The recent JR Group announcement (JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR Kyushu) that their separate online ticket reservation systems (Eki-Net, EX, e5984, JR KYUSHU Train Reservation) would finally start […]
Mobile Transit
Different expansion strategies for JR East Suica and JR West ICOCA
Sometimes there are advantages in being late to a party. JR East Suica and JR West ICOCA are following different regional service expansion strategies with JR West leveraging their late […]
Mobile Payments
Kyodo ‘exclusive’ report claims some old FeliCa chips are vulnerable
The Kyodo News agency published a report on August 28 claiming that some types of FeliCa chips shipped before 2017 are vulnerable and may be tampered with for certain operations. […]
Help Desk
Maintenance Notice
Many things changed during COVID: the Japan scene, the transit scene, the payments scene. Reader interest in what I was writing about pretty much evaporated in 2023, never to return. […]
Mobile Payments
Can Japan stop the VISA squeeze?
It’s been a long time coming but VISA Japan has finally come under scrutiny from the Japan Fair Trade Commission for breaking Japan’s anti-monopoly act, telling VISA to reform their […]