Fares & tickets
Ways to pay, single fares and subway passes.
Ways to pay
- Suica / PASMORechargeable IC cards
- Pay with a touch on trains, subways, buses and monorails around Tokyo, and in shops that accept them. A card costs ¥1,000 to ¥10,000, including a ¥500 deposit paid back when you return it. Suica is sold at JR East stations' multi-function ticket machines and ticket offices, PASMO at Tokyo Metro ticket machines.
- Welcome Suica / TOURIST PASMOIC cards for visitors
- No deposit, and each works for 28 days from purchase. Both are sold at Narita and Haneda airports, and Welcome Suica also at JR East travel service centres in major stations. Money left on them is not refunded.
- Paper ticketOne journey
- Buy it from the machines at the station for a single journey. On a Tokyo Metro or Toei journey it costs the same as the IC fare or up to ¥8 more.
Read on JR East's Suica and Welcome Suica pages, Tokyo Metro's PASMO page and the PASMO website on 15 September 2026.
Using an IC card on your phone
- Welcome Suica Mobile is JR East's app for visitors. Its English page, current as of March 2026, describes an iOS app for Apple Pay devices, for users aged 13 and over. The Suica it makes lasts 180 days, and money left on it is not refunded.
- JR East suggests downloading it before your trip. In some countries the law allows it to be set up and topped up only after you arrive in Japan.
- Suica and PASMO also go into Apple Wallet on iPhone 8 or later. PASMO there needs the iPhone's region set to Japan.
- On Android, Mobile Suica and Mobile PASMO need a phone with Osaifu-Keitai, Japan's mobile wallet chip, from their lists of supported models.
Read on JR East's Welcome Suica Mobile page and the Mobile Suica and PASMO support pages on 15 September 2026.
Paying with a contactless bank card
Since 25 March 2026, Tokyo Metro, Toei and nine other railway companies around Tokyo let you touch a contactless credit, debit or prepaid card at the gate, with no registration. Some of those companies take it at only some of their stations. Tokyo Metro and Toei take it on every line, though a Tokyo Metro journey cannot start at Nakano.
- Look for the gate with the touch-payment reader. At Tokyo Metro it is the wide gate, usually near the information counter.
- Accepted brands are Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover and UnionPay. A phone or watch carrying a card works too, and Tokyo Metro lists fewer brands for those.
- You pay the paper-ticket fare, and there is no child fare. Changing between Tokyo Metro and Toei still takes ¥70 off; no other discount applies.
- Touch in and out with the same card or the same device. One card pays for one person, and it cannot be combined with a day pass.
- It does not cover a journey that continues onto JR East lines.
Read on Tokyo Metro's Tap to Ride page and Toei's contactless page (in Japanese) on 15 September 2026.
How to use the ticket gates
Touch an IC card on the gate's reader as you go in, and again as you come out.
A single ticket goes through the gate too, and it is no longer valid once you pass the exit gate. Where changing lines means leaving the gates, Tokyo Metro asks you to use the orange transfer gates and change within 60 minutes.
Read on Tokyo Metro's PASMO page and regular-ticket page on 15 September 2026.
Buying a paper ticket
Every Tokyo Metro station has ticket machines. A single ticket costs ¥180–¥330 by distance, or ¥160 between Ayase and Kita-senju. Choose the fare for the distance you will travel. If the ticket turns out to be for less than the journey, you pay the difference, and a ticket for more is not partly refunded. It is valid only on the day you buy it.
Read on Tokyo Metro's regular-ticket page on 15 September 2026.
Full photo credits are on the credits page.
Single fares
The fare depends on the operator and distance.
Check your route →| Operator | Fare |
|---|---|
| Tokyo Metro | ¥178–¥324 |
| Toei Subway | ¥178–¥430 |
A few sections have fares of their own, and a journey that changes between the two operators is priced differently. JR and the private railways publish their own fares. Read on Tokyo Metro's fare page and Toei's fare page (in Japanese) on 15 September 2026.
Tokyo Metro fares by distance
| Distance | IC card | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| 1–6 km | ¥178 | ¥180 |
| 7–11 km | ¥209 | ¥210 |
| 12–19 km | ¥252 | ¥260 |
| 20–27 km | ¥293 | ¥300 |
| 28–40 km | ¥324 | ¥330 |
Children pay ¥89–¥162 on an IC card and ¥90–¥170 by ticket. Part of a kilometre counts as a whole one. The fares include the ¥10 railway-station barrier-free charge for adults.
Source: Tokyo Metro, regular tickets, read 15 September 2026.
Toei Subway fares by distance
| Distance | IC card | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 km | ¥178 | ¥180 |
| 5–9 km | ¥220 | ¥220 |
| 10–15 km | ¥272 | ¥280 |
| 16–21 km | ¥325 | ¥330 |
| 22–27 km | ¥377 | ¥380 |
| 28–46 km | ¥430 | ¥430 |
Children pay ¥89–¥215 on an IC card and ¥90–¥220 by ticket. Distance is measured along the shortest route, and part of a kilometre counts as a whole one.
Source: Toei, regular fares (in Japanese), read 15 September 2026.
Special sections and changing operators
- Ayase to Kita-senju on the Chiyoda Line costs ¥155 on an IC card and ¥160 by ticket, with no barrier-free charge. Children pay ¥77 and ¥80.
- Meguro, Shirokanedai and Shirokane-takanawa are shared by the Namboku and Mita lines. A journey between two of them costs ¥178 on an IC card and ¥180 by ticket (children ¥89 and ¥90), and a ticket bought at one of those stations for that journey works on either line.
- Changing between Tokyo Metro and Toei at one of their designated transfer stations costs the two fares added together, less ¥70 for an adult. If the change means leaving the gates, make it within 60 minutes.
- JR and the private railways charge their own fares, so a journey that runs onto their lines pays theirs as well.
Read on Tokyo Metro's Ayase–Kita-senju, Meguro–Shirokane-takanawa and transfer-time pages and Toei's discount page (all in Japanese) on 15 September 2026.
Children and infants
A child is 6 to 11, and a 12-year-old still at primary school also counts. A child pays half the adult fare, rounded down to the yen on an IC card and up to ¥10 on a ticket.
Babies under 1 ride free. Children from 1 to 5 also ride free, up to two with each adult or child; a third, or a child of that age travelling without an adult or child, pays the child fare. A 6-year-old who has not started school counts as 1 to 5.
Read on Tokyo Metro's age page and Toei's fare page (both in Japanese) on 15 September 2026.
Subway passes
Tokyo Subway Ticket
Unlimited rides on every Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway line for 24, 48 or 72 hours. JR lines, including the Yamanote Line, are not included, and neither is any other railway, including the trains to Narita and Haneda airports.
| Validity | Adult | Child |
|---|---|---|
| 24 hours | ¥1,000 | ¥500 |
| 48 hours | ¥1,500 | ¥750 |
| 72 hours | ¥2,000 | ¥1,000 |
For foreign visitors, who show a passport with short-term-stay status to buy it in Japan. Some outlets also sell it to people who live outside Tokyo and seven nearby prefectures. Read on Tokyo Metro's Tokyo Subway Ticket site and Toei's ticket page on 15 September 2026.
Compare it with your own plans
Add up the fares for the subway journeys you plan in those hours and compare the total with the pass price. Journeys on JR or other railways are paid separately either way.
When does the pass start?
- Paper ticket. The hours start the first time it goes through a gate, within the expiry date printed on the back. If the hours run out during a journey that started in time, you can still leave at the end of it.
- QR ticket. Sold online to foreign visitors only, and valid for 90 days from purchase. Press Start on the ticket screen and the hours run from your first ride. Some gates cannot read the code; use the staffed window there.
- On a PASMO. The hours start when you buy it, not when you first ride. Toei sells this version to foreign visitors, after a passport check, at its information centres in Shimbashi, Shinjuku-nishiguchi and Ueno-okachimachi stations.
Other day passes
| Ticket | Adult | Child |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Metro 24-hour Ticket Every Tokyo Metro line, for 24 hours. | ¥700 | ¥350 |
| Toei 1Day Pass (都営まるごときっぷ) Toei Subway, Toei buses, the Tokyo Sakura Tram and the Nippori-Toneri Liner, for one day. | ¥700 | ¥350 |
| Common One-day Ticket for Tokyo Metro & Toei Subway Every Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway line, first train to last train on one day. | ¥1,100 | ¥550 |
| Tokyo Combination Ticket (東京フリーきっぷ) Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway, Toei buses, the Tokyo Sakura Tram and the Nippori-Toneri Liner, plus JR lines inside the 23 wards, for one day. | ¥1,720 | ¥860 |
The Tokyo Combination Ticket is the only pass here that includes JR. Read on Tokyo Metro's one-day ticket page and Toei's ticket page on 15 September 2026.
Tax-free shopping
Changes on 1 November 2026
From 1 November 2026, tax-free shopping for visitors moves to a refund method (リファンド方式). It applies to goods bought on or after that date. Until then, tax-free shops take the tax off at the till.
- You pay the full price, consumption tax included, at the till.
- When you leave Japan within 90 days of the purchase, you show your passport and have the goods confirmed by customs, at a kiosk or terminal in the departure lobby. The 90 days start the day after the purchase.
- Do this before you check in your bags, because it cannot be done afterwards. Customs may ask to see the goods.
- If one item from a receipt is missing at the check, nothing on that receipt is refunded.
- The refund is paid afterwards, by the shop or a company working for it. The law does not fix how: a bank transfer, a card refund, an app or cash at the departure airport or port are all possible.
- Goods confirmed by customs must leave Japan without delay. If they do not, the tax is collected and a penalty applies.
- Buy only as much as you can carry out of Japan yourself. The minimum is still ¥5,000, counted before tax, spent at one shop on one day.
Source: the National Tax Agency's overview of the refund method, notice to travellers and refund-method page (in Japanese), read 15 September 2026.
Sources & updates
Fares, passes and contactless-card rules were read on Tokyo Metro's and Toei's own websites, IC cards and phone payment on JR East's and PASMO's and on the Mobile Suica and Mobile PASMO support sites, and the tax-free rules on the National Tax Agency's, on 15 September 2026. Each source is named beside what it supports, and linked where its site allows. Toei's IC fares are also checked at every build against its open data feed (CC BY 4.0, 東京都交通局・公共交通オープンデータ協議会). Prices change, and the fare map above the ticket machines is the final word.