A quiet card and a number. The gate only wants a tap.
In this lesson you will
- Say the gate will not open and hand over the IC card
- Ask where to charge and name an amount with お願いします
- Follow 置いてください / タッチしてください without freezing
残高が足りません is not a scolding. It is a number. Charge, tap again, bow with ありがとうございます. Do not argue with the beep.
Today’s scene
How it works
This scene starts at the closed gate, not at a vocabulary poster. どうしましたか is “what happened?” Staff say it when your body is blocking the lane. 改札を通れません is the polite “I cannot go through the ticket gate.” 入れません is shorter and also fine.
カードをどうぞ means they want the plastic, not your phone story. 残高が少ないです / 残高が足りません is the diagnosis. チャージ is the katakana everyone uses. チャージはどこですか reuses yesterday’s どこ.
一緒に行きましょう is staff kindness, not a date. At the machine: お金を入れて、カードを置いてください. Two て-forms in a row. You already have てください from beginner-13. 三千円入れます names the amount. Then もう一度、タッチしてください — once more, tap.
Suica, PASMO, ICOCA are brand names on the same idea. This classroom will say ICカード in the mouth and Suica in the title because that is what travelers search. Do not put a logo in your head as grammar.
Tokyo will ask you to tap before it asks your name. The first closed gate feels like a moral failure. It is a number. This lesson is one lane at Ueno: the sad beep, the staff in the box, the machine, the second tap. We will not give you a poster of “Suica words.” We will stay in the lane until the language has a floor.
Look at the dialogue first. どうしましたか is not small talk. It is the staff’s tool when your body is blocking commuters. Answer the situation, not your life story. すみません。改札を通れません. 改札 is the ticket gate. 通れません is the polite potential-negative: cannot pass. If that is too long in your mouth today, 入れません still works. What does not work is silence plus a shove.
カードをどうぞ is “the card, please.” Hand it over. Do not start a lecture about the app on your phone unless they ask. Many travelers now tap a phone. The Japanese does not change. The object is still カード for the staff’s ears if the plastic is in your wallet. If you only have the phone, スマホです is enough. Then wait.
残高が少ないです and 残高が足りません are the diagnosis. 残高 is balance. 足りません is “not enough.” This is not a scolding. Charge, tap again. チャージが必要です names the job. チャージ is katakana everyone uses, including people who have never said “charge” in English. チャージはどこですか reuses the airport’s どこ. You are not learning a new grammar family. You are hanging a new noun on a hook you already own.
一緒に行きましょう is staff kindness. ましょう is the “let’s” from beginner-15. It is not a date and not a tour. Walk with them. At the machine they will stack て-forms: お金を入れて、カードを置いてください. Money in, card down. You already have てください. Two actions, one politeness. Watch their hands. Japanese instruction at machines is often shorter than English. The hands finish the sentence.
三千円入れます names the amount you will put in. 三千円お願いします is the same news with a request flavor. Start with 2,000 or 3,000 if you will ride several days. Do not feed the machine a 10,000 note if you are leaving tomorrow and want coins for a locker — but that is travel advice, not grammar. The grammar is: yen amount plus 入れます or お願いします.
できました is “it’s done.” Useful at printers, lockers, and this pad. Then they send you back: もう一度、タッチしてください. もう一度 is once more. タッチしてください is the verb Tokyo actually uses at gates. Say it in your head as you tap so the motion and the word sit together.
Before you own a card, the ticket office scene is a cousin, not a different language. ICカードを買いたいです. Staff may say Suicaでよろしいですか. よろしいですか is a polite “is that all right?” はい、お願いします closes it. PASMO, ICOCA, and the rest are brand skins on the same tap. This classroom says ICカード in the mouth so you are not married to one logo. The title says Suica because that is the word travelers search at dawn.
What not to do: do not jump the gate. Do not shout 開いてよ. Do not wave a credit card at the IC reader and hope. If the card is brand new and uncharged, the beep is honest. If you tapped twice and paid twice, 二回タッチしました is a clean report. We will not pretend you need keigo for that. です/ます is enough.
Korean speakers: 충전 is the idea of チャージ. The Japanese word at the machine is still チャージ, not a hangul cousin said with Japanese vowels. Chinese speakers: 余额 is 残高 (ざんだか). The kanji will tempt you to guess out loud in Mandarin. Guess in your head. Speak チャージ. English speakers: “top up” will not be on the button. チャージ will. Spanish speakers: タッチ is not Spanish “touch” with extra vowels. Keep it short: タッチ.
Practice standing, card in the left hand, the way the gate expects. Say 通れません once as if people are behind you. That is the real speed. Next we take this card onto a platform and ask if the train in front of your nose actually stops where you need to get off.
The machine itself will talk, or it will stay silent and make you watch the screen. Either way, the staff member’s mouth is the teacher. お金を入れて is not a vocabulary item you collect. It is the first half of a pair: money in, then card down. If you reverse the order, the machine may spit the note back or ignore the card. Watch their finger. Japanese instruction at stations is often two て-forms and a nod. You already paid for that grammar in beginner-13. Today you spend it standing up.
A new card and an empty card feel the same at the gate. Both beep the sad beep. The difference is only whether you already own the plastic. If you do not, walk to the window first: ICカードを買いたいです. If you do, stay in this lane and charge. Do not buy a second card because the first one embarrassed you. The staff have a machine for embarrassment. It is called チャージ.
You will also meet 定期, commuter passes, and tourist passes with days printed on them. Those are other products. This scene does not need them. If a clerk offers a pass, 今日はICカードだけで大丈夫です is a complete refuse. You are allowed to want the simple tap for a week.
Portuguese and Indonesian speakers: タッチ is a short borrowed word. Keep it two morae, not “touchy.” French and German speakers: the apology is すみません, not a long explanation of why the balance is low. The balance is low because you rode. Charge it. Vietnamese and Arabic readers: the Japanese in the boxes stays Japanese. Read 改札 as a shape you can say, not as a translation sitting on the gate.
If a line forms behind you, step sideways with the staff. The lane wants to move. Your Japanese can move with you. That is the whole job of this lesson: a closed gate becomes a short conversation, then a machine, then a second tap. No poster required.
When the gate refuses
すみません。改札を通れません。
カードをどうぞ。 / カードを見せてください。
残高が足りません。チャージが必要です。
Charge, then tap
チャージはどこですか。
三千円入れます。 / 三千円お願いします。
カードを置いてください。もう一度、タッチしてください。
In Plain Words: Suica, PASMO, ICOCA
The lesson stays with one scene at the ticket gate. This section steps outside that scene and talks about the card itself, in plain language. It is traveler’s background, not grammar.
One idea, several names
Suica, PASMO, and ICOCA are brand names for the same idea: a card you load with money in advance and tap at the ticket gate to pass through. That is why the lesson says ICカード out loud. You do not need to memorize logos. Knowing that what you hold is an IC card is enough.
How they differ by region
There is a regional reason why several brand names exist. But which region sells which card, and whether a card bought in one region works the same way in another, is not covered by this lesson. Before you travel, check the signs or ask the staff at the station you will use.
The lesson’s scene is a JR gate at Ueno Station in Tokyo. At a ticket office, if you say ICカードを買いたいです。, the staff may ask Suicaでよろしいですか。 (“Is Suica all right?”). はい、お願いします。 is all you need. For numbers such as the card price or any deposit, check at the station.
Charging
Adding money is called チャージ, and that word is printed on the machines. The machines are near the gates; if you cannot find one, ask チャージはどこですか。 The steps are the lesson’s own line: put the money in, then place the card (お金を入れて、カードを置いてください).
How much to add depends on your plans. The lesson’s advice: if you will ride for several days, start with 2,000 or 3,000 yen; if you leave tomorrow and need coins for a locker, do not feed a 10,000-yen note into the machine. Which notes a machine accepts and how much a card can hold are things to check on the machine’s screen at the station.
If the gate tells you 残高が足りません, there is nothing to be alarmed about. It is a number, not a verdict. Charge the card and tap again.
Where you spend it
The place this lesson covers is the station ticket gate. Whether the card also works in shops or on other transport is outside the lesson. Look for an IC card sign at the register or machine, and if there is none, ask right there.
Tapping with a phone
Many travelers now tap through the gate with their phones. The Japanese stays the same. If the staff says カードをどうぞ and you only have your phone, say スマホです。 and wait. How to set up a phone is not covered in this lesson.
Leftover balance and returning the card
What happens to the remaining balance or the card itself at the end of your trip is not covered in this lesson. Do not guess at the rules. Check at a station counter before you leave. Starting with すみません。 is enough.
Sentences you can use
Close, but not this
OK すみません。改札を通れません。
NG 門、壊れてる。
You did not break the gate. The balance did. Stay polite and specific.
OK 三千円入れます。
NG マネーチャージミー。
English smashed onto チャージ is not a sentence. Name a yen amount.
Say it out loud
The gate stays shut. Apologize and say you cannot go through.
Show answer
すみません。改札を通れません。 — Excuse me. I can’t go through the gate.
Ask where to charge the card.
Show answer
チャージはどこですか。 — Where is the charge?
Say you will put in 3,000 yen.
Show answer
三千円入れます。 — I’ll put in 3,000 yen.
A charged card is not a train. Next we stand on a platform and ask whether this train stops at your station — and where to transfer when it does not.
Write one sentence today
A quiet reading for what is on your mind
Set Japanese aside for a moment. This is our in-site counseling page: a gentle five-element (saju) reading of what is on your mind. A nickname is enough to start.
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