Getting a suica card on your phone is super easy as a tourist, easy to charge up using a credit card attached to ApplePay or whatever the google equiv is. The only issue is if you are traveling with a kid who needs children fares, then you actually need a physical card.

Maybe it's different on iOS but it is impossible on Android to use unless you have a Japanese credit card with a Japanese address. There seems to be no way to even use a foreign credit card to add money to an IC card. Had to relent on getting the cash back on my Sapphire and just top up with cash my last trip.

I'm just glad most of the machines allow for 10 yen increments now, so I can just dump in coins I get from the rare place that doesn't accept credit cards nowadays.

I heard that was also a restriction for Apple a few months before I went on my trip, but by August 2023 it wasn’t anymore. Maybe the same is true for Android? If not, that’s a super weird limitation of Android. It definitely doesn’t exist now on a iPhone. My wife and I were able to use and load phone-based suica cards without issue.

Apple has supported FeliCa globally since 2017. Android still doesn’t. It’s not a restriction someone can remove; the non-Japanese phones just don’t have either the hardware or license necessary.

I tried and it was completely impossible in January of this year.

I didn't bother trying in November. Maybe they got rid of the restriction recently due to the Pasmo shortage.

That was a problem with foreign Visa cards only, no? AMEX and MasterCard worked. It was the same on Apple devices, but it might be fixed in the latest iOS update.

Can confirmed fixed in latest iOS update. However, very high chance Visa will label as fraud, so need to call them.

As far as I know, you still can't tap to pay with e.g. a Pixel unless you bought it in Japan or it was flashed with a JP image.

https://atadistance.net/2023/10/05/the-state-of-pixel-global...

Works fine everywhere (e.g. FamilyMart) with Apple devices not purchased in Japan. Source: I was there

It's super easy but it's still an extra thing to do. For an occasional user such as a tourist it would be much better if you could use your existing payment instrument rather than having to buy a local, purpose-specific one.

Beg to disagree. I visited Japan as a tourist and even if you stay for two days the number of times you will use the subway in, say Tokyo makes the 2 minute setup totally superior to your credit card.

I was in Japan this summer and could not get Suica on my phone , has that changed in the last few weeks?