Nationwide Mutual Usage Service

Japan's is a system that allows for reciprocal use and interoperability between the country's ten most common transportation IC cards – contactless smart cards used on public transport with additional e-money functionality. Launched on March 23, 2013, the service allows riders of trains, buses, and other public transport to seamlessly use the same card in all major Japanese cities, across hundreds of public, privately owned, and third-sector systems. As of March 9, 2024, it is available on services run by 326 transit operators.

The ten cards included in the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service and their issuing companies are:
* Kitaca (JR Hokkaido)
* PASMO (Pasmo Co., Ltd.)
* Suica (JR East) – including Welcome Suica
* manaca ( Nagoya City Transportation Bureau and Meitetsu)
* TOICA (JR Central)
* PiTaPa (Surutto KANSAI)
* ICOCA (JR West)
* Hayakaken ( Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau)
* nimoca (Nishitetsu)
* SUGOCA (JR Kyushu)

With some exceptions, IC cards part of the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service typically cannot be used for continuous travel between two areas served by different IC cards, but rather within each area or city. All cards implement an RFID technology developed by Sony called FeliCa.

History

While previous bilateral agreements between companies existed previously, such as the ability for JR West's ICOCA and JR East's Suica to be used interchangeably since August 2004, this was abandoned in favor of a "blanket approach" targeting all major cards, realized with the launch of the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service. Discussions of such a system had been underway since December 2010, and testing lasted for six months prior to the public release. An announcement was released jointly by all eleven issuing companies on December 18, 2012, with plans for the service to begin in March of the following year.

Implementation

Following launch, as of March 31, 2013, Suica – the most popular of the ten cards – became usable at 4,365 train stations and on approximately 21,000 buses nationwide. As electronic money, Suica became accepted at nearly 210,000 retail locations and at the time was reported to be the payment method of 3.4 million transactions each day. Per estimates provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, over 100 million residents became covered under the new Mutual Usage system.

A golden brown and red service mark, consisting of the letters "IC" with a pantograph replacing the tittle of the "i" and wheels on the "c", is displayed at ticket gates, fare boxes, and point of sale systems (such as in convenience stores or restaurants) where any of the cards are accepted as a form of payment.

PiTaPa is excluded from mutual usage agreements when used as digital currency (e-money) due to its implementation as post-pay system tied to a user's bank account rather than a prepaid, rechargeable card.

Multi-function Cards for Regional Transit

Beginning in 2021, initially targeting Aomori, Akita, northern Iwate, Yamagata, and Gunma Prefectures, JR East introduced IC cards, 2-in-1 cards which combine the needs of smaller, local transit operators with standard Suica functionality. With limited budget and resources to overhaul historical systems to comply with JR East's standards, these cards allow for regional "affiliate" operators to continue supporting various implementations of commuter passes while also providing riders with the ability to use their cards identically to Suica, i.e. not only on local transit but also in larger cities. As Suica is part of the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service, these cards are also interoperable with the ten major cards and usable across Japan.

Discounted and subsidized fares, such as those for disabled riders, can also be selectively applied in users' home regions while charging standard fares elsewhere.

Multi-function IC cards include nolbé in Gunma, totra in Tochigi, yamako cherica and shoko cherika in Yamagata, Iwate Green Pass in Iwate, HACHICA in Hachinohe, and AOPASS in Aomori, among others. JR East has viewed this ongoing endeavor as an effort to "promote regional revitalization" in the Tōhoku region by allowing for the use of Suica and other transit cards in these areas, thereby attracting potential visitors and positioning the cards as a component of the company's mobility as a service strategy. These cards follow the SD2 FeliCa standard and support reward point programs of both local operators and JR East via FeliCa Pocket. They are alternatively referred to as "Regional Collaboration IC cards."

A revised KURURU IC card launched in Nagano in February 2025, superseding the previous local card of the same name without mutual usage functionality. A similar card is planned to be introduced for buses in Matsumoto in spring 2026.

Exceptions

As of 2024, the ten cards are fully interchangeable (i.e. any system that supports one of the cards will support the other nine) with two exceptions: Kantō Railway's two railway lines in Ibaraki Prefecture, and the Chiba Urban Monorail. Both located in the Greater Tokyo Area, these two systems support only PASMO and Suica, and have not yet been upgraded due to low ridership and the high cost of replacing aged equipment.

See also

* Transport in Japan
* Rail transport in Japan
* List of public transport smart cards

Notes

References

{{Japanese smartcards

2013 establishments in Japan
Fare collection systems in Japan
Contactless smart cards
Transport in Japan
Rail transport in Japan