Suica to the Rescue

In Japan public transport is operated by many competing companies. While competition is a normally good thing for the consumers, it can be a bit tedious, as you basically need to buy a different ticket everytime you change a train, subway or bus.

This lead to the rise of something that is called IC card, which is a type of prepaid smart card for transportation fees. Nearly every line operator started to issue such a card, and thankfully they decided to make them interoperable. So you can get one card and use them for (almost) all public transport.

Due to the semiconductor shortage in 2023, these cards are no longer issued. This sounds horrible, but it isn't, because they just switched from physical cards to virtual ones, making them even more convenient to use. All you need is a smartphone or -watch. You just add a "card" to your wallet, transfer some money onto it with your credit card and your good to go.

I found Suica to be playing well with my gear, but there are may more, such as Passmo, Icoca, Pitapa, Toica and what not. So your mileage may vary.

If you have one of theese, all you need to do is to present your phone or watch at the gate once you enter the station and another time when you leave it.