Phone numbers in Japanese

Writing a phone number

Each country has its own habits on how to write down a phone number and how to separate its different components. In Japan phone numbers in general have 8 digits and each 4 digits are separated by a “-“. The code for the city, which has 2 or 3 digits is in brackets.

• City: (03)
• Number: 1234-9876

Reading a phone number

The dial prefix for a country or a city usually is written in brackets. To express that this is a different part of the phone number の (no) is used.

Example on how to read a telephone number:

• 0081+(0)3-1234-9876

• zero zero hachi ichi no zero san no ichi ni san yon no kyuu hachi nana roku