Originally Posted by
jakegio
Wow, you guys are so incredibly helpful, thank you! ok, so if i get an ANA or JAL card with suica, does the suica function as an ICOCA card? Can i just swipe my ANA suica over the thingy at the station as i pass through the gate? i dont really know how suica works apparently. i asked a friend once and was told it could only be used in the tokyo area so i gave up at that point.
Although all those IC cards use the same technology and the terminals look identical and have the same IC logo, each terminal is by default only set to accept cards issued by their company. To an extend companies have made agreements to share their terminals, e.g. pasmo & suica in tokyo, icoca & suica on JR lines, icoca & pitapa in osaka. However this sort of agreement does not inherent, you can not use icoca at pasmo terminals (tokyo metro). Really a pity that they can't get their act together and agree on a common sharing.