Suica/Pasmo cards on JR trains...

Hello!

I will be visiting Japan on Christmas Day and my parents want to go to the Gotemba Premium Outlet located in Shizuoka...

I was wondering if it were worthwhile to buy the N'EX and Suica package for 3500 Yen?

Will I be able to use the Suica Card all the way until Gotemba Station?

How much will the train ride from Ikebukuro cost all the way to Gotemba on the normal JR Trains, not the Odakyu Line?

And how much will it cost to get to Kamoi Station from Ikebukuro?



Thanks in advance!
Ian

As far as I know, Suica and Passmo cards work on all trains in that area.

At least I can use my Passmo card everywhere. It even worked on the Enoden in Kamakura. :)

As for times and fare rates, I think you should check this website:
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/

At the bottom is a form where you can enter station names and check the times and rates.

Hope this helps a bit. :)
Maybe someone with more background knowledge can help further and answer the NEX question.

Ian,

Gotemba station and the Gotemba Line is operated by JR Central, not JR East, so lies outside the Suica area. You can use Suica as far west as Atami on the Tokaido Line, although if going to Gotemba, you would change to the Gotemba Line at Kozu.

So the Suica Card would NOT work at Gotemba Station?
Is the Odakyu bus from Shinjuku Station a better alternative to get to the Gotemba Premium Outlet?
But I can use the card for the Tokyo Subway? How about if I wanted to get to Kamoi Station? Is it possible with the card?


Thanks!

Yes, the Suica can be used on the Tokyo Metro. That is a long trip out to Gotemba from Tokyo incidentally- it must be really good if people are willing to make such a long trip to get there.

Ian,

So the Suica Card would NOT work at Gotemba Station?

That is correct. You can only use it as far as Kozu, which is where you would hve to change from the Tokaido Line to the Gotemba Line for Gotemba. I'm not 100% sure, but I think you would have to leave the station with your Suica card and then buy a regular ticket from there to Gotemba. If you rode all the way to Gotemba with a Suica card, you could pay the fare from Kozu to Gotemba at your destination, but I suspect they don't have facilities there to process your Suica card, so it would be left thinking that it hadn't left a station yet, which would cause major problems when you next tried to use it.

So, why would I choose one over the other? Why are there two systems?

There are many systems because they are offered by different rail companies. The rail system in Japan is made up of a number of different companies and isn't one giant rail company. Suica is JR's IC card while Pasmo is non-JR Tokyo rail companies. They didn't used to be compatible systems but they have been integrated, so these days it doesn't matter so much which type of IC card you use as they are becoming more and more universal.

Can I?