While I was in Japan over winter, one thing that stood out to me was the incredible public transport system. Efficient and reliable, as expected, but the tap-in-tap-out gates at the stations were suspiciously fast. The London Underground gates don't work nearly as quick with Google Pay or any of my other contactless cards - what gives? I spent some time researching what makes Japan's transit card system (IC cards) so unique compared to the West, and all of the interesting bits I learned along th...