Telephone numbers in Japan

Telephone numbers in Japan consist of an area code, an exchange number, and a subscriber number.

Dialing prefixes

001, 00xx, 002xx, 0091xx Carrier selection prefix
184 Prefix to withhold caller ID
186 Prefix to provide caller ID

Types of numbers

1xx Special numbers

001 and 00xx Carrier selection codes

0x 2-digit geographic area codes

0xx 3-digit geographic area codes

0xxx 4-digit geographic area codes

0xxxx 5-digit geographic area codes

0x0 3-digit non-Geographic area codes (excluding 010)

0xx0 4-digit non-Geographic area codes (01x0, 0570, 0800, 0910, 0990)

Length of numbers

Special numbers are three digits long
Geographic numbers are ten digits long
0x0 Non-geographic numbers are 10 or 11 digits long.
0xx0 Non-geographic numbers are 10 digits long

Three-digit numbers (special numbers)

Emergency services

110 Police (112 and 911 redirect to 110 on mobile phones)

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)

001 KDDI (international)

0032 IPS Inc.

0033 NTT Communications

0034 NTT Communications (international toll free)

0036 NTT East

0037 Fusion Communications

0039 NTT West

0041 SoftBank Telecom (international / former Japan Telecom)

0053 KDDI (Resold)

0056 KDDI (international)

0061 SoftBank Telecom (international / former Cable and Wireless IDC)

0066 SoftBank Telecom (international / former Cable and Wireless IDC)

0070 KDDI Toll Free

0071 Verizon Japan

0077 KDDI (national)

0080 T-Systems

0081 Fusion Communications (former TTNet)

0088 SoftBank Telecom (national / former Japan Telecom)

0089 T-Systems

0091 Brastel

Ten-digit numbers

Non-geographic area codes

0120 NTT Freedial, toll free services

0130 Automated information services

0140 Disaster relief wireless communications

0160 Disaster relief satellite communications

0170 NTT Dengon Dial, chat line services

0180 NTT Telegong, TV/Radio show feedback dial-in

0180 NTT Teledome, automated information services

0190 NTT Angel Line, automated directory services via PC/modem

0190 NTT Annai Jozu, automated directory services via telephone

0570

0800 Other toll free services

020 Paging services (PDC) and data services (UMTS)

030 Mobile telephony services (legacy systems, PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS) - currently not used

040 Mobile telephony services (legacy systems, PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS) - currently not used

050 IP telephony service (via internet service providers)

060 Universal personal number services

070 Mobile telephony and data services (PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)

080 Mobile telephony and data services (PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)

090 Mobile telephony and data services (PDC, J-CDMA, UMTS)

0910 Private circuit access, local rate services

0990 NTT DialQ2, premium rate services

Decommissioned area codes

0150 formerly used for maritime wireless communications

0450 formerly used for maritime wireless communications

0750 formerly used for maritime wireless communications

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

11 Sapporo

138 Hakodate

166 Asahikawa

17-7　or 172 Aomori

18-8 Akita

19-6 Morioka

22 Sendai

23-6 Yamagata

24-5 Fukushima

24-6 Iwaki

24-9 Kōriyama

25 Niigata

26 Nagano

27-2 Maebashi

27-3 Takasaki

28-6 Utsunomiya

3 Tokyo (23 Special wards), Komae

4-29 Tokorozawa

4-70 Kamogawa

4-71 Kashiwa

42-6 Hachiōji

42-7 Machida, Sagamihara

43 　Chiba

44 Kawasaki

45 Yokohama

466 Fujisawa

46-8 Yokosuka

47-3 Ichikawa, Matsudo

47-4 (473 for west part of the city) Funabashi

48-2 Kawaguchi

48-6 or 48-7 or 48-8 Saitama

48-9　Soka, Koshigaya

49 Kawagoe

52 Nagoya

53 Hamamatsu

53-2 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

72-2 Sakai

726 Takatsuki

72-8 Hirakata

73 Wakayama

742 or 743 Nara

75 Kyoto

76-2 Kanazawa

76-4 Toyama

768 Suzu

77-5 Ōtsu

776 Fukui

78 Kobe

790 Kasai

792 or 793 Himeji

794 Kakogawa

797 or 798 Nishinomiya, Takarazuka

82 Hiroshima

832 or 834 Shimonoseki

839 Yamaguchi

84 Fukuyama

852 Matsue

857 Tottori

862 or 869 Okayama

864 or 865 Kurashiki

87 Takamatsu

88-6 Tokushima

88-8 Kochi

89 Matsuyama

92 Fukuoka

93 Kitakyushu

942 Kurume

95-8 Nagasaki

952 Saga

956 Sasebo

96 Kumamoto

97 Ōita

98-8 or 98-9 Naha

981 or 98-5 Miyazaki

99 Kagoshima

Geographic numbers are nine digits long, including the area code, but not including the leading zero. 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 99-73 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.

Area code as local brand naming

thumb|[[Flea Market event named "028 Market" held on the Union St. in Utsunomiya. This event is held about semi-annually.]]

Starting in the 2010s, some local products and events are using names associated with the local area code.

0465net (Odawara, Kanagawa)<br>

0428 T-shirt (Ome, Tokyo)<br>

028 Market (Utsunomiya, Tochigi)<br>

028 Machinaka (Inner-City) Wi-Fi (Utsunomiya, Tochigi) <br>

Bar 053 (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka)

References

ITU allocations list

External links

Telephone information page of the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO)
Whitepages.jp Whitepages in English