is a rechargeable contactless

smart card A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

ticketing system for public transport in

Oita Prefecture Oita often refers to: *Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan *Ōita (city), the capital of the prefecture Oita or Ōita may also refer to: Places *Ōita District, Ōita, a former district in Ōita Prefecture, Japan *Ōita Stadium, a multi-use stadium ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Oita Bus, Oita Kōtsū, and Kamenoi Bus introduced the system on December 26, 2010.“ICカード『めじろんnimoca』大分都市圏で12月26日よりサービス開始”
by Nishitetsu Press Release, November 2, 2010. Like other electronic fare collection systems in Japan, the card uses

FeliCa FeliCa is a contactless Radio-frequency identification, RFID smart cards, smart card system from Sony in Japan, primarily used in electronic money cards. The name stands for ''Felicity Card''. First utilized in the Octopus card system in Hong Kong, ...

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

technology developed by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. The design of the card combines

Nimoca Nimoka, stylized as , is a rechargeable contactless smart card ticketing system for public transport in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu) introduced the system on May 18, 2008. Its name is an acronym of "nice money car ...

mascot Ferret with Mejiron ( めじろん?), the mascot character widely loved as Oita Prefecture's cheering squad. As of December 2010, the card is usable for some local bus lines by Oita Bus and Oita Kōtsū for Oita. On March 20, 2011, the card is also usable for all the bus lines by the operators. At the same time Mejiron Nimoca was introduced, the three operators also introduced Nimoca, meaning the latter card is also usable in those lines. As Mejiron Nimoca and Nimoca have integrated services,

SUGOCA is a Japanese rechargeable contactless smart card ticketing system for public transport in Fukuoka Prefecture and environs. The Kyūshū Railway Company (JR Kyūshū) introduced the system on 1 March 2009. The name is an acronym of "Smart Urban ...

Hayakaken is a rechargeable contactless smart card ticketing system for public transport in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau introduced the system on March 7, 2009. Its name stands for , , , and . also means "Beca ...

and

Suica is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card, electronic money used as a fare card on train lines in Japan, launched on November 18, 2001. The card can be used interchangeably with JR West's ICOCA in the Kansai region and San'yō region i ...

are also usable in the Mejiron Nimoca-accepting area.

Usable area

''As of March 2011'' *Buses **Oita Bus: All local bus lines, and some express bus lines. **Oita Kōtsū: All local bus lines and ''Airliner'' airport report bus lines. **Kamenoi Bus: All local bus lines. *Others (as

electronic money Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

): ** All Lawson stores in Oita Prefecture.

Types of cards

*Nimoca: Does not require registration. *Star Nimoca: Requires registration. It can be reissued when a user lost it. *Credit Nimoca: A

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

with the above functions. These three cards can be issued either as

prepaid cards A stored-value card (SVC) is a payment card with a monetary value stored on the card itself, not in an external account maintained by a financial institution. This means no network access is required by the payment collection terminals as funds ...

or commuters passes.

References

External links

Official website
{{Japanese smartcards Fare collection systems in Japan Contactless smart cards