PiTaPa

Part of the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service, PiTaPa is usable on public transport across Japan.

The Conference initially announced in April 2002 that they were planning to consign operation of the system to Hitachi and JCB, but switched to the Japan Research Institute and Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company [jp] in July 2003.

After four months of initial monitor testing, the service officially started on August 1, 2004, with three participating companies: Hankyu, Keihan and Nose Railway.

In 2013, PiTaPa became usable in all major cities across Japan as part of the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service.

[5] Prior to this, PiTaPa had been implemented and released as part of Affiliate Cards by a variety of companies and operators: