Verified in Japan

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Transportation · 公開 2026-09-29 · 更新 2026-09-29

事実の最終確認 2026-09-29 · 次の見直し 2026-12-01

Transit IC cards for visitors to Japan: Tourist PASMO, ICOCA and how they work

A transit IC card lets you tap through ticket gates and pay on buses and in shops. Here is what the official pages say about Tourist PASMO (no deposit, 28 days) and ICOCA's visitor card, and how to top up.

A close-up of a row of automatic ticket gates
Photo: Michal Dziekonski / Pexels

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A transit IC card is a prepaid card you touch on the reader at ticket gates, on buses and at many shops. It saves you from working out fares and counting coins. JNTO's train guide notes that different railway companies issue different cards, and that most of them work across many services and cities in Japan.

This article covers two cards made for visitors, from the official pages we could check on 2026-09-29.

Tourist PASMO (Tokyo area airports)

From the official PASMO site:

  • A special IC card for international visitors.
  • No deposit, and no refunds. Value you add is not refunded; you can keep the card as a souvenir.
  • Valid for 28 days from the date of purchase.
  • Sold at Haneda Airport (Keikyu) and Narita Airport (Keisei). At Haneda, the travelers' ticket machines take credit cards, and the site lists amounts from 1,000 to 10,000 yen there. The site says the price differs depending on where you buy it.
  • Tap it at ticket gates for trains, and on the reader inside buses.
  • Top up at station ticket machines with cash, on buses (1,000-yen notes only), and at convenience stores and some shops. A card cannot be topped up if the balance would go over 20,000 yen (10,000 yen on buses).
  • Keep the reference paper you get with the card. It shows the expiry date and other details.
  • A lost Tourist PASMO cannot be reissued.

ICOCA (JR West, Kansai area)

From JR West's English page:

  • ICOCA works on railways and buses across Japan, and as electronic money at stores that show the IC mark.
  • It can be topped up and used again and again. ICOCA is also available on Apple Pay for iPhone.
  • JR West sells an original-design ICOCA for foreign visitors at the JR ticket office (Midori-no-madoguchi) at Kansai Airport Station, for 2,000 yen including a 500-yen deposit.
  • To buy it, you need a passport issued by a government other than Japan, and you must be visiting under "Temporary Visitor" (短期滞在) status. JR West notes that Japanese nationals cannot buy it, even with permanent residence abroad.

Which should you get?

  • Arriving at Haneda or Narita for a short trip: Tourist PASMO is designed for this, with no deposit to return.
  • Arriving at Kansai Airport: the visitor ICOCA is sold at the airport station.
  • Either way, check the conditions on the official page on the day you buy. Card sales and designs change.

We could not open JR East's Welcome Suica page from our checking tool, so we have not included it here. We will add it when we can confirm the details on the official page.

Where IC cards do not work

JNTO's train guide notes that some areas and some transport, such as highway buses, do not accept IC cards. Look for the IC logo, and carry some cash as well. See Is Japan still cash only?.

Sources