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
0xx0 4-digit non-Geographic area codes

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
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
0032 IPS Inc.
0033 NTT Communications
0034 NTT Communications
0036 NTT East
0037 Fusion Communications
0039 NTT West
0041 SoftBank Telecom
0053 KDDI
0056 KDDI
0061 SoftBank Telecom
0066 SoftBank Telecom
0070 KDDI Toll Free
0071 Verizon Japan
0077 KDDI
0080 T-Systems
0081 Fusion Communications
0088 SoftBank 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 and data services
030 Mobile telephony services - currently not used
040 Mobile telephony services - currently not used
050 IP telephony service
060 Universal personal number services
070 Mobile telephony and data services
080 Mobile telephony and data services
090 Mobile telephony and data services
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, 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 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
  • 75 xxx xxxx
  • 742 xx xxxx
  • 4992 x xxxx
  • 82486 xxxx
Area codes increase from north to south; Sapporo in Hokkaidō 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 and Kagoshima 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
  • 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

Starting in the 2010s, some local products and events are using names associated with the local area code.
0465net
0428 T-shirt
028 Market
028 Machinaka Wi-Fi
Bar 053