# Suica

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/suica
> research date 2026-05-31 · extracted at 2026-10-07
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [Suica — official](https://www.jreast.co.jp/suica/)

## Overview

**Suica** is **JR East Japan Railway Company TYO: 9020 Japanese rail transit + retail prepaid IC card** + **Japan's largest transit + retail prepaid IC card by issuance** + **FeliCa contactless smart card technology** + **~100M+ Japanese Suica cards + Mobile Suica via Apple Pay + Google Pay + Wear OS** <sup>[1][1], [Japan report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/JP)</sup>.

## History

**Nov 18 2001 — Suica launched by JR East Japan Railway Company as Japanese rail transit + retail prepaid IC card using FeliCa contactless smart card technology by Sony** distinctive Japanese transit IC card heritage.

**Jan 2004 — Suica retail payments expansion beyond transit**.

**Jan 28 2006 — Mobile Suica launched as Japan's first NFC mobile wallet via Osaifu-Keitai FeliCa-enabled Japanese mobile handsets**.

**Oct 2016 — Suica via Apple Pay launched on iPhone 7 + Apple Watch Series 2 globally**.

**2020 — Suica via Google Pay launched on Android + Wear OS**.

## Ownership & operator

**Operating entity**: **Suica** (Japanese rail transit + retail prepaid IC card; JR East parent).

**Major shareholders**: **East Japan Railway Company JR East (TYO: 9020; Japanese passenger rail operator)**.

**Regulators**: **FSA Japan + BoJ + Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism**.

## Technical integration

Suica physical FeliCa contactless smart card + Mobile Suica via Apple Pay + Google Pay + Wear OS (iOS + Android; ~100M+ Japanese Suica cards) + Suica retail POS network across Japan; JP Zengin + FeliCa contactless smart card technology.

## Implementations & partners

**JR East parent**: JR East (East Japan Railway Company JR East; TYO: 9020; Japanese passenger rail operator).

**Interoperable Japanese transit IC card standards**: [Pasmo](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/pasmo) (Pasmo Tokyo Metropolitan Japanese transit + retail prepaid card) + ICOCA (ICOCA JR West Japanese transit + retail prepaid card) + TOICA (TOICA JR Central Japanese transit + retail prepaid card) + SUGOCA (SUGOCA JR Kyushu Japanese transit + retail prepaid card) + Kitaca (Kitaca JR Hokkaido Japanese transit + retail prepaid card) + manaca (manaca Nagoya transit + retail prepaid card) + PiTaPa (PiTaPa Kansai transit + retail prepaid card) + nimoca (nimoca Nishitetsu Kyushu transit + retail prepaid card).

**Major Japanese mobile wallet + payments competitors**: [PayPay](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/paypay) (PayPay; SoftBank + LY Corporation JV; Japan's largest mobile wallet by users + transactions; ~65M+ Japanese users) + [LINE Pay](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/line-pay) (LINE Pay; LINE mobile wallet) + [d払い (d Barai)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/d-barai) (d払い d Barai NTT Docomo Japanese telecom mobile wallet) + [au PAY](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/au-pay) (au PAY KDDI Japanese telecom mobile wallet) + [Rakuten Pay](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/rakuten-pay) (Rakuten Pay; Rakuten Japanese mobile wallet) + [MerPay](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/merpay) (MerPay Mercari Japanese mobile wallet).

**Regulators**: FSA Japan + BoJ + Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

## Status

**Active, JR East Japan Railway Company TYO:9020 Japanese rail transit + retail prepaid IC card + Japan's largest transit + retail prepaid IC card by issuance + FeliCa contactless smart card technology + ~100M+ Japanese Suica cards + Mobile Suica via Apple Pay + Google Pay + Wear OS** <sup>[1][1], [2][2]</sup>.

## Sources

[1]: https://www.jreast.co.jp/suica/ "Suica — official"
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suica "Suica — Wikipedia"
[jp-cro]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/JP

- [1] [Suica — official][1]
- [2] [Suica — Wikipedia][2]
- <sup>[Japan report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/JP)</sup> In-corpus: `reports/countries/JP-japan.md`

## Source

Biography extracted from [suica.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/source/wallets/suica). See `matrix.md` for standards-support matrix if present.