SUGOCA

SUGOCA (Japanese: スゴカ, romanized: Sugoka) is a Japanese rechargeable contactless smart card ticketing system for public transport in and around Fukuoka Prefecture. The Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) introduced the system on March 1, 2009. The name comes from "Smart Urban Going Card", while sugoka (凄か) in the local Kyūshū dialect means "great". Like other electronic fare collection systems in Japan, the card uses RFID technology developed by Sony Corporation, known as FeliCa. American graphic artist Rodney Alan Greenblat designed its official mascot, a frog with a clock. On March 13, 2010, SUGOCA began interoperation with Nishitetsu's nimoca, Fukuoka City's Hayakaken, and JR East's Suica. On March 5, 2011, in a reciprocal agreement with JR Central and JR West, SUGOCA became usable in the Keihanshin, Okayama–Hiroshima, and Nagoya metropolitan areas. In 2013, interoperation was extended country-wide, and SUGOCA became usable in nearly all major cities across Japan as part of the Nationwide Mutual Usage Service.