks, same konbini registers. The card behaves identically to a regular PASMO from the rider’s side.
Use it for more than trains. Most konbini, vending machines, taxis, and many restaurants accept it. It quietly removes the daily friction of small cash.
Don’t worry about refund. When you leave, just keep the card or throw it away. There is no balance refund process — that’s the whole point.

If you have an old physical Pasmo Passport from before 2024, it has long since expired and is a souvenir.

Closing

For two years, “how do I get a Tokyo IC card as a tourist” had a slightly annoying answer. From May 2026 it has a normal one again — walk up at the airport, show passport, tap, ride. Apparently when you discontinue your tourist product during a chip shortage, the only graceful exit is to bring it back.