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Comment by J_tt | Hacker News Reader

The IC card system is fantastic, and you can provision one on your phone without needing a physical card.

On iOS the integration with Apple wallet means you can top it up and provision it without even needing to install the app.

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The IC card system and how it became what it is today is a _fascinating_ topic, tied deeply with the superb automated gates at Japanese train stations in. I wonder if people would be interested in reading a longform-ish piece on these..

I mean, people enjoyed this piece on HN a bit ago, so I'm sure there's an audience. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30228327

I'm in OT and deal with train and airplane tech. Would definitely be interested.

This was my exact experience. Download Suica app, figure out that the 3rd option is "register without id/account", put 1000 yen in and go. Top off anytime with Apple Pay. Never had to fiddle with cash at the train station. Honestly one of the most convenient things about Japan.

You don’t even need the suica app. You can create a suica card within apple wallet and fund it immediately.

Yeah, the only hurdle I found was that it didn't accept international Visa cards, and only worked with my Mastercard.

Still incredible that I can now have a Suica ready to go before I even arrive in Tokyo, all using the Wallet app

Thanks but on Android I was getting "This item isn't available in your country". I tried to bypass Play Store and download the APK directly but was getting a bunch of errors. I am leaving tomorrow but I definitely will try to get an IC card/app next time I visit because manually purchasing tickets with cash all the time isn't great.

Android would not work anyways unless you have local phone or modified firmware as the FeliCa is usually disabled by default otherwise.

It has been a few years since I last looked, but most Android phones outside of the Japan market didn't have NFC hardware that was specced to meet the tighter Mifare timing tolerances required for the Japanese version of the spec (iirc the phone had, like 1/10th the time to respond back vs US readers). On the other hand, every modern iPhone sold globally was specced to be able to support the Japanese variant of Mifare (and thus could have Suica in Apple Wallet).

Has to be verified unrooted phones, which are mostly local Android phones + ALL iPhone 8/SE2 or later. e.g. SC-02K and SCV38 will work but SM-G960N won't. By the way, commuter passes works as regular cards outside of specified routes or valid-thru dates, so long it has seen use within last 10 years.

Apple adds FeliCa and NFC radios to all iPhones worldwide. Only Android phones sold in Japan have FeliCa radios, worldwide models only have a NFC radio.

It won't work on Android with a foreign phone because your phone doesn't have the Felica chip. All Japanese Android phones have this chip, and all Apple phones worldwide have it, so the iPhone users don't have this problem.

Suica working with the standard wallet app alone and being able to reload from a US MasterCard makes it hard to beat for convenience. Don’t even have to stop at a ticket machine or ATM to top up, just be sure to pull funds from a card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.

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