Welcome Suica: Where to Buy It, How It Works, and What to Watch Out For

Short answer: Welcome Suica is JR East's prepaid IC card for short-term visitors. There's no deposit, and it works on trains, buses and in shops for 28 days. The catch is that any balance left over is never refunded, you can only top it up with cash, and a lost card can't be reissued. If you have an iPhone, the Welcome Suica Mobile app is usually the easier choice: it lasts 180 days and you top it up with Apple Pay.

At the station I get asked about Welcome Suica almost every day. This guide goes deeper than our Suica, PASMO and ICOCA overview, and everything in it comes from JR East's own pages or Apple's App Store listing.

Card or app: the two kinds of Welcome Suica

• Welcome Suica (physical card). A plastic card you buy in Japan. It's valid for 28 days, counting the day you buy it. No deposit is needed.
• Welcome Suica Mobile (iPhone app). A free app from JR East that issues a Suica inside your iPhone. There's no deposit or issuance fee, and the balance expires 180 days after it's issued. After it expires, you can issue a new Suica in the same app.

Where to buy the physical card

At the time of writing (October 2026), JR East lists these places:

• Welcome Suica vending machines: Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station, Narita Airport Terminal 2·3 Station, and Haneda Airport Terminal 3 Station (Tokyo Monorail).
• JR EAST Travel Service Centers: Narita Airport Terminal 1, Narita Airport Terminal 2·3, Haneda Airport Terminal 3 (Tokyo Monorail), Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Ueno, Yokohama and Sendai stations.
• JAPAN RAIL CAFÉ at Tokyo Station, and the TAKANAWA GATEWAY Travel Service Center at Takanawa Gateway Station.

JR East also notes that sales are temporarily halted at Kashiwa, Kawasaki, Tachikawa, Ōmiya, Funabashi, Fukushima and Niigata stations, so don't plan around those.

The card comes loaded with ¥1,000, ¥2,000, ¥3,000, ¥4,000, ¥5,000 or ¥10,000. That amount is all usable balance, because there's no deposit. If you also buy a discount pass to load onto the card at the same time, you pay for the pass together with the card.

Where it works, and where it doesn't

Welcome Suica works on JR lines, subways and buses around Tokyo, including the Tokyo Monorail to Haneda Airport. It also works in the Sendai, Niigata, Aomori, Morioka and Akita areas, and in parts of Hokkaido, the Tokai region, West Japan and Kyushu. In shops, look for the IC card logos at convenience stores, restaurants, vending machines and coin lockers.

On buses, tap the reader both when you get on and when you get off. Limited express, express and Green Car rides need a separate ticket bought in advance.

Some discount passes can be loaded onto a Welcome Suica: the NONBIRI Holiday Suica Pass, the Tokyo Metropolitan District Pass (Tokunai Pass), the Yokohama-Minatomirai Pass and the Tokyo 1-Day Ticket. For other passes, see our rail pass guide.

Welcome Suica Mobile: what you need

• Device: an iPhone with iOS 17.2 or later (Apple Watch Series 3 or later is also listed). JR East says the app only works on Apple Pay-supported devices, and some iOS and watchOS versions aren't supported.
• Age: you must be 13 or older to use the app.
• Top-ups: with a credit card you've added to Apple Pay. You don't type card details into the app.
• Country restrictions: JR East says downloading the app and topping up are restricted by law in some countries. The app also asks for your location to check whether you can add money. In some cases, you can only finish setting up and top up after you arrive in Japan.

Android: there's no Android version yet. JR East announced in April 2026 that a Welcome Suica Mobile app for Samsung Galaxy phones is planned for the first half of 2027. It says compatible models and release regions will be announced later, and that the leftover balance on that version won't be refundable either. Until then, Android users should get the physical card.

Shinkansen with Welcome Suica Mobile (Touch de Go!)

JR East says Welcome Suica Mobile can be used for non-reserved seats on its shinkansen through Touch de Go! Shinkansen, with no registration needed. You go through the shinkansen gate with your phone, and the fare comes off your balance when you exit at your destination. It covers Tokyo–Morioka on the Tohoku Shinkansen, Tokyo–Niigata and Tokyo–GALA Yuzawa on the Joetsu Shinkansen, and Tokyo–Joetsu Myoko on the Hokuriku Shinkansen.

• Hayabusa, Hayate, Komachi and Tsubasa have no non-reserved seats, so this doesn't work on them, except for some limited cases listed by JR East.
• It doesn't work on trains running through Morioka (to Shin-Aomori or Akita) or through Fukushima (to Shinjo).
• JR East notes that on some sections, the fare can be higher than with a paper ticket.

Heading to Kyoto or Osaka instead? That's JR Central's Tokaido Shinkansen, so see our shinkansen guide.

Which one should you get?

Things to watch out for

• Leftover balance is never refunded. JR East is clear on this for both the card and the app, whatever the balance and whether or not the card has expired. Top up in small amounts near the end of your trip, and spend what's left on the way home.
• 28 days means 28 days, including the day you buy it. Ignore the "GOOD THRU" date on the back. It is not the expiry date. If you're staying longer than four weeks, the app (180 days) or a regular Suica fits better.
• Top-ups are cash only. You can top up as many times as you like while the card is valid, up to a ¥20,000 balance, at ticket vending machines and fare adjustment machines with the Welcome Suica mark. Only yen are accepted, and credit cards can't be used to top up.
• A lost card can't be reissued. The money on it is gone, so don't load more than you need.
• Note the card number. If the card stops working, JR East can refund the balance using the 17-digit number starting with "JE" on the back. If that number can't be read, there's no refund. Take a photo of the back on day one. You apply at a JR EAST Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) in a Suica area and get a refund certificate. The refund is paid from the day after you apply, up to 14 days after the card's validity ends. Bring the card and the certificate.
• Keep the reference paper. You get a paper when you buy the card. JR East asks you to carry it and show it if staff ask. If you lose it, it can be reprinted at ticket machines in the Suica area or by station staff.
• One card per person. JR East sells, in principle, only one Welcome Suica to each person.
• Children's cards need ID. There's a child version at child fares. You need the child's ID, such as a passport, when buying, even if a family member buys it, and the machine asks for the child's date of birth. It can be used until the March 31 after the child's 12th birthday. If someone over that age uses it, they pay the adult fare plus a penalty of twice that fare.
• You can't ride across areas in one trip. For example, you can't go from the Tokyo area to the Sendai area on the card. Buy a ticket in advance for that kind of trip, or for anywhere outside the card's area.
• No shopping in PiTaPa areas. JR East says Welcome Suica can't be used at stores in PiTaPa areas.
• Coin lockers: you can't split a locker payment between the card and cash. Always take the receipt, because it shows where the locker is and who to contact.
• App users: download the app before you fly, but expect to finish setup after landing if your country restricts it.

Landing soon? See our Narita and Haneda guides, and our eSIM guide so the app has data on arrival.