I really like YouTuber kenzy201’s latest post regarding the mysterious disappearance of the ¥170 paper ticket button at JR Kyushu Kokura station kiosks. Kenzy’s simple no frills talk style might look boring on the surface but his analysis is keen and enlightening, the kind of analysis we used to get […]
Transit
The transit gate fare evasion rainbow alarm
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a new transit gate alarm sound going around. It sounds like this: Yeah, that sound. I hear it more and more these days but what does it mean? We already have the bing-bong alert sound when there’s a transit IC card error or low […]
Mobile Payments - Transit
State of Suica 2023
It’s time to take a look at Suica and Japanese mobile transit ticketing developments expected for 2023. The Suica transit platform and Transit IC partners will introduce some big and important new service in 2023 that will play out over the next few years. Some like Cloud Suica, were due […]
Apple - Apple Pay + Wallet - Apple Wallet - EMV - FeliCa - Mobile Payments - Transit
The mobile wallet chokepoint
I ran across an untidy but interesting Twitter thread that mentioned Apple Pay Suica in the larger context of evolving NFC smartphone services. Suica (Metro card / digital money in Japan) now lets you transfer the card to Apple Pay. Some thoughts about the future of FOBs, cards, and wallets…You […]
Apple Pay Suica - Apple Pay Transit - CASHLESS - EMV - FeliCa - Mobile Payments - NFC - NFC-Felica - QR Code Payments - Suica - Touchless - Transit
The truth is in the tap
The Nankai Visa Touch test launch launched endless Twitter discussions about slow EMV contactless tap speeds and performance issues compared with Suica and other Transit IC cards. EMV contactless transit in Japan is novel so this is expected. But suddenly people are also referencing Junya Suzuki’s 2016 pre-Apple Pay Suica […]