Telephone numbers in Japan

Japan telephone numbers
Location
Country Japan
Continent Asia
Access codes
Country calling +81
International prefix 010
Trunk prefix 0
Dial plan
Type closed

Contents

Dialing prefixes

 00  Carrier selection prefix
 184 Prefix to withhold caller ID
 186 Prefix to provide caller ID

Types of numbers

 1xx    Special numbers
 00xx   Carrier selection codes
 x     1-digit geographic area codes
 xx    2-digit geographic area codes
 xxx   3-digit geographic area codes
 xxxx  4-digit geographic area codes
 xxxxx 5-digit geographic area codes
 x0    2-digit non-Geographic area codes (excluding 10)
 xx0   3-digit non-Geographic area codes (1x0, 570, 800, 910, 990)

Length of numbers

 Special numbers are 3 digits long
 Geographic numbers are 9 digits long
 x0 Non-geographic numbers are 10 digits long
 xx0 Non-geographic numbers are 9 digits long

Emergency services

 110  Police
 118  Maritime emergencies
 119  Ambulance, Fire brigade
 171  Earthquake assistance

Operator services

 100  NTT operator
 106  Operator assisted collect call service
 108  Automated collect call service
 113  NTT technical faults hotline
 116  NTT customer service and general enquiries

Directory services

 104  NTT national directory enquiries
 0057 KDDI international directory enquiries

Special services

 114  Automated number-busy check
 115  Telegram service
 117  Speaking clock
 136  Information on last incoming call
 177  Weather forecast

Long distance carrier selection (Myline)

With the exception of 1, all carrier selection codes are two digits long. They are dialed before the phone number to select a specific carrier. Carrier selection codes are always preceded by '00', the carrier selection prefix.

 1   KDDI (international)
 33  NTT Communications
 36  NTT East
 37  Fusion Communications
 39  NTT West
 41  SoftBank Telecom (international / former Japan Telecom)
 56  KDDI (international)
 61  SoftBank Telecom (international / former Cable and Wireless IDC)
 66  SoftBank Telecom (international / former Cable and Wireless IDC)
 71  Verizon Japan
 77  KDDI (national)
 80  T-Systems
 81  Fusion Communications (former TTNet)
 88  SoftBank Telecom (national / former Japan Telecom)
 89  T-Systems

Non-geographic area codes

 120 NTT Freedial, tollfree services
 130 Automated information services
 140 Disaster relief wireless communications
 160 Disaster relief satellite communications
 170 NTT Dengon Dial, chat line services
 180 NTT Telegong, TV/Radio show feedback dial-in
 180 NTT Teledome, automated information services
 190 NTT Angel Line, automated directory services via PC/modem
 190 NTT Annai Jozu, automated directory services via telephone
 800 Other tollfree services
 20  Paging services
 30  Mobile telephony services (legacy systems, PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)
 40  Mobile telephony services (legacy systems, PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)
 50  IP telephony service (via internet service providers)
 570 Navi Dial, non-geographic wireline
 60  Universal personal number services
 70  Mobile telephony and data services (PHS)
 80  Mobile telephony and data services (PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)
 90  Mobile telephony and data services (PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)
 910 Private circuit access, local rate services
 990 NTT DialQ2, premium rate services

Decommissioned area codes

 150 formerly used for maritime wireless communications
 450 formerly used for maritime wireless communications
 750 formerly used for maritime wireless communications

Area codes (市外局番 "shigai-kyokuban") of selected major cities

 11  Sapporo
 138 Hakodate
 166 Asahikawa
 177 Aomori
 188 Akita
 196 Morioka
 22  Sendai
 236 Yamagata
 245 Fukushima
 249 Kōriyama
 25  Niigata 
 26  Nagano
 272 Maebashi
 273 Takasaki
 286 Utsunomiya
 3   Tokyo
 42  Tokorozawa
 47  Kashiwa
 426 Hachiōji
 427 Machida, Sagamihara
 432 or 433 Chiba
 44  Kawasaki
 45  Yokohama
 466 Fujisawa
 468 Yokosuka
 473 Ichikawa, Matsudo
 474 (473 for west part of the city)) Funabashi
 482 Kawaguchi
 486 or 487 or 488 Saitama
 49  Kawagoe
 52  Nagoya
 53  Hamamatsu
 532 Toyohashi
 54  Shizuoka
 55  Kofu
 564 Okazaki
 565 Toyota
 568 Kasugai
 569 Handa
 58  Gifu
 586 Ichinomiya
 592 Tsu, Yokkaichi
 6   Osaka, Higashiōsaka, Suita, Toyonaka, Amagasaki
 722 Sakai
 726 Takatsuki
 728 Hirakata
 73  Wakayama
 742 or 743 Nara
 75  Kyoto
 762 Kanazawa
 764 Toyama
 775 Ōtsu
 776 Fukui
 78  Kobe
 790 Kasai
 792 or 793 Himeji
 794 Kakogawa
 797 or 798 Nishinomiya, Takarazuka
 82  Hiroshima
 832 Shimonoseki
 839 Yamaguchi
 84  Fukuyama
 852 Matsue
 857 Tottori
 862 or 869 Okayama
 864 or 865 Kurashiki
 878 Takamatsu
 886 Tokushima
 888 Kochi
 899 Matsuyama
 92  Fukuoka
 93  Kitakyushu
 942 Kurume
 958 Nagasaki
 952 Saga
 956 Sasebo
 96  Kumamoto
 97  Ōita
 98  Naha
 985 Miyazaki
 99  Kagoshima

Geographic numbers are 9 digits long including the area code. Consequently, densely populated areas have shorter area codes, while less populated areas have longer area codes. For example:

 6 xxxx xxxx (Osaka)
 75 xxx xxxx (Kyoto)
 742 xx xxxx (Nara)
 4992 x xxxx (Niijima island, Tokyo pref.)
 82486  xxxx (Takano, Hiroshima pref.)

Area codes increase from north to south; Sapporo in Hokkaidō (the northernmost prefecture) has 11, and Setouchi's 9973 is far to the south in Kagoshima. When the telephone system was devised, Okinawa was still under U.S. occupation, so when it was returned to Japan in 1972, its telephone numbers were squeezed between Miyazaki (98x) and Kagoshima (99x) and begin with 988, 989, and 980.

During the 1990s, when plans were being drawn up to amalgamate mid-sized cities and towns into larger municipalities, telephone numbering systems were merged in advance. For example,

  7442 x xxxx Kashihara (Nara prefecture)
  7444 x xxxx Sakurai
  74452 xxxx Takatori
  74454 xxxx Asuka
  etc.

became:

  744 2x xxxx Kashihara
  744 4x xxxx Sakurai
  744 52 xxxx Takatori
  744 54 xxxx Asuka
  etc.

Many of these towns have in fact refused to merge, leaving callers with more digits to dial when making local calls. This is partially balanced by not having to dial an area code for the neighboring city.

See also

External links

References