Need to know the phone number immediately? 104 Directory Assistance

photo by haines

In recent years, most of researches in daily life can be done with a smartphone or computer. We no longer flip pages of big fat Yellow Pages to look for phone numbers. Town Pages and Hello Pages used to be must-haves of each household, but when was the last time we actually saw them? We are so dependent on the internet. We have no research tools once the internet connection is lost, then a “GAME OVER” flashes: for example, you can’t search a phone number on the go when there is no internet connection, or the number is private use. In such a situation, 104 directory assistance will be your life saver. In case you don’t know what sort of service this is, let’s explore 104 directory assistance service of NTT East and West that dominantly supply over 70% of landline phones in Japan.

About 104 directory assistance

Directory assistance services are provided by major telephone carriers such as NTT East and NTT West. First you dial 104 from a landline or mobile phone. Once answered by an operator, give them the name and address of the individual or entity that you want to know the number. The operator look up on their database based on the information you provided and advise you the number. Note that they can only advise numbers that their contractors requested to list in the 104 database.
You need to provide the name and address of the contractor as precise as possible to eliminate errors. But even you don’t know the block number, you may get the phone number if the name can be narrowed down by the suburb name. Also, if it is obvious the entity you inquired is the one in the area such as a local municipal office, you may not need to provide the address.

Fees and charges

The followings are fees and charges of 104 directory assistance by NTT East and West.

Classifications			Fees
Day – Night (8:00 – 23:00)	1 inquiry/month		JPY60/inquiry (excl tax)
	Over 1inquiries/month	1st inquiry	JPY60/inquiry (excl tax)
		2nd inquiry and further	JPY90/inquiry (excl tax)
Late night – Early morning (23:00 – 8:00)			JPY150/inquiry (excl tax)

From NTT Docomo mobile or public phone

From mobile phone: JPY200/inquiry (excl tax), 24hours flat rate
From public phone : JPY100/inquiry (excl tax), 24hours flat rate

※All fees stated above are service fees on each inquiry. Normal call charges apply in addition to the service fees.

From other carrier’s landline or mobile phone

Other than NTT East and West, KDDI and Softbank provide the directory assistance service. The number is the same “104”. The same as calls from phones of NTT East, NTT West and NTT Docomo are transferred to the NTT service center, calls from KDDI Evolva (KDDI) or Japan Multimedia Services (Softbank) are transferred to their own call centers. Nationwide phone books are published under NTT’s name, but other two companies’ call centers can also advise the numbers listed on phonebooks.

Reminders

The previously mentioned “service fees” are charged once the phone number is advised by an operator. Details of service fees comes out on your monthly bill if an inquiry is made from landline or mobile phone.
A service fee is charged per inquiry. If you inquire more than one number within one call, a fee will be multiplied by the number of inquiries you have made.
104 directory assistance only to advise a phone number from name and address listed in the database. You are not allowed to inquire someone’s name, address or both by providing a phone number.

If you require an assistance in English

104 directory assistance only takes inquiries made within Japan and all services are provided in Japanese. Normally, services in English are not available. Instead, both NTT East and NTT Japan have multi-lingual general information numbers. Contact the following numbers to talk with an English speaking operator.

NTT East : 0120-364-463 (Mon – Fri 9:00～17:00, closed on Sat, Sun, public holidays, year-end and New Year)
NTT West : 0120-064-337 (Mon – Fri 9:00～17:00, closed on Sat, Sun, public holidays, year-end and New Year)

104 is a last resort

Even though you carefully make notes all the phone numbers and addresses and other important information of places you are visiting during your trip, sometimes you encounter unexpected needs to search phone numbers for some reasons. Of course it is the best if you can find out the numbers by using the internet search or phone books. But if you couldn’t, dial 104. The 104 service is quite pricy, frankly speaking, so remember it as a last resort.