Technology Aug. 15, 2008 - 07:34AM JST ( 1 )

OSAKA —

Surutto Kansai said Tuesday it will launch a new smart card in October aimed at Korean businesspeople and tourists coming to western Japan.

The integrated circuit card, dubbed “PiTaPa,” enables rides of trains and buses operated by 34 firms whose networks mainly cover the Kansai region, which includes this western Japan commercial city and famous tourist spots in Kyoto.

The card, which can also be used as electronic money, will be launched in South Korea in October in cooperation with Seoul-based Lotte Card Co.

Users of the card are required to pay a premium of 10,000 won, a fee holders of conventional Lotte cards are not obliged to pay. Their payments in Japan will be settled later through their home bank accounts.

Surutto Kansai, which promotes the IC transportation pass, expects 10,000 Koreans to join the PiTaPa card scheme in the first year.

Introduced in Japan in 2004, PiTaPa cards are now used by more than 1.15 million people.

JCN