When traveling in Japan, using a Suica card has become the top choice for many people—it is convenient and fast, letting you pay easily on the subway, buses, and convenience stores. However, did you know? For physical Suica cards purchased in the past, the deposit can actually be fully refunded, and there is an interesting little trick.
If you want to buy a physical Suica card, you need to pay a 500-yen deposit. This deposit can be fully refunded when you later cancel the card and request a refund, but according to official rules, a 220-yen “card return handling fee” must be deducted.
However, as long as we use the card balance down to below 220 yen, you can get back the full 500-yen deposit. Yes, you read that right—this means you can use up your Suica card balance in the final stage of your trip and then get the entire deposit back.
This little trick may not be widely known, but for budget-conscious travelers, it is definitely an option worth trying. Whether you choose to keep a treasured physical Suica card or use the iPhone version of Suica, we hope this information is helpful for your trip to Japan.
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