JR

Japan Railways (JR) is divided six parts: East, West, Central, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido, but for all practical purposes, these companies operate as one. You may want to use JR for going to Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Arima (hotspring), Himeji (castle) and so on. Single tickets are of course available, but for extra geek points I would recommend that you buy an ICOCA card. This is a “...rechargeable contactless smart card...” (similar to London’s Oyster Card) and is being increasingly used as payment for all kinds of non-train services as well. On a recent trip to Japan I used such a card to buy a soft drink at a kiosk, to pay for a luggage locker at a train station, pay for food a at fast-food counter and even to upgrade to first class (universally known as “Green Car” in Japan) on an express train. The only place where you can’t really use ICOCA or Suica is on the Shinkansen. (At least it gets a bit complicated to do so).

Suica is the name given to the card by JR East, while ICOCA is the name used by JR West. You can only buy a Suica card in JR East land (Tokyo), if you buy the card in Kyoto, Osaka or Hiroshima it will be an ICOCA card, but the cards are interchangeable (on JR only) and you can start with as little as ¥1,500 on the card (of which 500 yen is a deposit so you will pay ¥2,000). You can see Suica in action, including the version built into some Japanese cellphones (“Mobile Suica”) in this YouTube video. [ Yes, wild penguins run around in the streets in Japan ;–) ]

Suica now also works on the Tokyo Metro, which pretty much allows you to travel anywhere in the greater Tokyo area with a single card. Note that Tokyo Metro has a similar card called PASMO which works equally well on JR lines, but only in the greater Tokyo area. None of these cards expire, so you can continue to use them on your next visit to Japan.

There is also a local rechargeable card called PASPY which can be used on the extensive Hiroshima tram system and local buses. There will be more information about this card on the local host web page in due course.  ICOCA can also be used on Hiroshima buses.

Vending Machines

Japan probably has the largest number of vending machines in the world. Most of them sell various kinds of soft drinks. Most of them will even accept 1,000 yen bills in addition to 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen coins, and of course they give change. Note also that most of these machines dispense both hot (red buttons) and cold (blue buttons) drinks. The hot drinks include coffee and tea of various kinds (with or without milk and sugar) and even corn soup! On the somewhat related topic of restrooms, let me just point out that you will find them in most department stores and shopping centers as well as train stations, but do not assume that all will be “Western Style” and bring a small hand towel to dry your hands as paper towels are often not provided (although air dryers are becoming very common).