Which IC card to buy at Fukuoka Airport — and when you don't need one
If you already have a Suica or PASMO, you do not need to buy anything in Fukuoka. All ten Japanese IC cards work on the subway, on Nishitetsu and on JR Kyushu. If you do not have one, buy Hayakaken from a ticket machine at the station. Every card carries a refundable ¥500 deposit. One card behaves differently here from at home: PiTaPa.
If you already have a card, the answer is: none
Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, Kitaca, manaca, TOICA and PiTaPa all work here — on the Fukuoka City Subway, on Nishitetsu trains and buses, and on JR Kyushu. Ten cards in total belong to the nationwide mutual-use scheme, including the three local ones: Hayakaken, nimoca and SUGOCA.
Buying a second card because you have arrived in a different region is a mistake people make here every day.
If you don't have one yet
| Card | Issued by | Price / deposit | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hayakaken | Fukuoka City Subway | ¥1,000–10,000, incl. ¥500 deposit | Station ticket machines |
| nimoca | Nishitetsu | ¥2,000 (¥500 deposit + ¥1,500 to spend) | Counters, incl. Fukuoka Airport Bus Terminal |
| SUGOCA | JR Kyushu | ¥500 deposit | JR station machines and ticket offices |
At the airport station, buy from the machine. Fukuoka Airport Station has no commuter-pass counter — only six stations on the network do, and this is not one of them.
JR Kyushu does not list Fukuoka Airport as a place to buy SUGOCA, so treat Hayakaken and nimoca as the two realistic options at the airport.
The unregistered version of Hayakaken is described officially as a card anyone can use. No nationality or residency requirement is stated, and no passport is asked for.
Three things that catch people out
1. PiTaPa does not work the way it does at home
PiTaPa is a postpay card on its own Kansai network — you tap, and it bills you later. Outside that network, including here, it runs as an ordinary prepaid card. It has to be loaded before you tap, and a PiTaPa arriving from Osaka with a zero balance will not open the gate.
One practical note for every card: Nishitetsu's station chargers take banknotes only — no coins. Bring notes.
2. You cannot ride between IC areas
A card works within a region, not between regions. You also cannot use the stored value on the Kyushu or Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen, and you cannot combine an IC card with a paper ticket on the same journey.
3. If you are short at the gate, you pay in cash
On the Fukuoka subway, a shortfall is settled in cash at the fare adjustment machine. You cannot pay the difference with another IC card. This is the one that strands people who arrived with a nearly empty card and no notes.
Using a phone instead of a card
If you already have Suica or PASMO on your phone, it works in Fukuoka. Mobile Suica and mobile PASMO belong to the same nationwide mutual-use scheme as the plastic cards, so the subway gates, Nishitetsu and JR Kyushu all accept them.
What does not exist yet is a Fukuoka-issued mobile card. Hayakaken and nimoca are plastic only — neither operator lists a phone version anywhere on its site.
SUGOCA is the exception, and the date is a long way off. JR Kyushu announced a mobile SUGOCA on 7 March 2025, jointly with JR West and JR Central. The published start is spring 2027. It has not launched. If you are travelling before then, treat SUGOCA as plastic-only like the other two.
So if you arrive without a card and want to use your phone, the answer is to add Suica or PASMO, not to look for a local equivalent.
Or skip the card entirely
The Fukuoka City Subway accepts contactless credit cards straight at the gate — Visa, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover and UnionPay. Tap the card or the phone wallet you already carry. Acceptance began as a trial in May 2022 and reached all 36 stations on 27 March 2023.
What began on 7 July 2023 is a different thing, and the more useful one: a ¥640 daily cap, after which further subway rides that day cost nothing.
The cap counts per card number and per device. The plastic card and the same card loaded in a phone wallet are two separate tallies. Tapping in with the card and out with the phone does not combine — pick one and use it all day, or the cap never triggers.
This does not extend to Nishitetsu buses or JR Kyushu, so it is not a complete substitute. But for a visitor whose Fukuoka movements are mostly subway, it removes the reason to buy anything at all.
One caveat: at a Nishitetsu station charger you will need banknotes. Whether your phone lets you top up with a card is a question for whoever issued the phone wallet, not for Fukuoka.
Where to top up a Suica in Fukuoka
The Transportation Bureau states that nationwide mutual-use cards can be topped up wherever Hayakaken can: subway ticket machines, fare adjustment machines, commuter-pass counters, and convenience store registers. Top-up amounts are ¥1,000, ¥2,000, ¥3,000, ¥4,000, ¥5,000 and ¥10,000.
The visitor card — and the one that doesn't exist
JR Kyushu sells a card for foreign visitors called SUGOMON PASS.
| Eligibility | Passport issued by a government other than Japan's, with short-term-stay status |
|---|---|
| Price | ¥2,000, of which ¥1,500 is loaded (the rest is the deposit) — on the English page |
| Where | Hakata Station and Kumamoto Station ticket offices — on the English page |
| Quantity | Limited to 2,000 cards |
| Expiry | None |
| Refund | ¥220 fee. Lost cards are not reissued. The traditional-Chinese page adds that refunds cannot be made at the JTB counter at Fukuoka Airport — so the airport counter, the one sales point that would let you buy the card before leaving the arrivals floor, is not a counter you can hand it back at. Hakata and Kumamoto ticket offices sell it too |
| Top-up | Cash only — recharging cannot be done with a credit card (JR Kyushu, English and traditional-Chinese pages; both say it). This is stated for this card; we did not find the same wording for SUGOCA generally |
JR Kyushu's own pages do not agree with each other. The English page says ¥2,000 with ¥1,500 loaded, sold at Hakata and Kumamoto. The traditional-Chinese page for the same card says ¥3,000 with ¥2,500 loaded, and lists a third sales point: the JTB counter on the first floor of the International Terminal at Fukuoka Airport. Only the 2,000-card limit matches. We have not found a note saying one supersedes the other.
Which matters for a practical reason. If the Chinese page is current, you can buy this card at the airport on arrival. If the English page is current, you cannot, and you would be carrying your bags to Hakata Station first. Ask at the JTB counter when you land — it costs nothing to find out, and it is on your way past.
Because it is capped at 2,000 cards either way, check availability rather than planning around it.
There is no "Welcome SUGOCA." The name appears on third-party travel sites, but it is not on JR Kyushu's own pages. If you go to a counter and ask for one, nobody will know what you mean.
Sources
- Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau — Hayakaken purchase, top-up, usage area, commuter-pass counter locations, nationwide mutual-use card list
- nimoca official — purchase, price and deposit, charging locations, mutual use
- JR Kyushu — SUGOCA rules and FAQ; SUGOMON PASS (English and traditional-Chinese pages, which differ); news release of 7 March 2025 on mobile SUGOCA, spring 2027
- Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau — contactless credit card acceptance (trial from May 2022; all 36 stations from 27 March 2023); the 640 yen daily cap from 7 July 2023, counted per card number and per device
- Fukuoka Airport official site — Nishitetsu bus counter, International Terminal
Confirmed on 3 September 2026, contactless dates re-checked 5 September 2026. Card conditions and stock change; check at the counter.