East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) said Tuesday that users of its Suica electronic train fare cards will be able to use them for shopping at FamilyMart Co. convenience stores in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures.
Users can already use the cards to make payments electronically at stores within JR East's railway stations in almost all parts of the Kanto region, including Tokyo, and in some parts of Miyagi Prefecture.
Starting this fall, the railway operator will test the use of Suica cards at about 10 convenience stores run by FamilyMart in the Tokyo metropolitan area before expanding the service to the same parts of the Kanto region and Miyagi Prefecture.
JR East expects the cards to become acceptable at up to 2,800 FamilyMart stores.