Tag: Apple Pay PASMO

The Sad State of Apple Pay Suica Guides

Now that tourists are back in Japan it’s time to take a look at the state of Apple Pay Suica English language guides. Since AtaDistance is mostly one big Apple Pay Suica (and Apple Pay PASMO and soon to land Apple Pay ICOCA ) guide site, it’s also helpful to examine other guides in case I’m missing something. My basic stance is one size does not fit all. The more guides that are out there, the better. But with conditions: is the guide accurate, is it up to date, easy to understand, and so on.

You might not realize it but the Apple Pay Suica landscape has changed quite a bit since the 2016 launch on iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2. At the time Suica was limited to Japanese models and plastic Suica card transfer to Wallet. Suica App was the only way to add a digital card. Here’s what has changed:

  • 2017: Global NFC support in all iPhone 8 / Apple Watch Series 3. Any model sold in any country can add and use Suica.
  • 2018: Express Transit Mode Cards with Power Reserve. iPhone XS/XR and later iPhone models all support Express Transit Mode Power Reserve, if the iPhone battery drains too far, Power Reserve mode kicks in and you have up to 5 hours of reserve battery to complete your transit. As regular non-Shinkansen Suica transit is limited to 2 hours from gate entry, 5 hours of Express Transit Power Reserve is more than enough to get you to the exit gate.
  • 2019: iOS 13 Wallet now has direct Suica add card support in Wallet. No more Suica App nonsense.
  • 2021: iOS 15 Wallet now has a region free add Transit Card category. No more device Region switching to Japan to add Suica or PASMO nonsense.

User guides are like underwear and socks, if not changed regularly, they stink. Be wary, most of the Apple Pay Suica guides out there are stinky outdated guides with obsolete and confusing information…road kill you must steer around. Let’s take at look at some and grade them using the trusty old US school report card format (A=excellent, B=good, C=fair, D=poor, F=fail).

  1. Apple Support Add a Suica or PASMO card to Apple Wallet (Grade: A+), the gold standard go to guide for adding Suica and PASMO. Not flashy or fancy but always up to date.
    Apple Support Use Suica or PASMO cards on iPhone or Apple Watch in Japan (Grade: B+), almost great but docked a notch for outdated Suica App information (Suica In App Shinkansen eTickets were eliminated in 2020).
  2. Japan Living Turn Your iPhone or Android into a Mobile Suica/PASMO IC Card (Grade: A-), a good iPhone guide, but as the majority of short term visitors don’t have an Osaifu-Keitai Android device, that part is less guide, more wishful thinking.
  3. GaijinPot How to Use a Mobile IC App (Grade: F), not only obsolete and incorrect when it was created in 2020, a lousy Suica App guide to boot.
  4. Travel Codex How to Add Your Japanese Suica Card to iPhone 8 or iPhone X (Grade: D), outdated plastic only Region changing nonsense, nothing about adding digital Suica.
  5. Tokyo Cheapo Setting up a virtual (mobile) Suica card in Japan (Grade: F), a cheapo worthless guide as the writer had no idea what they were writing about, mashing together Wallet and Suica App into one confusing mess.
  6. GaijinPot YouTube How To Use PASMO & SUICA with an iPhone For Commuting in Japan (Grade: D) decent guide for getting plastic Suica but still serving up confusing mobile information “some iPhones cannot be used” and so on, why not just say iPhone 8 and later? Garbage content creation.
  7. Smart Japan YouTube How to add transit card in your iphone (Grade: D), plastic narrated non-guide for transferring a plastic Suica. Not helpful.
  8. Automation Fixation YouTube Using Suica with iPhone and Apple Watch without Apple Pay (Grade: B+) Well done helpful video that covers all the basics with an unfortunate focus on transferring plastic Suica and cash recharge because the creator only has a VISA card. It’s important to remember that foreign issue VISA cards don’t for recharge because VISA, not JR East, is blocking them, use Mastercard or AMEX instead.

Other blogs with outdated or confusing Suica guidance to avoid: Swiss Mac User, Shutterwhale, Tap Down Under, Kevin Chen, HIS Malaysia, Hiroshi Sensei, and How to ride trains/busses cashless in Kansai that references the long dead SuicaEng app, but since it also references AtaDistance I have your ass covered. Long story short: most Apple Pay Suica guides are one offs that content creators tossed out and forgot about, vacuumed up by search engine bots. Use the Apple Support pages, they are easy to understand, guaranteed up to date and localized in many languages. You can’t go wrong. And if you want a deep dive into the Mobile Suica universe, there’s always my up to date user guides.

That said, even though the Apple Pay Suica side is very hit and miss, there are some fine Transit IC • Suica video guides focused on the plastic side. I highly recommend: SUICA CARD JAPAN | What’s the BEST CARD for TOURISTS? How to BUY-USE-TOP UP? JAPAN TRAVEL GUIDE as it covers the background and basic differences of choosing regular Suica or Welcome Suica.

Another handy guide is How to charge Mobile Suica with coins. Personally I only use Apple Pay Recharge and JR East station recharge kiosks, convenience stores, recharge ATMS only take paper bills. You’ll have to search but most non-JR East stations seem to have a mobile friendly recharge kiosk that takes coins. Handy for keeping your real wallet nice and slim.

The ¥10 barrier-free train station tax fare increase

The railway station barrier-free fee system is “a Japanese railway fare system established with the aim of promoting barrier-free railway stations in urban areas” by leveraging a fee on urban railway users in Tokyo, Kansai and Fukuoka areas. It is a barrier-free train station tax if you will, added to regular adult fare and commuter passes but generally not child fares or school commuter passes. The barrier-free tax will cover station infrastructure costs for adding platform doors, elevators, etc., to the designated metropolitan area stations.

From 2023-03-18 most railway companies in the Tokyo area, both JR East and non-JR, raised transit fares to pay this barrier-free station tax. Here is the breakdown for the Greater Tokyo area focusing on JR East.

Suica
A ¥10 fare increase for paper tickets and regular Suica/Transit IC cards In the JR East designated barrier-free tax zone. Suica Commute Plan increases within the same tax zone are listed below. The overall average fare increase is 1.4%.

The Barrier-Free fee increase to JR East regular adult fare and commuter passes in the designated tax zone

Non-JR East Tokyo area railway companies are raising regular fares by ¥10 but commuter passes are a different story.

While barrier-free stations are good thing and not a big tax to pay for all that new infrastructure, the timing could not be worse. Living costs are rising across the board, little increases add up, eating into salaries that are not rising much, if at all. Each transfer on a multiple transit line routes now has increased fare with each transit operator section. For example: my work commute uses JR East and Tokyu lines, the old fare was ¥419, new fare is ¥457.

To help ease the pain, JR East is offering Off-Peak Suica Commuter Passes (plastic)/Commute Plans (Mobile Suica), that offer a 10% discount with the following condition: Off-Peak passes are valid when used outside the designated peak time of the commute plan entry station. If you enter the start point station during peak time, your Suica Off-Peak commute pass is ignored and Suica balance is used to pay fare.

In real world use it simply means if you have an Suica Off-Peak Commuter Pass, don’t enter your start station during the station designed morning ‘Peak Time’ on work days. If you do the commuter pass doesn’t work. Any time outside of ‘Peak Time’ you are good to do. This is much better than the convoluted, often confusing Suica Off-Peak JRE POINT Campaign that ends March 31.

Apple Pay Suica users can purchase Off-Peak commute plans in an upcoming version of Suica App (v5.2.1), but you must purchase a new pass. Regular commute plans can only be renewed as regular commute plans, they cannot be migrated to off-peak plans. School commute plans and passes will not be charged the barrier-free tax which is good news. Another bonus: high school and jr. high school students can add and use Mobile Suica school commute plans staring March 18.

I migrated to an Off-Peak on March 18 and posted a video showing the cancellation~refund of a regular pass, and purchase of a new Off-Peak pass.

Suica App v5.2.1 coming this March will support Off-Peak and High School/Jr.High School student commute plans

PASMO
The situation for PASMO private rail and other non-JR East rail operators is varied:

Keio and Keikyu are raising fares later this year in October.

Regular adult fares are up ¥10 in line with JR East, some have also raised child fares by ¥10. Commuter passes are generally being raised more, and there are no off-peak commuter passes. Kansai area transit operators are raising fares on April 1, Fukuoka on March 27. Be sure to check how the fare and commuter pass increases apply to your local commute situation.

I have update the Apple Pay Suica • PASMO Commute Plan Guide with Suica Off-Peak Commute Plan details.

Related: How much does Suica Off-Peak Commuter Pass really save you?

Published 2023-01-15, Updated 2023-03-24

Eki-Net Mobile Ticket Quick Guide

Eki-Net ads compare paper tickets with cheaper mobile tickets featuring the Suzuki twins Mariya and Mina

Sections

JR East Mobile Ticket Basics
Eki-Net Discounts
JRE POINT Integration
Registration
Ticket Purchase
eTicket and Ticketless Use

Mobile Ticket Basics
The JR East online train ticket reservation system comes in 2 flavors: multi-lingual JR East Train Reservation for inbound visitors, and Japanese Eki-Net for domestic users. Both of these differently branded services share the same basic system, internet domain name and similar account registration process. However the accounts are not compatible as ticket menus, discounts and related services are different. Japanese Eki-Net is a sprawling travel service portal that covers everything from train tickets to package tours and car rentals, far too large to cover here. This guide is limited to setting up and using eTicket and Ticketless services of the Eki-Net Japanese web site and app, and using them with Apple Pay Suica which gives you the best value with JRE POINT integration.

To understand how and when to use Eki-Net, it helps to know the basic categories of JR East mobile ticketing:

  • Regular Train Lines
    • Suica (Transit IC cards) pays the station to station distance based fare using the Stored Fare balance of the card (SF).
    • Eki-Net Ticketless: Limited Express reserve seat mobile tickets (Narita Express, Azusa, Kaiji, Odoriko, etc.) used in combination with Suica to pay fare.
  • Shinkansen Lines
    • Touch and Go: a ticketless non-reserve Shinkansen option that uses Suica • Transit IC card SF for non-reserved seat travel on JR East Shinkansen lines. It works exactly the same as Suica for regular transit, no discounts but there are JRE POINT transit rewards for Suica. Free pre-registration required.
    • Eki-Net eTicket: a Shinkansen mobile ticket that bundles Shinkansen distance fare + Limited Express seat reservation in one eTicket attached to a Suica or Transit IC card. Eki-Net eTickets do not use the Suica SF balance but attaching an eTicket to Apple Pay Suica for example, makes for extremely convenient and seamless local train to Shinkansen connections with just iPhone or Apple Watch.

Eki-Net Tokudane discounts
One of the nice things about Eki-Net is that it offers the same discount rates to all Eki-Net users unlike the 2 tiered EX service which has smartEX with tiny discounts and EX-Press Reserve with large discounts.

Eki-Net discount eTicket and Ticketless are called ‘Tokudane’ and are reserve seat only. Tokudane eTickets are also limited in number for each each train and can disappear quickly. The general rule of thumb is, the bigger the discount, the faster they disappear. Tokudane Tickeless are limited to reserve seat capacity of the train and are easy to get at the last minute.

Eki-Net • JRE POINT Integration
Eki-Net is highly integrated with the JR East JRE POINT system and just like any ‘mileage club’ out there, ticket purchases come with JRE POINT rewards that can be turned around and used for ticket purchases and Green Car seat upgrades. Basic point rewards are earned with any Eki-Net registered credit card purchase. JR East VIEW CARD purchases earn extra JRE POINT rewards.

Eki-Net Registration
Registering and managing an Eki-Net account can only be done via the web site.

Go to the Eki-Net web site, tap register, go to the bottom of the welcome page, tap proceed

The Eki-Net registration YouTube video has a quick visual explanation of the steps:

Steps 3~5 (0:33~0:53) enter email address to receive the registration URL.
Step 6 (1:07) register name, address, phone number, account ID and password.
Step 7 (1:29) register a credit card. Foreign issue credit cards can be registered if 3-D Secure compliant.
Step 8 (1:50) register Mobile Suica or plastic card ID numbers (up to 6).
Step 9 (2:17) sign up or decline Eki-Net promo emails, confirm info and tap register (2:48).

Eki-Net Ticket Purchases
You can either use the Eki-Net website or Eki-Net app to search trains and purchase eTicket and Ticketless train tickets. You can bypass manual login with Eki-Net app that supports Face ID / Touch ID login, download Eki-Net from the Japanese App Store.

It’s helpful to know to know a few basics.

Step 1~2 (0:37) enter station points, date, departure time, number of people and tap search.
Step 3 (0:51) select the train.
Step 4~5 (1:05) select the seat type: eTicket non-reserve, Tokudane discount (reserve), Green Car, JRE POINT Green Car upgrade, etc., then select having a seat assigned or select via the seat map.
Step 6 (1:49) select your credit card, enter security code and purchase you eTicket.
Step 7 (2:27) link eTicket with Apple Pay Suica or other registered IC Transit cards.

Here are screenshots of the steps using Eki-Net iOS app.

1: Enter search criteria
2: Select the train
3: Select the seat type
4: Select the seat
5: Confirm and scroll to bottom
6: Tap Purchase
7: Tap Yes
8: Tap Attach
9: Confirm IC transit card name/number and tap attach
10: Confirm Seat assignments and IC transit cards and tap Attach
11: Tap OK
This how an eTicket looks in Eki-Net app
Tap the ticket in Eki-Net app to change or cancel
This how an eTicket looks in Eki-Net web

Using eTickets
Apple Pay Wallet and Suica App do not have any of your mobile ticket information and you do not need to launch an app to use eTickets or Ticketless. Just get on your train.

Eki-Net eTickets with Apple Pay Suica are extremely convenient

The only notification you will receive is a reminder email from Eki-Net before departure. Eki-Net app is handy for confirming eTicket seat assignments and attached Transit IC cards, just tap the your ticket to view details.

Your eTicket is linked to Apple Pay Suica, all you do is tap the Shinkansen transit gate and go through as show in the above video using Apple Pay Suica on Apple Watch. Your eTickets are validated online, there is nothing you need to show to the conductor or station staff.

Eki-Net App is convenient for checking eTicket details, seat assignments, changing attached Suica cards, etc. Tap the eTicket to see details.

Using Ticketless
Once you have your Ticketless seat reservation, simply get on assigned train car and take your assigned seat. Conductors already have your seat information and do not check or validate your seat assignment.

(Updated 2023-03-30)

VISA blocking foreign issue cards for select Japanese in-app and online payments

Notice: latest situation updates here

SoftBank Payments network chart

When foreign issue VISA cards in Wallet stopped working for Apple Pay in-app Suica and PASMO recharge on August 5, the first people to howl in pain were Apple Pay PASMO users who suddenly couldn’t recharge with their Chase Sapphire VISA cards. Chase Sapphire still codes for 3x travel points with a PASMO recharge and long time resident Suica users migrated to PASMO when JR East and VISA shut down 3x travel points in May 2021.

I confirmed that recharge with my Wells Fargo Signature VISA wasn’t working and contacted Mobile Suica support. The official line: there should be no problem with foreign issue cards, contact the card issuer. I then contacted Wells Fargo card services support, official line: there should be no problem with your VISA, contact the merchant. Entirely expected of course but I did confirm that Mobile Suica transaction attempts were not even showing on the Wells Fago system. They said it seems to be a ‘communications issue’… code word for: something’s not right on the merchant transaction authorization side.

I suspected a larger issue than just Apple Pay and an Android Suica user confirmed the same non-JP VISA problem with Google Pay Suica. I also alerted IT journalist Junya Suzuki who focuses on mobile payments. His first thought was something might be going on with the VISA Japan merchant acquirer side of the payment network. For reference, the merchant acquirer handles transaction authorization from the merchant side, ‘this transaction is clear to send to the card issuer.’ The issuer then clears the transaction with the customer account, ‘this customer is good to pay for this charge.’

Merchant acquirer relations are very secretive, nobody knows who is the merchant acquirer is for Mobile Suica/Mobile PASMO though I suspect it is SMBC Group who are the goto banking group for VISA Japan. Maybe they were tightening online transaction security…or something else, everything was clear as mud though he did say this:

An acquirer made the decision stopping handling cards issued in other countries… Another guy suggests Apple or such acquirer may face money laundering issue by registering Apple Pay with pre-paid Visa cards or such…In addition, that means JRE doesn’t know what’s happening on this problem.

In a later article he described JR East as a ‘victim’ of a situation forced by VISA, their hands are clearly tied. VISA payment network and their merchant acquirer are highly selective as well. For example: foreign issue VISA works fine for Apple Pay in-app purchases with Japanese apps like Starbucks, but not in-app purchase with JR East for Suica recharge. This means any and all ‘security concerns’ excuses don’t wash, they’re just a ruse.

Security and Apple Pay Enhanced Fraud Prevention
It’s helpful to examine the impact of phishing attacks targeting NTT Docomo, Line Pay, PayPay and other QR code mobile payment service users in late 2020, and JR East online service users (Mobile Suica, JRE POINT, Eki-Net and VIEW card) in early 2022. Phishing attack responses were varied and vague. Companies like to say they value customer security but are short detailing what they’re doing because details hashed out with the card brands and merchant acquirers are secret non-disclosure territory.

Japanese credit card issuers responded by upgrading to EMV 3-D Secure v2 (3-D stands for three domains: merchant/acquirer domain, the issuer domain, and the interoperability domain), for non-digital wallet browser and mobile app payments. EMV 3-D Secure is the EMV e-commerce browser and app authentication tokenization specification with the card brands using their own naming and implementing merchant support in their respective payment networks.

On the merchant side JR East has beefed up security to fight Mobile Suica phishing attacks with tighter monitoring of Suica App recharge with the app registered credit card (not Wallet app recharge). However it’s important to understand 3 key points:

  • These security measures only apply to the target of phishing attackers: Japanese credit card users who have a registered Suica, a Mobile Suica account and use Suica App recharge.
  • Japanese issue VISA cards work for Suica recharge without any problems.
  • 3D Secure compatibility issues have nothing to do with Apple Pay and Google Pay, they don’t use it. This is a common misconception on social media sites.

These are domestic issues that do not apply to inbound visitors using unregistered Suica cards in Wallet without Suica App or a Mobile Suica account. And yet VISA is blocking their foreign issue cards for recharge.

JR East is fighting phishing attacks with stricter Suica App registered credit card use monitoring. Suspicious can lead to Suica being locked by JR East for credit card recharge but cash recharge is always available.

It’s also important to understand that EMV 3-D Secure has nothing to do with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and similar digital wallets who have their own tokenization. Apple Pay has very high security however, Apple Pay has been making some changes to enhance security for online and in-app purchases. Apple Pay quietly launched Enhanced Fraud Protection in April 2022 when Apple Cash switched from Discover to VISA. The updated Apple Pay and Privacy text added a new section:

For cards with certain enhanced fraud prevention, when you attempt an online or in-app transaction, your device will evaluate information about your Apple ID, device, and location if you have enabled Location Services for Wallet, in order to develop on-device fraud prevention assessments. The output of the on-device fraud prevention assessments, but not the underlying data, will be sent to Apple and combined with information Apple knows about your device and account to develop Apple Pay transaction fraud prevention assessments. These transaction fraud prevention assessments may be shared with your payment network, together with a shipping address identifier and IP address if available, in order to prevent fraud at the time of transaction. The shipping address identifier differs per payment network and may be used to confirm whether shipping addresses for different transactions using a particular card on your device are the same in a way that does not reveal the underlying address. You can check whether a card has this enhanced fraud prevention at any time by going to the back of your payment credential in Wallet. To prevent the sharing of fraud prevention assessments with your payment network, you can select another card.

Apple Pay & Privacy

This means that Apple Pay ‘might’ share iPhone/Apple Watch location information when making online or in-app purchases. So far VISA cards are the only ones that have Enhanced Fraud Protection but it doesn’t seem to apply to all VISA issue cards and it’s impossible to tell which VISA cards use it. My Wells Fargo VISA card for example doesn’t show any sign of enhanced fraud prevention in Wallet app card details.

Does enhanced fraud prevention have anything to do with Apple Pay Suica and PASMO recharge not working for foreign issue VISA? The short answer is no, but it’s a background development to be aware of because: 1) it’s limited to online and in-app purchases, 2) VISA pushed for ‘fraud prevention assessments’ so they could obtain device location information and more. VISA pushing this agenda could be causing issues on the merchant acquirer side.

The VISA open loop power play
So we circle back to foreign issue VISA use in Japan again. Why are cards cleared for Apple Pay, cards that worked fine up until August, not working? The timing is perfect when you also consider that VISA is heavily promoting ‘VISA Touch’ EMV contactless and open loop transit in Japan as a challenge to the home grown FeliCa based Transit IC card system. It’s very convenient for VISA Touch open loop marketing purposes when Apple Pay Suica and PASMO are kneecapped as easy payment and transit options for inbound visitors.

VISA has a history of not playing nice with Japanese stored value cards on mobile and not playing nice with Apple Pay. Japanese issue VISA cards didn’t work for Apple Pay in-app purchases and Suica recharge until May 2021, VISA waited 5 years to ‘resolve’ that issue. VISA cards still do not work with Mobile WAON and Mobile nanaco on Android and Apple Pay, they likely never will. My take is that VISA is not happy with people using VISA cards like an ATM to move money into stored value prepaid cards for making payments, earning points, etc., that are not VISA.

VISA has played hardball with Apple Pay in the Japanese market before, maybe they are doing so again and refuse to be an ATM-like recharge backend for Japanese e-money cards…unless they also get ATM-like lending rate transaction fees. They certainly welcome the opportunity to promote open loop VISA Touch and Stera Transit at the expense of Mobile Suica market and mindshare. The real question: is VISA making their own market opportunity here? I say they are not playing fair, as monopolies do.

Hopefully this can all be fixed so that everything just works again, but I have learned over the years that card brand payment issues are never simple or solved quickly. VISA has never played nice with Apple Pay in Japan since the very beginning. At the very least we can mark this down as another skirmish in the ongoing digital payment turf wars.

Updated 2023-04-21

Apple Pay Suica recharge security block

JR East online services (Mobile Suica, JRE POINT, Eki-Net), along with many other online services that have accounts with credit cards, have been inundated with phishing attacks since the Russia-Ukraine situation erupted in February. It has gotten to the point that JRE POINT announced temporary security limitations on July 6: a temporary suspension of JRE POINT service recharge for Mobile Suica (via Suica App) and a 5,000 JRE POINT app barcode use limit per transaction (plastic JRE POINT card use remains unlimited). All JRE POINT services were later restored with new security enhancements.

There is another security limitation Apple Pay Suica users need to be aware of: credit/debit card recharge security block. This does not apply to cash recharge at station kiosks, convenience stores, 7-11 ATM, etc., but it can happen with multiple credit card recharges in a short period of time, i.e. heavy users. Unfortunately JR East does not reveal what conditions trigger a recharge security block that displays an error message: チャージをご利用できない状態です/ Recharge is not available. The Mobile Suica support page specifically states that JR East “cannot inform you about the conditions and contents of restrictions.” User reports suggest a general daily recharge limit between ¥5,000~¥10,000, however I think it also depends on the credit card issuer. My JR East JCB VIEW card for example has never run into any recharge limits in 5 years of heavy recharge use.

Apple Pay Suica recharge security block appears to be somewhat rare, but it is happening more with the recent Mobile Suica phishing attacks. In general Wallet app recharge tends to be more robust than Suica app recharge but security recharge block seems to affect all credit card recharge. The only user recourse appears to be contacting the card issuer or using the Mobile Suica member online Trouble Report Form (Japanese only). No word on Apple Pay PASMO but users should expect the same situation.

Mobile Suica registered account information can only be changed in Suica (iOS) and Mobile Suica (Android) apps by applying for an account update, it cannot be directly changed in the app, it cannot be changed via a web browser. This offers a level of account security but too many people fall for phishing emails. Even my internet savvy partner fell for a Mobile Suica phishing mail and have to get his credit card reissued.

The short term solution for JR East is to implement 2FA across all of their online services with a single login ID credential instead of the multiple service ID account mess we have now…hopefully soon. The longer term solution will be eliminating ID and password login altogether using Passkeys.

Mobile Suica JP support page
Bad machine translation in English