The name says it all – Suica: Super Urban Intelligent Card. Originally Suica was a rechargeable train card used in all JR (Japan Railways) East train lines in Japan. The card can be bought in automatic card machines located in the entrance and exit of train stations, and can be charged with .1,000, ￥3,000 or ￥5,000 amounts. The Suica cards, launched in 2001, became very popular since it saves a lot of time, which is a very important thing in rush hour in Japan. In addition, it has an electronic card reader using an electronic eye and therefore is easy and quick to use: Slide it lightly over the reader and go through. Since most Japanese love to keep cards in special “card holders” usually there is no need to take the card out of the holder or the wallet. The reader is very sensitive and can read it straight through a wallet.
This year, Suica upgraded to a small-sized credit card and can be used in many convenience shops and other food shops located in big JR stations. They can easily be identified by the funny penguin logo they carry. You can charge your card with as much as you want and now, young people use it for shopping in shops. The big disadvantage however is that loosing your Suica card can be a personal disaster. Cards have no personal identity whatsoever and the only amount of money that can be used depends on each person’s decision when they charge it up. (Which is why it’s always best to only charge small amounts each day for things like food and train tickets rather than shopping sprees.) Besides, rechargeable machines are located everywhere, and it’s better to recharge than to loose your allowance.
Enter mobile phone Suica: As Japan moves faster with electronic ingenuity (this country clearly pushes the limits) now Suica has a mobile phone version. New this year, one can find mobile phones with Suica cards already stored in them. These phones can perform many extra activities such as paying phone bills and other bills, which now, are paid in the convenience shops (which seems strange enough to Westerners). Stay tuned for next year’s evolution of the Japanese Mobile Phone Suica.
