Welcome Suica

JR EAST Travel Service Centers located in Narita Airport and Haneda Airport.

• Tōkyō Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Haneda Airport Terminal 3 (Tokyo Monorail) station
• Shinagawa Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Shibuya Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Shinjuku Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Ikebukuro Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Ueno Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Kashiwa Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Yokohama Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Kawasaki Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Tachikawa Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Ōmiya Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station
• Narita Airport Terminal 2・3 Station
• Funabashi Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Sendai Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Fukushima Station (temporarily suspended sales)
• Niigata Station (temporarily suspended sales)

• JAPAN RAIL CAFÉ (Tokyo) (temporarily suspended sales)

• Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station
• Narita Airport Terminal 2・3 Station
• Haneda Airport Terminal 3 (Tokyo Monorail) station

*No need to deposit money to purchase the card.

*If you are also purchasing a discount ticket to register with your Welcome Suica card, you must pay for the discount ticket at the same time.

• The Welcome Suica (Child) IC card, when charged in advance, can be used to automatically calculate and pay your child train fare, with just a tap on the ticket gate.
• The Welcome Suica (Child) card can be used by children up to 12 years old, and until the March 31 that follows their 12th birthday.
• Make sure that your child has an ID (passport, etc.) ready for verification purposes, when purchasing the Welcome Suica (Child) card. A family member may also purchase the card for the child. (The family member will still be required to show an ID of the child for verification purposes.)
• When purchasing a Welcome Suica (Child) card via a Welcome Suica card machine, you will be asked to enter the birth date of the child for whom the card is intended.
• If you use the Welcome Suica (Child) and are above the specified age range, you will be charged the adult fare from your boarding station, plus a penalty that is two times the amount of the fare.

You can check the validity period of your Welcome Suica card, information about your discount ticket, etc., on the Reference Paper that you receive when you purchase the card. (This information will not be displayed on the Welcome Suica card itself.) Always carry this Reference Paper around with you, and show it to the staff if they ask to see it.

• Adult /Child
• Welcome Suica Card Validity Period
• Charged Balance
• Name of Discount Ticket
• Discount Ticket Validity Period

• The Welcome Suica can be loaded and used as many times as desired.
• The Welcome Suica can be loaded up to a maximum of 20,000 yen at Automatic Ticket Vending Machines and Fare Adjustment Machines displaying the Welcome Suica mark.
• Load your card at Seven Bank ATMs, found at 7-Eleven and at other convenience stores.
• Only yen may be used to load a card. A credit card cannot be used to load a Welcome Suica.

• The Suica logo
• An
  Automatic Ticket Vending Machine​ enabled for the Welcome Suica

No refunds are available, regardless of the validity period status or balance loaded on your card, so before leaving Japan be sure to use the remaining balance at a location displaying the Suica logo. (Please keep the card as a memento of your trip!)

• The Suica logo

The Welcome Suica is valid for 28 days, including the date of purchase. Please note that the validity period begins as soon as your purchase the card, and the card will become invalid on the 29th day.

• Simply touch the Welcome Welcome Suica card to the reader at the ticket gate when out and about. There is no need to purchase a ticket from a vending machine.
• The fare is automatically calculated at the station where you get off.
• When you get off the train, the fare will be calculated at that station. If the balance is insufficient, however, you will need to add more money to your Welcome Suica.

*Additional tickets must be purchased to use the Welcome Suica for travel on a limited express, express or Green Car.

• The Welcome Suica can be used on JR East lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area as well as for subways, buses and the Tokyo Monorail that connects Haneda Airport with Tokyo.
• In addition to the Tokyo area, the Welcome Suica can be used for certain transportation systems in the Sendai and Niigata, Hokkaido, Tokai, West Japan and Kyushu areas.

• Click here for the map of Tokyo metropolitan area [PDF/3.0MB]

The Welcome Suica can be used on other smart card transportation systems, too!

Current as of March16, 2020

The Welcome Suica cannot be used for continuous travel between areas. The use of transportation begun in one area must be ended in that area. When crossing from one area to another, first leave the ticket gate and then re-enter.

• The Welcome Suica can be used not only for transportation but for shopping as well.
• You can use your Welcome Suica to make purchases onboard trains as well as from vending machines, to rent coin lockers and for spending at convenience stores and restaurants.

The Welcome Suica can be used wherever the below logos are displayed.

• no more looking for change.
• Convenience stores
• Onboard sales
• Vending machines
• Coin lockers

If your card doesn’t work even if your Welcome Suica card is still valid and has sufficient balance, you may be experiencing one of the following issues. Check your card holder, etc., and if you still can’t use the card, ask a station attendant in a Suica area for help.

• There may be something in your card holder that is preventing the automatic ticket gate from scanning your card.
• Your card may not have processed properly the last time you used it at a automatic ticket gate.
• You have used a station outside the Suica area, and your card need to be adjusted.

If the issue is due to a malfunction of the card itself, we ask you to do the following.

• We will check the balance on your card through the Card Number (17-digit number that starts with “JE”) listed on the back side of your card, and proceed with your refund.
• We cannot, under any circumstances, provide you with your refund if we cannot read your Card Number on the back of the card.

• We will refund your balance at any JR EAST Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) within a Suica area, starting the day after your refund application, up to 14 days after the end date of your Welcome Suica card validity period. You will not be able to receive your refund on the day of your application.
• To ask for a refund, bring your malfunctioning card, Reference Paper, and any other necessary documents with you to a JR EAST Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) within a Suica area.

• Lost Welcome Suica cards cannot be reissued.
• When traveling outside the Welcome Suica valid area please purchase a ticket beforehand.

• East Japan Railway Company IC Card/Ticket Handling Rules for Foreign Tourists Visiting Japan (Terms and Conditions) 
• East Japan Railway Company IC Card/Ticket Handling Rules (Terms and Conditions)