When you pass through transit gates in Japan they make a beep. Everybody knows that but did you know the number of beeps and the length of the beeps have different meanings?
Suica gate sounds
It’s helpful knowing basic transit gate alert and alarm sounds and what they mean. The basic Suica sound is what JR East calls ‘pi’ not beep because it designed to sound like a chirping bird.
Rapid double ‘pi-pi’ is the basic Suica sound. At the gate it means the card was read and you are good to go. You’ll hear the same Suica double ‘pi-pi’ sound when paying at stores or vending machines.
Single ‘pi’ at the gate: your Suica card was read properly and you are good to go. Commuter pass users will also hear a single ‘pi’ at entrance / exit gates within their pass route that indicate the pass is valid and no Suica balance was deducted.
When a problem happens pay attention to the alert or alarm sound and confirm problem details on the gate status screen. Alerts and alarms are the same all over Japan and come in 3 categories:
1. Misread alert: 5 rapid ‘pi-pi-pi-pi-pi’ with flashing red lights shown in the video below (2 rapid misreads in this case) means the gate could not read the Suica and you need to tap again.
2. Transit fare / payment error: a long ‘pi’ followed by the bing-bong sound is the most common general alarm and means something is wrong with the transit fare, either the Suica card balance is too low to pay and you need to add money, or some other adjustment needs to be made, such as trying to enter a station gate with the Suica card still ‘In Progress’ from a previous unpaid transit, or an expired commuter pass. All JR East gates announce the specific problem in Japanese, newer gates announce in Japanese followed by English (“Please top up”, “Please see staff for assistance”, “Please step back and touch your IC card or insert your ticket”, etc.).
3. Fare Evasion Alarm: when the gate detects a person going through without tapping Suica or inserting a ticket, it will sound the infamous ‘rainbow’ sound with multiple color flashing lights. Back up and tap Suica or insert a ticket. An interesting point is that the alarm doesn’t trigger with small children going through wth a parent. Children 6 and under are free, only two children can go through with one fare paying adult at a time.
Another interesting side point is the Japanese word for train fare evasion: “kiseru”, literally pipe, specially the Edo era traditional tobacco pipe seen in period dramas. But why kiseru? Blowing smoke right? As in you’re just blowing smoke, pretending to have something you don’t have. In this case acting like you have a train ticket when you do not.
One last thing. Your Suica has a sound notification option for special gate reader feedback. JR East calls this audio guidance as it was originally for blind users but is handy for everyone. When turned on you’ll hear a triple ‘pi-pi-pi’ at the exit gate or store reader when the Suica card balance drops below ¥1,000. I find this option very useful as the triple pi-pi-pi catches your attention but doesn’t trip you up. A gentle reminder that the balance is running low, time to add money. The plastic card guide is below. Mobile Suica users can ask station gate staff to enable audio guidance by placing your device on the reader. The Japanese name for the setting is 音声案内 “onsei annai”. You won’t regret turning it on.
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