If you are wondering how to survive in Japan without carrying cash. I try to use credit cards as much as possible when I am in Japan. Credit cards are generally accepted at many places, at least in big cities, but when it comes to short distance trains and buses, they only accept cash or IC smart cards like Suica.

Apple Pay + Suica

I’ve posted about IC smart cards before so I am going to skip but until recently the IC cards had to be recharged by cash unless you reside in Japan have a co-branded credit card issued by transit companies, but not anymore!

The biggest change was that Apple’s iPhones 7, 7 Plus and Apple Watch Series 2 sold in Japan came with  Felica chips. Felica is the NFC technology used on the Japanese IC cards and it enabled iPhones to be able to load Suica (support for Suica only as of now) as a payment in the Apple Pay. So that made a credit card charge to Suica possible by storing both your credit card and Suica in the Apple Pay. Better yet, iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X and Apple Watch Series sold globally have the Felica support, that means that an iPhone X from the US is capable of making Suica payments and credit card reload on the Suica.

Phones with FeliCa chip

• iPhone 7 and 7 Plus (Japan version)
• iPhone 8 and up (worldwide)
• iWatch series 2 (Japan version)
• iWatch series 3 and up (worldwide)

You should make sure to set up your Suica as Express Transit Card so that you do not have to wake your screen up nor turn on Apple Pay for transactions. For more details on how to set up and use the card on your iPhone, please refer to below links.

How to set up a Suica card in Apple Pay

Using Suica on iPhone or Apple Watch in Japan

For now, Apply Pay only works with Suica if you want to take advantage of this opportunity I highly recommend purchasing a Suica.

Earning extra points

For point and mile seekers, this is the way to earn points while traveling in Japan.

Loading money to Suica via Apple Pay counts as travel purchase so using a U.S. based credit cards without foreign transaction fees like Chase Sapphire Reserve you will earn extra points per dollar spent.

For example, if you load you Suica card with your Chase Sapphire Reserve with Apple Pay, you will earn 3 pts/ dollar by topping up your Suica. This is especially good for purchases made at places where you don’t usually earn bonus points like department stores and convenient stores.

I strongly recommend you getting a Suica if you own an iPhone 8 and later models. You can minimize the number of coins you have to carry and you will potentially earn 3 points per dollar spent at virtually any locations where Suica is accepted.