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I believe it is the case that US (at least) iPhones work as IC cards in Japan Source - I’m sitting in Kyoto right now having travelled all over Tokyo and then

I believe it is the case that US (at least) iPhones work as IC cards in Japan Source - I’m sitting in Kyoto right now having travelled all over Tokyo and then on to Kyoto using only my phone to interact with Japan Rail. Verified with two 16Es and a 12. In fact we were able to add the Suica cards to our phones and charge them fromApplePay while still stateside. That let us skip the Welcome Suica line at Haneda and go straight to the monorail. Highly recommended

cosmic_cheese 1y ago
Yes, all iPhones and Apple Watches carry the functionality regardless of where you buy them, which has been wonderful for me. The fact that the iOS Wallet app can generate these cards as needed and reload them without a third party app is a cherry on top — so nice to for once get a standardized UI instead of having to deal with some half baked transit service app.
- notpushkin 1y ago
  I believe Google is trying to do that with their Wallet/Pay/Wallet app, but I guess it doesn’t support FeliCa yet? They do support some weird card formats, so I guess they have at least some flexibility there – no idea why they can’t add it, too.
lxgr 1y ago
A broadly supported tap-to-pay fare system is such an underrated accessibility win for public transit when traveling. Many tourists already get intimidated by language barriers and inscrutable timetables and transit routes; add tariff complexity (and the chance of getting charged with fare evasion!), and many just end up taking a taxi. With these stored-value systems, you pretty much don't have to ever worry about doing anything wrong as long as you properly tapped in (and have the necessary cash to top up the card at the exit turnstile if you ended up "overdrafting" your card). Now the remaining complexity is learning about and getting the card in the first place, and Apple Wallet really does an amazing job there in Japan. Not even having to install an app or create any account is absolutely amazing.
- wahnfrieden 1y ago
  You can now make cards and top up from inside Apple Wallet (even with a non Japanese phone or account)
  - dwood_dev 1y ago
    Not sure if it's still the case, but last year I could only top up with my AmericanExpress in Apple Wallet. Neither Visa nor MasterCard worked. This was a widespread issue at the time.
    - lxgr 1y ago
      I had no issues with either Visa or Mastercard last year, but I believe I went just after that issue was resolved.
    - cosmic_cheese 1y ago
      FWIW I reloaded the Suica on my iPhone a few times in the past 2-3 weeks using my Apple Card (Mastercard) as the funding source and it worked fine.
  - lxgr 1y ago
    Yes, it's great! My point is that Apple's implementation solves all these challenges, sorry if that wasn't clear.

cosmic_cheese 1y ago

Yes, all iPhones and Apple Watches carry the functionality regardless of where you buy them, which has been wonderful for me. The fact that the iOS Wallet app can generate these cards as needed and reload them without a third party app is a cherry on top — so nice to for once get a standardized UI instead of having to deal with some half baked transit service app.

notpushkin 1y ago
I believe Google is trying to do that with their Wallet/Pay/Wallet app, but I guess it doesn’t support FeliCa yet? They do support some weird card formats, so I guess they have at least some flexibility there – no idea why they can’t add it, too.

lxgr 1y ago

A broadly supported tap-to-pay fare system is such an underrated accessibility win for public transit when traveling. Many tourists already get intimidated by language barriers and inscrutable timetables and transit routes; add tariff complexity (and the chance of getting charged with fare evasion!), and many just end up taking a taxi. With these stored-value systems, you pretty much don't have to ever worry about doing anything wrong as long as you properly tapped in (and have the necessary cash to top up the card at the exit turnstile if you ended up "overdrafting" your card). Now the remaining complexity is learning about and getting the card in the first place, and Apple Wallet really does an amazing job there in Japan. Not even having to install an app or create any account is absolutely amazing.

wahnfrieden 1y ago
You can now make cards and top up from inside Apple Wallet (even with a non Japanese phone or account)
- dwood_dev 1y ago
  Not sure if it's still the case, but last year I could only top up with my AmericanExpress in Apple Wallet. Neither Visa nor MasterCard worked. This was a widespread issue at the time.
  - lxgr 1y ago
    I had no issues with either Visa or Mastercard last year, but I believe I went just after that issue was resolved.
  - cosmic_cheese 1y ago
    FWIW I reloaded the Suica on my iPhone a few times in the past 2-3 weeks using my Apple Card (Mastercard) as the funding source and it worked fine.
- lxgr 1y ago
  Yes, it's great! My point is that Apple's implementation solves all these challenges, sorry if that wasn't clear.