How to charge a Suica card

The ticket gate beeps and closes as you try to go through? You notice the remaining balance on your Suica won’t be enough for your next ride?

You can recharge your Suica at all train and metro stations. Pasmo machines will also charge your Suica. The only difference is that at JR machines the minimum charge is 500yen, whereas at Pasmo machines you need to charge at least 1000 yen.

1 Insert your card

2 Push the charge button

Just press the green button at the bottom right of the screen.

The blue button in the top right will lead you to an easy to understand English version.

3 Select Charge amount

Pick the amount you want to charge your card with. The machines give change, so don’t hesitate to pay a 1000Yen charge with a 10.000Yen bill.

4 Insert money

Now just feed it your money, and your freshly charged card and your change will come out.

Extra points, if you don’t forget them in the machine (again, it sounds unlikely, but it happens to anyone eventually).

5 Carry cash to recharge

As neither JR nor metro machines do not accept credit cards for recharging, carry some cash so you don’t have to go on a quest for the nearest 7-Eleven to take a train.

6 Recharge amounts

You can recharge your card from a minimum amount of 500yen to a maximum of 20.000yen ($200) at JR East machines.

 

If you find the small button to the bottom right of the screen you will be able to set your own charge amount in 10yen steps.

Be aware that unless you have a MySuica, the card and its’ balance cannot be reissued if lost and whatever money you had on it will be gone.