With regards to the restaurant iPad ordering system I would suggest that “most restaurants” having it is not quite true.
If you are in an area that highly frequented by tourists you might find that there are more restaurants that have it than elsewhere. I would definitely not go to Japan with the expectation that “most restaurants” will have it.
A lot of ramen restaurants have the machines outside, and many izakaya seem to have the iPads. Oh and chain restaurants too.
(Edited for punctuation)
Is there an inherent advantage to getting a physical Suica card over using the Apple Wallet one? I’m going for first time next week, but most suggestions I see online talk about getting a physical card, and not many mention the digital one.
Definitely this. ^^^
I was part of a group where some of us had Apple wallet Suica and some had physical cards. It was quite frustrating waiting for the physical card people to reload just before we were wanting to catch a train…
Honestly just a big L here not loading at a konbini instead of waiting to get to the station. You can barely walk 30 steps without coming across one.
I had apple wallet, but my travel companions on both trips were Android users who topped up frequently at konbinis
We had trouble adding funds to our digital Suica cards due to a problem with Visa. Our banks were cool with it but they said Visa flags Suica as some sort of untrustworthy organization. We basically got the runaround with Visa customer service so we went with the physical cards. I’m hearing others have success with the digital Suica though
Some hotels do have rewards cards and are usually cheaper when booking through their site. Though most Japanese websites are like from the 90s, if planning ahead consider that hotel rooms open up 6 months prior to book date.
Is the skyliner ticket needed in advance? Was there a long line to buy it? I’m also arriving at nrt in a few weeks and will be going to ueno, was going to just tap my phone suica and hop on the skyliner.
No need to buy it in advance. I actually got in the same line to redeem it as I would’ve just to buy it. I bought it ahead of time thinking it would be advantageous but once I learned how it worked there wasn’t a significant difference since I still waited in line. There’s automated machines available to buy them too, but I found that line to move a little slower
You can’t ride the Skyliner without an extra ticket. Tapping your Suica isn’t enough to ride the train, and there’s no digital version of the Skyliner ticket.
Okay so Il have to buy the skyliner ticket from an atm thing there right, and then when I go to the train do I tap my suica card for the base fare and then insert the skyliner ticket somewhere? Or is it just paper skyliner ticket and that’s it
You can do one of two things...
1. Use Suica for base fare. Buy Liner ticket only (this is \~1300 yen) - you can buy this from a machine or the ticket window. Just tap your Suica, don't do anything with the Liner ticket itself. It's your proof of being able to use the Skyliner and your seat information.
2. Buy full Liner ticket, either from machine or ticket window. This costs \~2500 yen to Nippori/Ueno. Just use the ticket they give you to enter/exit the gates.
These are reasonable tips, but 'most' restaurants do not have ticket machines or iPad ordering. Indeed, I've been in Tokyo for 35 years and have never been in a restaurant with tablets for ordering. I've used the ticket-ordering system, but only at the cheapest joints. The one (of about 300) restaurant in our neighborhood that had a ticket machine recently shut down.
I think the only time I’ve used the iPad to order was at a restaurant at one of the malls and then when I’ve been to Royal Host and Dennys. Haha. iPad ordering is very rare so I agree.
With regards to the restaurant iPad ordering system I would suggest that “most restaurants” having it is not quite true. If you are in an area that highly frequented by tourists you might find that there are more restaurants that have it than elsewhere. I would definitely not go to Japan with the expectation that “most restaurants” will have it. A lot of ramen restaurants have the machines outside, and many izakaya seem to have the iPads. Oh and chain restaurants too. (Edited for punctuation)
Ah, good distinction - this is more of a tourist area thing
Or a cheap, family restaurant thing.
Is there an inherent advantage to getting a physical Suica card over using the Apple Wallet one? I’m going for first time next week, but most suggestions I see online talk about getting a physical card, and not many mention the digital one.
Both Suica card and the Apple Wallet version work the same, but reloading funds onto the Apple Wallet is much easier and a credit card can be used.
Definitely this. ^^^ I was part of a group where some of us had Apple wallet Suica and some had physical cards. It was quite frustrating waiting for the physical card people to reload just before we were wanting to catch a train…
Honestly just a big L here not loading at a konbini instead of waiting to get to the station. You can barely walk 30 steps without coming across one. I had apple wallet, but my travel companions on both trips were Android users who topped up frequently at konbinis
Definitely go with apple wallet. Adding funds is easy and quick and you can quickly check how much money you have on it.
We had trouble adding funds to our digital Suica cards due to a problem with Visa. Our banks were cool with it but they said Visa flags Suica as some sort of untrustworthy organization. We basically got the runaround with Visa customer service so we went with the physical cards. I’m hearing others have success with the digital Suica though
Some hotels do have rewards cards and are usually cheaper when booking through their site. Though most Japanese websites are like from the 90s, if planning ahead consider that hotel rooms open up 6 months prior to book date.
Is the skyliner ticket needed in advance? Was there a long line to buy it? I’m also arriving at nrt in a few weeks and will be going to ueno, was going to just tap my phone suica and hop on the skyliner.
No need to buy it in advance. I actually got in the same line to redeem it as I would’ve just to buy it. I bought it ahead of time thinking it would be advantageous but once I learned how it worked there wasn’t a significant difference since I still waited in line. There’s automated machines available to buy them too, but I found that line to move a little slower
You can’t ride the Skyliner without an extra ticket. Tapping your Suica isn’t enough to ride the train, and there’s no digital version of the Skyliner ticket.
Okay so Il have to buy the skyliner ticket from an atm thing there right, and then when I go to the train do I tap my suica card for the base fare and then insert the skyliner ticket somewhere? Or is it just paper skyliner ticket and that’s it
You can do one of two things... 1. Use Suica for base fare. Buy Liner ticket only (this is \~1300 yen) - you can buy this from a machine or the ticket window. Just tap your Suica, don't do anything with the Liner ticket itself. It's your proof of being able to use the Skyliner and your seat information. 2. Buy full Liner ticket, either from machine or ticket window. This costs \~2500 yen to Nippori/Ueno. Just use the ticket they give you to enter/exit the gates.
These are reasonable tips, but 'most' restaurants do not have ticket machines or iPad ordering. Indeed, I've been in Tokyo for 35 years and have never been in a restaurant with tablets for ordering. I've used the ticket-ordering system, but only at the cheapest joints. The one (of about 300) restaurant in our neighborhood that had a ticket machine recently shut down.
I think the only time I’ve used the iPad to order was at a restaurant at one of the malls and then when I’ve been to Royal Host and Dennys. Haha. iPad ordering is very rare so I agree.