I chose the virtual Suica Card for my transit needs because nothing says Tokyo like a penguin.
In February of 1986, Barbara and I quit our dead end jobs bought one way tickets to Belgium on budget airline, People Express, for $100 per ticket. We began a 16 month journey that would take us around the world.
My ‘tech kit’ for the voyage consisted of:
A flashlight
A point and shoot film camera
A solar powered credit card sized calculator.
Our money management was simple too. An American Express credit card, a checkbook, and $200 in U.S. currency. We didn’t intend to use the Amex Card. There would be no way to receive or pay the bills. Rather it was the gateway to American Express Offices. For card holders Amex would:
Serve as an address to get mail from friends and family and
Case a check up to $1,000 and give you travelers cheques in return. We exchanged those travelers cheques $100 at a time (once a week or so) for local currency, and that’s how we paid for camping and food.
To get from place to place we’d turn up at the train or bus station, buy a ticket and catch the next thing smokin.’ (Quite literally. In 1986 many countries were still using coal fired steam engines in their locomotives.)
During the 16 months away, we called home just once. Otherwise we heard from family, and they heard from, us through letters with a delay of a month or more between communications. And if someone had needed to get a hold of us quickly? Well, they couldn’t.
Now we are preparing to head to Japan in a few weeks and I have been forced to come to terms with how the world and moving through it has changed.
I’ve started assembling my tech kit, which at a minimum will include:
A MacBook Air laptop
An AppleWatch
A battery bank
AirPods Pro
Outlet adaptors (in case we go to Korea)
Charging cables and power bricks for all of the above
USB A to C adaptors
USB C to A adaptors
An LED Flashlight
iPad Mini
Apple AirTags to track all my stuff
In addition, there are a dozen apps to download and register for.
Japan uses a system of transit cards (called IC Cards) for public transit. Each area in Japan has its own card but thankfully, it appears they are interchangeable. The card from one area is supposed to work in other areas. I decided on the Tokyo “Suica” (pronounced Swee-kah) card and though you can get a physical card in Japan, I opted to go full 21st Century and add virtual Suica cards to each of our Apple Wallets on our phones. Interestingly, only iPhone supports virtual IC Cards. Gaijin Android phones need not apply (though the cards will work on Android phones purchased in Japan).
Once installed on the phones adding money to the cards is easy. Just use ApplePay.
The next thing to figure out is the train system. Japan, as you probably know, has a system of bullet trains known as the Shinkansen. They go up to 300 km per hour and can cross the length of Japan in a few hours. But unlike most European counties, there is not one train system but four, each one owned and operated by a different company! Each line has its own website and app and not all of them support English. Luckily, I think we will only need to travel on two of the four systems. One goes north (confusingly called JR East) and the other than goes west (JR Central).
Once you figure out how to register for the websites, you can purchase your tickets. There is a discount when you purchase 21 days in advance so I wanted to buy some of our tickets before we arrive. Once the tickets are purchased you still need to figure out how to get through the gate and get on the train. You can go to a machine in the station and print your ticket. You can get a QR code on your phone to scan. Or, if you are very clever, you can load the tickets on to your Suica card. That is the option that I wanted, but it is not easy. You need the 17 digit serial number of the card - and the card in the Apple Wallet only shows the last four digits.
Turns out you need to download the Japanese only Suica app. The app is impossible to navigate unless you know Japanese (spoiler: I don’t), however there is an easy to spot info button (little “I” in a circle). Tap that and it displays the full number. I entered the number into the JR Central website and boom — Bob’s your 伯父. Then I did it all over again for JR East.
When Barbara and I were traveling 40 years ago, we established a division of duties. She figured out where we should go and what we should see and I figured out how to get there. In India there was a train timetable for the whole country. India has a mind-boggling train system and the timetable was the size of an old style phone book. I no longer remember how it worked but we always found the right train and we never missed one. Today, the old ways are still the best. Barbara has put together a rough outline of where we will be when, and I am figuring out the transportation.
Buying Shinkansen tickets on a Japanese website is mostly easier than the Indian timetable book but with some odd quirks . For example if you want to go from Tokyo to Sapporo up north, you can’t buy a ticket all the way through. Instead you have to buy one ticket to the end of the Shinkansen line in Hakodate and then book another ticket from Hakodate to Sapporo on the slower “Express” train. I managed to get our tickets to Sapporo booked (I think) opting for the business class “Green” car. Hey, you only live once. The Green car has more comfortable seats and a hostess that comes by with a moist towelette. In addition, the electric outlets are at arm level.
Next there is the challenge of telecom. Writing letters home isn’t going to cut it in 2025. We’d be back before the letters arrive. Internet is a must have to buy tickets, refill our transit cards, stay in touch with loved ones, and find our way around strange cities and trekking trails. Fortunately, modern phones can take an e-sim. For about $60 a piece, each of us can get unlimited data everywhere in Japan for our phones and computers. These can be purchased in advance and installed on the phones so that we will have access from the moment we land. Whew! However, they will not work in Korea. If we go there we will need different e-sims!
The e-sim thing is pretty new. As recently as 2019 when I went to Israel, I had to get a physical sim at the airport and swap the chip in my phone. One had to be very careful not to lose ones ‘home’ sim while traveling.
Other apps I’ve had to download include the Japanese “Uber” app GoTaxi, Google Maps (I know, but people say it may work better than Apple Maps in Japan! Forgive me, Tim!) and something called NHK World Japan, which I have already forgotten what it’s for.
Dealing with money is maybe the one thing that has gotten simpler in modern times. No need to purchase traveler’s cheques! Now with a debit and a credit card we expect to have all our cash needs covered. There are ATM machines everywhere (they say the ones in 7-Elevens are best.) Delightfully, the Suica cards are also widely accepted for payment at vending machines, convenience stores, and even some restaurants in Japan. Conveniently, the iPhone calculator app now supports currency conversion and updates the exchange rates automatically. No need to check the exchange rate in bank windows as we once did. Our debit card charges no foreign transaction fees and refunds all ATM fees each month so we don’t have to be concerned with those, and we added a new credit card to our stable that has no foreign transaction fees.
If you can’t buy it from a vending machine in Japan, you probably don’t need it. I am especially curious about the Suntory Coffee Boss!
There are two ways to travel. One is short trips — luxurious, and expensive. This form of travel usually means a guided tour, where someone else has taken care of the transportation, lodging and food. You get to relax, focus on the sights, and enjoy the company of your fellow travelers (at least the ones who don’t get on your nerves). There is much to be said for this, particularly when you are working and you need to see as much as you can in 10 to 14 days.
The other way to travel is the one that Barbara and I have always favored. Long, basic, and cheap. In 1986 we did it that way because we had to. We only had a little money and needed it to last as long as it possibly could.
Today we can afford the other route and in many ways it would be easier but we choose to figure it out ourselves, to live “like the people do down there” as one budget traveler told us many years ago, because ultimately we find it more satisfying. There is something exhilarating about getting to the train station and finding that you booked your ticket correctly, arriving in a strange city hungry and tired and finding a place to stay without breaking down in tears, buying an egg salad sandwich with your transit card at a 7-Eleven in Osaka, solving problems as you go.
There was a time when people said, “Getting there is half the fun!” I am not sure how much I am looking forward to the 15 hour plane flight in economy but I’ve throughly enjoyed downloading the apps and solving the Japanese website puzzles. As they say in the land of the rising sun, “花より団子 hana yori dango — Dumplings over flowers!
The world’s a narrow bridge; fear nothing.