b On June 24 from 0:37 to 13:00 JST, JR East online services went offline due to a mishap during server center related power supply construction. The most affected services were the most used: Mobile Suica and the online Eki-Net ticketing service. While embarrassing and inconvenient, the damage was minimal […]
Help Desk
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 now also Apple Pay ICOCA ) guide site, it’s helpful to examine other […]
Mobile Payments
Final frontiers: How Suica 2.0 will solve the IC fare region barrier problem and much more
The Suica cross region problem, no thru transit going from the Suica area to the TOICA area for example, is a well known and criticized shortcoming of the Transit IC system. There has been some recent progress with cross region thru transit commuter passes but barriers remain for regular Suica […]
Mobile Payments - NFC
A JR East EMV Contactless VIEW card without Suica?
Yes. You read that right. A JR EAST EMV Contactless VIEW JRE CARD that doesn’t come with Suica functionality. Just a plain old credit card with a EMV Contactless logo. Up until now JR East has only offered multifunction VIEW cards that combine a credit card and SUICA into one […]
Help Desk - Transit
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 […]