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suica no more

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Since October of 2005, I've been using a Suica card for transit in Tokyo. It's a simple cash card that started with the JR transit system and point-of-sale locations like convenience stores (and vending machines). To my delight, it's since grown substantially in usability and now lets me travel not on the trains but the subways, too. No more using the Suica for half the journey, then buying tickets for the other half! Hooray.

Public transit in Tokyo is not overly expensive, but it does add up over the course of a month. So last Friday, for only the second time since I've had my card, I decided to put ¥5000 on the thing -- about $50.

Naturally, I promptly lost it. On that same day, as a matter of fact.

It likely happened during the mad dash to the airport on Friday, but I suppose I'll never know. The airport and airline both tell my wife (thanks for calling around, Mari!) that they don't have it.

I am angry with myself.