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 10 digits long
0x0 Non-geographic numbers are 10 -or- 11 digits long.
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 050IP 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 0910Private 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
11Sapporo 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 42-7Machida, Sagamihara 43 Chiba 44 Kawasaki 45 Yokohama 466 Fujisawa 46-8 Yokosuka 47-3Ichikawa, 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 592Tsu, Yokkaichi 6Osaka, 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 798Nishinomiya, 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 98-5Miyazaki 99Kagoshima 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.
After entering the 2010s, local products and events have begun using names which come from the area code. 0465net 0428 T-shirt 028 Market 028 Machinaka Wi-Fi Bar 053