JR East Japan will begin allowing Suica fare cards for purchases at shops in train stations in the Tokyo and Sendai area. There are a total of 196 shops in 64 stations that will begin accepting Suica as a form of payment.
Suica is the contactless IC card system introduced by JR in the greater Tokyo area, which allows users to pass through the gate by simply waving the card over the fare machine - even when inside the wallet. More recently, however, Sony has developed the Felica system for NTT DoCoMo cellular phones allowing the same capabilities, but users wave their phones over the fare gates rather than a seperate card.
The Suica name comes from three different sources. First of all, it stands for "Super Intelligent Urban Card." Also, "sui sui" is Japanese for "smooth," which is the primary promotional factor of the cards. Finally, "suika" is Japanese for "melon," which explains the green color of the cards and logo.

JR East Japan will start a service beginning March 22nd that will allow users of the commuter pass/prepaid ticket "Suica" IC cards to pay for items at 196 shops in 64 different train stations in the greater Tokyo and Sendai areas. Expansion is planned, and by the summer, this function should be usable at 536 shops in 206 different stations.

To start out, shopping with Suica will take place in existing stations that use Suica, at "Book Garden" bookstores, "Good Times" cafes, and "Gift Garden" gift shops. Beginning in the first part of April, the card will also be useable at "NEWDAYS" convenience stores inside stations. The price of the items will be displayed o­n computer terminals at registers in each of the stores, and when the Suica card is touched to the terminal, just like ticket machines, the amount will be paid from the Suica card. Even inside the commuter pass case, it can be used.

Up to now, users would make deposits to their Suica cards for using the railroad system, but this time around they can also use the amount for purchasing items. Suica has been capable of purchasing items since August of 2003, so users do not need to follow any special procedure to use them. As for the cards that do not have this function, beginning o­n March 20th, the cards can be exchange for free with cards that do have this capability at the green window ticket counter in major stations. According to JR East Japan, "Currently, there are around 7,900,000 Suica cards in circulation, but o­nly up to 1,100,000 of these do not have purchasing functions."

Inspired by:
http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2004/02/10/013.html