Help Desk

Mobile Transit and Payment Guides for Japan

Mobile SuicaAll aspects of using the Apple Pay Suica ecosystem Mobile TicketsLinked mobile ticket services to use with Apple Pay Suica Mobile Payments Note: A major limitation of the blog format is navigating and finding information scattered on backdated posts, I’m listing major guides here and will update this pinned […]

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Apple

Japan inbound Apple Maps user rush…not

With the cheap yen and visitors flooding Japan, social media sites are overflowing with itinerary and transit questions. Should I get a JR PASS or not, how much cash do I need, and most of all: where can I get a Suica? The ongoing Suica • PASMO shortage, coming up […]

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Mobile Transit

Disability fare Suica and Eki-Net Services

I have been wanting to write about Disability Fare Suica/PASMO ever since the service started in March 2023. When I lived in Osaka my deaf friends always used the staffed gate as they had to show the half-fare ticket (child’s fare) with their Osaka city issue disability ID. Disability fare […]

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Japan Journal

When did we stop reading album credits?

The “How the Collapse of CD Sales Crashed the Music Industry” YouTube hosts make a good point that nobody bothers with band member names anymore. When did we stop taking the time to remember them? I don’t know about anybody else but I stopped reading album credits or remembering band […]

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Mobile Transit

JR Shinkansen ticket disinformation

When westerners first visited Edo, soon to be renamed Tokyo, most of them looked down on local fire fighters as backward and ill-equipped for the job. Only a few took the time to carefully observe and slowly grew to appreciate how the Tobishoku fire brigades stripped roof tiles and pulled […]

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