While watching the Olympics in China, I was reminded of how mobile Asians are. In the US, I think of the elderly woman who still brings her checkbook to the grocery store and spending five minutes writing the check out, filling out the ledger, then balancing their account while the world screeches to a halt.
In various countries in Asia, they have debit cards which are in no relation to their financial institution and are used at train stations and other stores near train stations.
The Watermelon suica card is used as a train pass and in the later part of my stay in Japan was also used for purchases at the nearby convenience stores. Since 2004, a user of suica loads money onto their card via a machine at any train station and when entering the stalls at the station the lead to the platform, they swipe their card and then do the same when they arrive at their final destination. If I'm on the way to the station or just leaving the station and I want to buy a drink or snack at one of the vending machines or stores in the station, I can use the card for that as well.
The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10
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