IME it’s completely transparent. You load up your suica and you’re off.

The issue’s it’s a bit too transparent: and after a while you realise that your suica is emptying unexpectedly fast, because you’re paying (and resetting your trip counter) every time you pass a gate, and that you probably shouldn’t blindly follow western trip system because you want to limit network switches, at which point you run into the issue that the resources for that are mostly in Japanese.

Then it depends how much the overhead is and how much you care.

Google Maps shows us the total trip cost – I'm assuming that's reliable.

This is exactly the point. In the UK too, they have a plethora of different companies, but you can buy any ticket anyway.

JR Pass is the answer for this! The JR Pass is awesome!

https://www.jrpass.com/

No, the existence of the JR pass exactly proves their point.

It only works on JR lines, so in Tokyo you still need to buy tickets for all the private train lines and metro lines (city run and private run). Try getting around Tokyo on the daily using only JR lines; it won't be too much fun for you.

JR pass is only really useful for long-haul, intercity type journeys, primarily by shinkansen

If you’re in Tokyo you get a suica. It works on all lines, and can also be used as a payment card at various vending machines and shops (including I think all the big combini brands and many marts).

This is the way to travel, for sure.

Person above was talking about the JR Pass, which as you know is pretty useless for general "getting around Tokyo" purposes