ICOCA card: where to buy, price, refund and where it works

Can you buy ICOCA now?

31 October 2026

On November 26, 2025, JR West announced that services for the card type SMART ICOCA end in stages. Quick Charge, which charges by credit card, is scheduled to end on October 31, 2026.

12 December 2024

JR West says new sales of SMART ICOCA ended with applications received on December 12, 2024.

On sale: 2,000 yen per card

JR West's ICOCA purchase page says it sells the ICOCA card at 2,000 yen per card, including a 500 yen deposit.

Checked on the issuer's page on 5 October 2026. Sales and prices change: confirm before you travel.

Who can buy it

Passport and short-stay status; 1 per person

JR-West's English page says the original design ICOCA exclusive to foreign visitors is for people with a passport issued by a government other than Japan who enter as a Temporary Visitor. Japanese nationals, including those with permanent residence abroad, cannot use it. The limit is 1 per person.

Where to buy ICOCA

JR-West ticket machines and Midori-no-madoguchi

At JR-West stations an ICOCA can be bought from ticket vending machines with the ICOCA mark or at a JR-WEST ticket office (Midori-no-madoguchi). The machine screen can be switched to English.

ICOCA-area stations: Midori-no-madoguchi, machines

JR West sells the ICOCA at the Midori-no-madoguchi ticket offices of stations in the ICOCA area (with some exceptions) and at ticket machines with the ICOCA mark, for the adult card only. Credit cards cannot be used to buy it.

Foreign-visitor original design

JR-West's English ICOCA page says the original design ICOCA exclusive to foreign visitors is sold at the JR Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) at Kansai-airport Station.

Price, deposit and top-ups

Price from

2,000 yen

Deposit

500 yen, returned with the card

Max balance

20,000 yen

Valid for

Can expire after 10 years unused

Price

An ICOCA card is 2,000 yen including a 500 yen deposit. Some ticket machines also sell it at 1,000, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 yen, each including the 500 yen deposit.

Deposit

If you insert 2,000 yen when buying an ICOCA at a ticket machine, 1,500 yen goes on the card as balance. The 500 yen deposit is redeemed when you return the card to a JR-WEST Ticket Office.

Maximum balance

You cannot top up an ICOCA if the resulting balance would be more than 20,000 yen.

Top-ups

ICOCA can be topped up at ticket machines, charge machines and fare adjustment machines, and at local convenience stores. Credit cards cannot be used to charge an ICOCA.

Top-ups

An ICOCA can be topped up in steps of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 or 10,000 yen. At fare adjustment machines and some ticket machines, 500 yen is also possible.

Price

The original design ICOCA exclusive to foreign visitors costs 2,000 yen, including a 500 yen deposit.

Points

JR West says using the point service requires a free registration. SMART ICOCA and Mobile ICOCA or ICOCA on Apple Pay need no registration.

Where you can use ICOCA

Main area

ICOCA is accepted throughout the ICOCA usage area, labeled ICOCA Area (JR-West), as well as in participating areas of other IC cards.

Other areas

ICOCA can be used for railways, buses and shopping in the usage areas of Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, PiTaPa, Hayakaken, nimoca and SUGOCA. ICOCA electronic money is not accepted in place of PiTaPa.

Watch out

JR-West says that, with some exceptions, ICOCA cannot be used for a trip between two different areas or outside the listed areas. Inside the ICOCA area it cannot be used for travel of more than 200 km of service distance.

Shinkansen

JR-West's English FAQ says ICOCA cannot be used for the Bullet Train (Shinkansen). You buy a separate basic fare ticket and limited express ticket.

Trains and buses

On conventional-line limited express trains, ICOCA can be used if you buy the limited express ticket separately for a section between stations in the ICOCA area. It cannot be used if the trip exceeds 200 business kilometers, with some exceptions.

Trains and buses

To ride a train with an ICOCA you touch the card to the card-recognition area on the automated ticket gate, and touch it again after getting off. The fare is deducted automatically.

Shops

Money on an ICOCA can be used as electronic money at convenience stores, restaurants, vending machines, coin-operated lockers and other places inside and outside stations. It is accepted at all stores displaying the ICOCA mark.

Watch out

JR-West's English FAQ says it is not possible to view your ICOCA usage history after leaving Japan.

Refunds, expiry and lost cards

Refund

JR West's ICOCA terms say a customer who no longer needs an ICOCA can claim back the balance, and a fee of 220 yen per card is charged.

Refund

If the refund amount, including the card balance, is no more than the refund fee, only the 500 yen deposit is returned. JR West handles ICOCA refunds at stations inside the JR West ICOCA area.

Expiry

JR West's ICOCA terms say that if none of card exchange, use or top-up of the balance, or commuter pass renewal happens for 10 years, JR West may invalidate the ICOCA in cases it has specially decided. The balance and deposit of an invalidated ICOCA cannot be claimed back.

Registered card

JR West lists lost-card reissue as available only for named (registered) cards: ICOCA commuter passes, Children's ICOCA and SMART ICOCA.

If you lose it

Nankai's English page lists features of ICOCA as a card that anyone can use and that cannot be reissued when lost.

If you lose it

Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau's page says a lost ICOCA, or one that stops working because of a fault, can be reissued, but a lost unnamed ICOCA cannot be reissued.

Refund

Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau says an ICOCA or Children's ICOCA that is no longer needed can be refunded at its commuter pass offices. If the refund amount is no more than the 220 yen refund fee, only the deposit is returned.

Registered card

JR West says the plain ICOCA can be used by anyone, at 2,000 yen per card including a 500 yen deposit.

Cards for children

Purchase form and ID such as a passport

To buy a Children's ICOCA you fill in a purchase form, and JR West checks the user's name and date of birth from an official document such as a passport. A parent or another person can buy it for the child.

Until 31 March of the year the child turns 12

A Children's ICOCA can be used by the named child until March 31 of the school year in which the child turns 12. After that it cannot be used at ticket gates, and it can be refunded without a fee.

The official wording

The issuer's own words, as published on its English pages.

Related items

• ICOCA vs Suica
• Mobile ICOCA
• Kansai Airport
• Osaka
• Kyoto
• IC card refunds
• Topping up an IC card