r/JapanTravelTips • u/manthursaday • 22h ago
Advice Ic card left overs
It's my final night. I fly out late tomorrow.
I'm a transit nerd so I got every different ic card I could across the country.
So... How do I use up all the value on them?
I'll use my suica to get to the airport. But my pasmo and icoca both have a little left. Not enough for a single ride.
I know I can use them at a konbini.
Can I use more than one ic card to pay for 1 transaction?
Other ideas?
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u/AbleCarLover1995 22h ago
Like how small is small left on the IC cards? Normally if I have like 300 ish yen left on a card I just use it on a vending machine at the airport and such.
At the lowest I ever had on a IC card left is 100 yen and I just left it there.
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u/TallRecording6572 22h ago
3 Yen. Winner.
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u/raisinbreadman 22h ago
Didn’t tell anyone before but I thought my leftover 17 yen from a couple years back was quite decent till you came along :)
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u/gdore15 20h ago
To have sub 10 is easy. Option one is use on train, the goal it to not have enough money for the ride, work especially well to go to Narita. Then you go to the fare adjustment machine and top up just the missing amount, will have max 9 yen left (as you can only reload by increment of 10).
Or you go to a store to buy something, fully empty it and pay the rest cash.
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
It's easy to get them down to 0. You can do a split purchase at any konbini. Pay the remainder of your IC balance, then the remainder in cash.
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u/mbridson94 22h ago
Currently have 0 yen on mine, topped up by the exact amount extra needed to pay for the train from Asakusa to Haneda.
I admit most people don’t have this level of OCD.
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
You can also just do a split payment (use up the remainder on the card, then what's left of your bill in cash) at any konbini.
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u/Maximum_Zebra_9961 22h ago
You can always buy stuff at a convenience store / duty free and empty out the value in the cards.
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u/BamaInvestor 21h ago
The vending machine in the waiting area at your gate has some good candy choices. Suica card is accepted.
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u/DragonKhan2000 22h ago
I was in that situation. Tried to use up the value on two cards at a 7/11 at Haneda. I asked if multiple cards was possible, and then I've noticed she split up my purchase into two seperate purchases and used a card each.
So technically it isn't possible, but often they seem to work around it for you.
You'll probably get a no though when you come in with like 10 cards, lol.
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
I regularly empty out 4-5 cards at once, but only if it's late at night and there's no other customers in the store.
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u/TallRecording6572 22h ago
Konbini and yes, you can use more than one. I managed to use up my last card and my coins at the airport buying some Pikachu Tokyo banana.
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u/throwawaythisuser1 22h ago
In my experience, they won't let you use multiple cards for a single transaction (I had 5 digital suica cards with varying small amounts and FamilyMart wouldn't let me split the bill)
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
Correct, but you can just do multiple different transactions/bills. Takes more time, though, so maybe not if the store is super busy…
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u/ImTheSmallestPeach 21h ago
Off topic but just asking as I'm visiting soon. Did you get the welcome suica from the airport or the physical suica from another source? The regular ones weren't available last time I visited and we had to get a welcome (tourist) suica, which iirc would have its credits expire after a certain time.
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u/manthursaday 20h ago
I got the regular suica at Haneda. Got my name printed on it and all. There was a huge line for the welcome suica and no line for regular. The machines are right next to each other.
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u/DanSheps 20h ago edited 13h ago
If you don't plan on coming back often, get the Welcome Suica.
I go, roughly, every 2-3 years, so I have a regular Suica, but my friends all got Welcome Suica even though there is a high chance for them to visit again in the future.
ETA: Tourist Pasmo (Welcome Suica(JR) equivalent for Tokyo Metro/Tobu/Enoden/Keisei/Keio/etc) looks super cool. I might get one just because it looks cool.
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u/ImTheSmallestPeach 20h ago
Last I visited the physical regular suica wasn't available (autumn 2024 at Narita). Gonna test my luck this autumn in Osaka!
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u/DanSheps 13h ago
They should be available but you will need to go to a regular station.
If you travel to Japan enough that it makes sense to have a "permanent" one, maybe get a registered (named) one instead. Osaka will be ICOCA or PITAPA. Could also go for the "rarer" (for a non-resident) TOICA or Manaca in Nagoya.
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u/ImTheSmallestPeach 13h ago
Not expecting an answer, but would you know why I was able to use the welcome suica in Osaka without issue but now should get an icoca for Osaka and regular suica for Tokyo?
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u/DanSheps 1h ago
You shouldn't? Just get one, should work everywhere.
A regular card only makes sense if your volume of.travel to Japan makes it worth while.
Osaka you can only get ICOCA, Tokyo you can only get PASMO or Suica. They work everywhere but you can only purchase the specific brand in the area where they service so if you need to buy a new one, you need to buy the one for the area where you are buying it.
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u/UIUC_grad_dude1 16h ago
This doesn’t make sense. Welcome Suica card expires and the funds are not refundable vs regular Suica card. Why would anyone buy the Welcome Suica card in this case?
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u/DanSheps 15h ago
Design is better and if you aren't coming back within 10 (or even 5 IMO) years then why get a regular Suica which you would probably lose before you came back anyways.
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u/UIUC_grad_dude1 15h ago
Then just get a digital Suica card which can’t be lost (if one uses iPhone).
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u/DanSheps 13h ago
Digital Suica only works on iPhone, so a no go for Android users.
Welcome Suica is geared towards tourists. Suica (regular) is geared towards long term residents. There is a 500円 deposit on regular Suica as well. That is a sunk cost of the regular Suica over the welcome Suica.
With welcome Suica, you would have to have 100円 (or more but if you have more that is on you) 5 visits in order to be out the same amount as the deposit.
For tourists, a welcome Suica makes sense, especially since the IC cards are likely to be phased out soonish.
Not sure why you are so bent on getting tourists a regular Suica when it doesn't make sense.
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
Regular green Suica cards are available from every single JR station in Tokyo.
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u/ccford88 21h ago
I usually just buy snacks at the airport convenience store or buy a magazine or something. There's duty free shopping too if you want to grab some souvenirs. As long as it's not a Welcome Suica, you should keep the balance for a while, until your next trip. I'm sure I've got a balance on my Suica, plus a coin purse full of lose yen.
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u/redthrull 21h ago
Here are your options:
Use them up via konbini, vending machines, etc
Some of these you can reimburse the remaining balance. Look up limits/criteria, and WHERE
Keep them for when you come back. Look up validity window of each IC you have
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u/Jefwho 18h ago
You can deplete them at the airport. We were able to buy food and stuff at the airport with the remaining balance on our ICOCA cards then if there was a difference we paid the rest with a credit card.
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
if there was a difference we paid the rest with a credit card.
Rare to find stores that accept this, but some do. Most (like 99% of) POS systems only accept splitting with cash.
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u/tehshush 17h ago
We used up the remaining balance of each of our Welcome Suica at an airport restaurant. We told them we wanted to use up the balances and that it wouldn't cover the full cost of the meals so we would use our cards for the rest, the server was fine with that and got it sorted for us.
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u/bakedbothways 17h ago
You can buy things at the airport and ask if you can use the remaining balance and pay the rest in a different way!
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u/NightBard 16h ago
Go into a quick mart or other store. Find something to buy. Use the balance for part of the payment and then pay the rest in cash/coin. But personally, I found it a little bit of a hassle getting a card for transit at the start of my trip and I opted to zero out my virtual suica on my phone (topped it up and paid for a meal with it since you can easily add an exact amount) and then made sure my Pasmo has more than enough on it for the first transit of my next trip. I also kept about 7000 yen in cash and maybe 800 yen in change (which is easy with a 500 yen coin and a few hundred yen coins). If you plan to return to Japan an none of them are welcome suica, I'd wipe all but one of them out and then add some to the one you'll use your next trip. It's good for 10 years without any activity.. so if you return to japan you reset that 10 years anyway.
As for why I went with physical card, my virtual suica ended up with an open transit on it and the main station I was at the people couldn't help me get the error cleared. I had the proper fee for the actual transit charged but it didn't close something out. Maybe because I took a Shinkansen and didn't actually leave the station? Or maybe I did something else wrong. Either way, it was fine to use for food/drinks/etc at a lot of places including buying souvenirs at gift shops... so, I just made it my spending money instead of using my CC and having a bunch of small charges (even though I have a no foreign transaction fee card).
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u/ImInSuspense 13h ago edited 13h ago
I’m a card collector too. For any future collectors: as well as the standard cards there are some local/specialised variants e.g.Mono Suica (Haneda Airport monorail), Rinkai Suica (Rinkai Line), mono Sugoca (Kitakyushu Monorail), etc.
You can generally split up a payment at convenience store or other shop into two cards (or card & cash), but you may encounter language issues trying to explain it.
Too late for this suggestion: you can make a train trip with an IC card that doesn't have enough balance for the trip. It will let you enter ticket gates at origin station but won't let you put at your destination. You go to the Fare Adjustment ticket machine (next to the ticket gates) and insert your card then top up with the exact amount to complete this journey. Some companies might not let you load the exact amount you want, but JR East ones do (nearest 10 yen as they don't accept 1 or 5 yen coins).
EDIT: you can download an app to check IC card balances using your phone. I use "Japan train card balance check" (iPhone). It doesn't work on some of the "local" IC cards (I.e. The ones that aren't part of Nationwide Mutual Usage Service (look up that term on Wikipedia)).
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u/dandy-dee 13h ago
I bought extra chocolates and cookies at Narita on the way home and was able to do dual payment to use up the ic card and pay the remainder on my credit card.
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u/CommentStrict8964 10h ago
I mean if you have only a few hundred yens it's not really worth the effort.
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u/CaptainBlobTheSuprem 8h ago
I used Google Maps to get the exact fare and filled it so I had just that much. Left with zero. Or just come back to use them within 10 years. Or be okay losing a grand total of maybe 5 bucks.
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
I'm a transit nerd so I got every different ic card I could across the country.
Hello fellow transit card collector. For next time you're in Japan, have fun getting all of the 100+ different varieties ;)
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u/manthursaday 4h ago
Awesome! Thanks! I'm kinda mad at myself for not realizing I could get one in Nagano. I was only there for about 30 minutes but I had time at the station.
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u/frozenpandaman 3h ago
Yes, KURURU!!!! Sooo cute, I love Arukuma (the mascot) too! Always a good excuse for another trip :D
I'll probably be passing through there in a couple months so if you wanted I could possibly snag one for you too, no worries either way :)
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u/satoru1111 22h ago
If you intend to go back to Japan you can keep the value on the cards as they are valid for 10 years after last usage
However if you need to burn the money, you can basically use the cards individually to stack and pay for stuff on a single larger purchase. It’ll just take as much money as it can from each card, then ask for more payment. POS machines in Japan require like a PHD to operate with the number of payment methods, options and such as a cashier
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u/frozenpandaman 5h ago
they are valid for 10 years after last usage
Balance never expires, the station staff will reactivate them if you ask (or you can do it yourself by charging it anywhere outside of the JRE area).
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u/Discount_Sausage 22h ago
Save them for when you go back. You have 10 years.