Holders of the latest version of East Japan Railway Co.'s Suica electronic train fare cards can now use them for shopping and dining at JR stations.
The service began Monday at 196 restaurants and stores at 64 stations in the Kanto region and Miyagi Prefecture.
Users can store up to 20,000 yen in the card and use it to pay by touching the card on a special panel at cashiers.
JR East will expand the service to cover some 500 facilities by summer, growing to roughly 1,000 by March 31, 2005, officials said.
The company has issued 8.2 million Suica cards since their introduction in November 2001, although 6.8 million of these, comprising all cards issued before October 2003, do not have the electronic-money function. Holders of such cards can swap them for the shopping card version at no cost.