Public phones would accept 100yen and 10yen coins and prepaid telephone cards. Local calls charge 10yen a minute. Prepaid cards can be availed from those vending machines that can be located on the train stations, kiosks, convenient stores and next to a gray public telephones, cost about 1,000yen.

For inter – city calls, its charges would defer on the distance. Local calls are cheaper at the wee hours at night, on weekends and on national holidays.

Area Codes

Japan’s telephone numbers have an area code on it prior to the phone number. Tokyo has 03 as its area code and 06 with Osaka.

Area codes of its major cities with its charges if you call from Tokyo:

Out of the country calls can be accessible from a public telephone that has a Domestic and International telephone sign. These can be sited at the following: hotel lobbies, airports, and other major facilities.  The caller can use his local coins but it’s more practical to use those prepaid cards that require the caller to dial the access codes and then a pin no. followed by the telephone number of the party that you wish to contact. An example of this prepaid card is the “Comica” or the Communication Card which is a push – tone telephone released by the NTT / Telecom’s “World Perfect Card” which is available at the nearest convenience stores.

This type of call can be made accessible from any public telephones that has a sign “International and Domestic Telephone”. Just slot in your 100 yen coin on the coin spot. Don’t worry your 100 yen coin will be returned back to you after you end the call. You may need to dial a particular access number that is unique to your credit card.  You can ask for further instructions about this type of calling from your credit card company.