Telephone

You should know that listed numbers in Japanese telephone books starts from "0" which is National Direct Dialing Prefix (NDD) number ("0"+area code for regular phones, "0"+90 for cell phones). So when you are calling long distance within Japan, just dial the listed number. When your friends or family want to call you from abroad, they must remove this "0". (e.g. 00-81-4-7136-4940)

Add "0" in front of the listed number if you are calling from inside the university. (e.g. 0-04-7136-4940) This allows you to connect outside.

When calling foreign countries, include the telephone company code and international prefix (010) before the country code and the destination number. You must know that this number in Japan depends on which phone company services you are getting.

(Company Code) + 010 (International Prefix) + (Country Code) + (Number for destination)

Company Code for International Dialing

• NTT Comunications: 0033
• KDDI: 001
• Fusion Communications: 0038

In some phone line, a company for international dialing is already registered. For this case, you do not need the company code. Note that most public payphones (except gray one) do not allow international calls unless you use prepaid calling cards.

Cell phones in Japan are ridiculously advanced (you can watch TV on air, pay at stores with cell phone accounts by reading bar codes using their built-in cameras, etc), yet not compatible with most international carriers. The major players are SoftBank , NTT docomo, KDDI au. In order to obtain a cell phone (including pre-paid type), you must have a Japanese address and a credit card number. If you are desperate, only possibility is to get hold of a rental one, which might cost 10,000 yen per month even for cheap case.

Toll-free numbers in Japan start with 0120.

Other useful numbers are:

• Police 110
• Fire and Ambulance 119