[valianteffort]

>IMHO there's no reason to get a physical card, unless you want a souvenir

My friends and I were unable to load our Suica using the Wallet app. It kept throwing an error. We had to visit stations that had ATM or kiosks for loading Suica that were wireless (tap instead of insert) so we could load from the card stored in Wallet app. Our one friend that had an Android was able to load his card anywhere.

This was difficult enough in Tokyo where most card loading machines are insert not tap, let alone outside of Tokyo. Most major stations seemed to support this but smaller ones were totally hit or miss.

[RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u]

I recall there was some issues with certain Visa cards. Ah right I did have issue where I couldn't load with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. But I just switched to the Apple Card and it went smoothly.

So yes there may be some hurdles. However, since you can do this before arrival, you can figure out ahead of time which card(s) work and which don't.

Edit: just tried it with my CSR again and it still didn't work. Then I tried with a CapitalOne (Mastercard) card and that worked. Unfortunately, I don't have another Visa or Amex card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees, so I cannot say for sure if it's a payment network issue or bank issue. I had no issue using my CSR for contactless payments in Japan though.

[fomine3]

A rumor story is that Visa (and SMBC, big bank) blocks charging to Suica because they installing their open loop transit system https://atadistance.net/2023/07/15/foreign-visa-cards-blocke...