How To Use Public Pay Telephone

Types of telephones are distinguished by their color. Public pay telephones in street booths are blue; semi-public pay phones in front of stores, in shops. and certain public places are pink or red ; black ones are private subscriber phones.

All coin operated public phones can be used for short-distance out-of-city calls taking up to six 10 yen coins. All pay phones, except the yellow ones, are operated with 10 yen coins. The yellow phone, developed for long-distance calls, takes both 10 and 100 yen coins. When using the yellow phone, first insert several 10 yen coins and, if the party you called answers, insert 100 yen coins.

Phone numbers are composed of three groups of numbers. When making calls within Tokyo, dial just the last two groups or seven digits in all. The first group of digits are for connection with the long distance exchange when making domestic inter-city calls. In this case, dial all the numbers in sequence.

How to use pay phone: (1) pick up receiver; (2) insert 10 yen coin; (3) dial number. A call is limited to one minute, but on some phones it can be continued if you insert another 10 yen coin before the one minute are up. If you put in more than necessary, it will be returned in the retrieval slot after the call is finished. On some phones the call will be automatically disconnected after three minutes.

International Calls

If you are making an international call from your hotel or anywhere in Japan, dial 0051 to get the overseas operator. If unable to get the operator, then dial (03) 211-5522 which connects you with the overseas operator at the Ohtemachi Exchange in Tokyo.
For a collect call, give the number and the operator will connect you if the called party agrees to pay the charge. This service is available between Japan and USA, Canada. Korea (Rep. of), Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and European countries.

There are four different color public telephones in Japan, differing in color according to where you find them and what coins you can use in them.

Blue Phones
These are generally found in booths on streets, in parks, near stations, etc. They take up to ten 10-yen coins at a time.
Yellow Phones
Some of these are pushbutton, and are especially convenient for long distance phonecalls, because they take up to nine 100-yen coins at a time. Unused coins will be returned, but they don't make change.
Red Phones
These phones are usually owned privately by shops, and are located outside the shops, disappearing at night when the owners take them in. They only accept 10-yen coins.
Pink Phones
These too are privately owned, usually found inside. They take up to six 10-yen coins at a time.

handy Vocabulary at the Post Office:

Post Office = Yubin Kyoku	Printed Matter = Insatsu-Butsu

Letter = Tegami			Airmail = Koku-Bin

Post Card = Hagaki		Seamail = Funa-Bin

Parcel = Kozutsumi		Insurance = Hoken

Stamp = Kitte			Register = Kakitome

Special Delivery = Sokutatsu