In Japan, having a manaca saves time, energy, and money. The manaca card is an electronic charge card that can be used for trains (Jr and Meitetsu), subway, city bus, and the yutorito line. It can also be used at convenience stores, vending machines, and some restaurants. I mostly use mine for transportation.
With a manaca, I can just walk directly through the wicket (turnstile). This
makes my travel time very consistent, whereas having to buy a ticket can mean
that I end up waiting upwards of twenty minutes in line if I'm at a
particularly busy station. In addition to this, using a manaca gathers points
based off of distance traveled. The points can then be used to pay for subway
travel rather than using actual money. My friend K told me she saves roughly
800-1200 yen a month off of the points she gets from her manaca. Because of the
savings on time and money, it's worth it to pay the cost of getting a card
(it's 500 to get the card, no other payments necessary).I, on the other hand, bought an all line subway and city bus pass that does not gather points. I pay a fee (with the amount varying depending on the duration of the pass) to be able to travel along any subway line or on the bus for free without recharging my card. The duration of the pass can be as short as one month or as long as six. You can choose to have a train pass or a subway and city bus pass. Because I travel around Nagoya almost every day, this saves me 30% on travel. The student all line pass costs 9,990 yen for one month, including the bus. The regular all line pass costs 15,990, with an additional 2,000 yen for a bus pass.
Another advantage of using the manaca is that it simplifies riding the city bus. When you ride the bus, you always have to pay with exact change. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if not for the fact the automated change machine on the bus only gives change for 1000 yen bills. If you don't have exact change or 1000 yen, then you're stuck having to explain the situation in Japanese to the driver rather than simply getting off the bus. With a manaca, the money is taken directly from whatever you have on it, so you never have to worry about having the amount ready: even if you're out of charge, you can charge it on the bus.
The manaca is truly an all-purpose, convenient card to have. I would definitely recommend getting one to anybody who plans to stay in Japan for a lengthy period of time. It saves money, it saves time, and it streamlines travel.
