Tokyo, 20 February, /AJMEDIA/
Whether you’re traveling in Japan or living in the country, one of the most useful things to have in your wallet is a Suica or Pasmo card. These prepaid cards originally started out as methods for paying for train and subway tickets. Simply tap the card at the turnstile when entering the station, then again when exiting at your destination station, and the necessary funds will automatically be deducted. When your card gets low, just insert it into a terminal and refill the funds using either cash or your credit card, and you’re back in action.
It wasn’t long until Suica/Pasmo compatibility was expanded beyond rail tickets, though, and now they can be used to quickly and conveniently make purchases at a huge number of restaurants and shops in Japan, plus to buy drinks and snacks from the nation’s ubiquitous vending machines. However, in June of 2023 Pasmo Co and JR East, who administer the Pasmo and Suica systems, were forced to stop issuing new cards due to a semiconductor shortage which prevented them from acquiring the necessary materials for the cards’ embedded IC chips.
Thankfully, though, JR East and Pasmo Co have finally sorted out their supply chain problems, and have jointly announced that they’ll be simultaneously resuming the issue of new unregistered Suica and Pasmo cards, which require no disclosure of personal information, next week.