How do I buy a train ticket in Japan?
Don't. Buy an IC card instead — Suica, Pasmo and ICOCA are interchangeable nationwide — and stop working out fares altogether. Top it up with cash at any machine, lay it flat on the reader at the gate, tap in and tap out. If you underpay, the fare adjustment machine before the gate fixes it in ten seconds.
The ritual, in order
What to do at the machine, and what to do at the gate
Buy the card, not the ticket
Suica, Pasmo, ICOCA and the rest are one system — a card bought in Tokyo works in Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo. Buy it from a ticket machine with an IC logo, or from the staffed office. There has normally been a ¥500 deposit on top of whatever you load.
Charge it with cash — this is the stumble
Almost no machine will top up an IC card with a credit card. Press チャージ (chāji), pick an amount, and feed notes in. ¥1,000, ¥5,000 and ¥10,000 notes and coins are taken; foreign cards are not.
Lay the card flat on the pad
It never goes into a slot. The reader is the flat panel on top of the gate, on your right as you walk through, and the card sits on it face up for about a second. Your remaining balance flashes up as you pass.
Tap in, and tap out
The fare is worked out at the far end, so an entry with no matching exit will lock the card. The gates stand open and slap shut in front of you if something is wrong — that shape of failure is normal and nobody looks up.
If the gate shuts, use the fare adjustment machine
精算機 (seisanki) sits just before the gates. Put the card on it, feed in the difference, take the card back. It is the designed path for an underpaid fare, not a penalty, and it takes about ten seconds.
For the Shinkansen, you need a separate ticket
An IC card alone will not get you onto a bullet train or a limited express. You need a base fare ticket and a limited express ticket, bought at the green ticket office or the reserved-seat machine, and both go through the gate together.
What they will ask you
At the counter, when the machine has beaten you
The staffed window at the end of the gate row is the answer to every problem in this section. These are the questions you get there.
| You’ll hear | It means | Say |
|---|---|---|
| いくらチャージしますか？Ikura chāji shimasu ka? | How much do you want to top up? | 千円Sen en — ¥1,000 |
| 現金だけです。Genkin dake desu. | Cash only. | わかりましたWakarimashita — understood |
| どちらまでですか？Dochira made desu ka? | Where are you travelling to? | 東京までTōkyō made — as far as Tokyo |
| 指定席と自由席、どちらですか？Shiteiseki to jiyūseki, dochira desu ka? | Reserved seat or unreserved? | 自由席でJiyūseki de — unreserved |
The card
One card, the whole country, no fares to work out
The reason to skip paper tickets is not convenience, it is that buying one requires you to know the fare before you know the route. A paper ticket machine wants you to find your destination on a wall map written in kanji, read the number next to it, and press that number. An IC card removes the entire problem: you tap in, you tap out, the right amount comes off.
The regional cards are interchangeable for travel almost everywhere it matters. Suica and Pasmo come from Tokyo, ICOCA from Osaka, and there are half a dozen more; any of them works on trains, subways and buses in the major cities, and at convenience stores, vending machines and coin lockers as well. Buy whichever one the machine in front of you sells.
The one thing to check before you rely on it: the 2023–2024 chip shortage meant unregistered Suica and Pasmo were suspended from sale for a period, and availability has come and gone since. Do not assume — ask at the ticket office when you land. Mobile Suica in Apple Wallet sidesteps the problem completely, and tops up with a foreign card.
Don't push the card into a slot. It never goes in — it lies flat on the pad on top of the gate, face up, for about a second, and forcing it into the paper ticket slot is how people jam a gate at rush hour.
Money
Why the top-up machine wants your cash
Carry more cash than feels reasonable. Card acceptance is far better than it was, but ticket machines, small counters and IC-card top-ups are still routinely cash-only, and the reliable foreign-card ATMs are in convenience stores.
For the station specifically: keep at least one ¥1,000 note for topping up, and load ¥2,000 to ¥3,000 for a day of ordinary city travel — single journeys are mostly ¥150 to ¥400. The maximum an IC card will hold is ¥20,000, and a machine will refuse a top-up that would take you over it.
If you are leaving and want the balance back, refunds are handled by the company that issued the card and only in its own region, and a handling fee of a couple of hundred yen has normally come off the remaining balance before the ¥500 deposit is returned. If there is any chance you will come back, keep the card. It does not expire for ten years.
Questions
The things people ask on the concourse
Suica, Pasmo or ICOCA — which one do I need?
Whichever the machine in front of you sells. They are interchangeable for travel across all the major cities, and the ¥500 deposit and the ¥20,000 balance ceiling are the same on each. The only real difference is which company holds your deposit if you ever hand the card back.
Can I top up with a credit card?
Almost never at a machine — topping up is cash only at the overwhelming majority of them, which is the single most common stumble in a Japanese station. Mobile Suica in Apple Wallet is the exception and takes a foreign card. Otherwise feed in a ¥1,000 note, or draw cash at a convenience store ATM.
What if the shop says they have no Suica cards?
It happens. The 2023–2024 chip shortage suspended sales of unregistered Suica and Pasmo for a period and availability has varied since, so ask at the ticket office rather than assuming. The Welcome Suica sold to visitors has run for 28 days, and mobile Suica in Apple Wallet needs no physical card at all.
The gate closed on me. What do I do?
Step aside, do not tap again. Find the fare adjustment machine — seisanki, 精算機 — just before the gates, put the card on it and pay the difference. Ten seconds. If it will not resolve, the staffed gate at the end of the row fixes it by hand and nobody there is annoyed.
Can I ride the Shinkansen on an IC card?
Not on its own. You need a base fare ticket plus a limited express ticket — Tokyo to Kyoto is roughly ¥14,000 in an unreserved seat. Buy both at the green-sign ticket office or the reserved-seat machine, put them through the gate together, and keep them until you leave the far station.
How much should I load onto the card?
¥2,000 to ¥3,000 covers an ordinary day in a city, where single journeys run ¥150 to ¥400. Top up when the balance flashing at the gate drops under about ¥500, because an insufficient balance is what shuts the gate on you at the far end.
What else does the card pay for?
Convenience stores, vending machines, station coin lockers, most city buses and a growing number of taxis. Say Suica de at a register and put the card on the pad. It is the fastest way to spend ¥180 on a coffee without counting coins.
Do I still need to know how a paper ticket machine works?
Only for the odd private line or a bus that has not joined the IC system. The pattern is the same as every other Japanese vending machine — money in first, then the buttons light — and it is covered on using a ticket vending machine. A ¥1,000 note works in every one of them.