Japan Semiconductor Innovation 50 (A-18 2000s)
Contactless IC Card and its Practical Application (JR East)
JR East started ticketing services based on contactless IC cards in November 2001. The commercial use of this new system by JR East inspired other transportation companies such as railways and buses to start similar contactless IC card based services. Around the same time, the contactless electronic money card "Edy" system came into practical use. After the transportation ticketing "Suica" system started interoperation with this money card "Edy", the contactless IC cards came into wide use owing to the synergistic effect. Both of those transportation and transaction systems adopted the IC card chip "Felica" developed by Sony which operates with the power supply generated by electromagnetic induction. With its convenience and security, the contactless IC card system is now becoming the infrastructure of modern cashless society.
| Contactless IC card (Suica & PASMO) based ticketing gates |
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| Quote from Wikipedia |