🇯🇵How to call Japan from the US
Exit
011
Japan
81
The number
Drop the 0
Drop the leading 0 and dial the rest after +81. Tokyo's 03 becomes +81 3 and a mobile written 090 becomes +81 90. What is left is nine or ten digits, and both lengths are normal. A number beginning 0120 or 0800 is a Japanese toll-free line and will not connect from abroad; ask for the ordinary number.
01Call it
Or skip the exit code entirely
Calling from a browser means no exit code, no carrier and nothing that changes when you cross a border. Type the number and the price appears before anything dials.
Calls to Japan from $0.22 a minute.
Sign up when you press Call.
02When
When to call
Japan does not change its clocks, so it is 14 hours ahead of US Eastern time in winter and 13 in summer. A Tokyo office day of 9 to 5 runs from 7pm to 3am in New York in winter, so the workable call from the US is in the evening, and a family call is either very early or very late.
A bank, a ward office, a hospital, an employer, or family, and most of it on a landline: Japan kept its fixed lines longer than almost anywhere. The time difference is the whole difficulty.
03Cost
What a minute costs
Which of those applies is read off the digits you type, so you are never asked to guess whether a Japan number is a landline or a mobile. Services that ask you to pick quote one of these prices and are wrong whenever the guess is.
Per minute in USD from a US caller ID, part of a minute counting as a full one. Rates last changed 11 September 2026. Everything we publish for Japan, or check one number.
04From elsewhere
Calling Japan from somewhere else
Only the exit code changes. The country code and the number are the same wherever you are standing.
| Calling from | Dial before 81 |
|---|---|
| United States and Canada | 011 |
| United Kingdom and Ireland | 00 |
| Australia | 0011 |
| Japan | 010 |
| Most of Europe, Africa and Asia | 00 |
05Questions
Common questions
How do I call Japan from the US?
Dial 011, then 81, then the Japan number. Drop the leading 0 and dial the rest after +81. Tokyo's 03 becomes +81 3 and a mobile written 090 becomes +81 90. What is left is nine or ten digits, and both lengths are normal. A number beginning 0120 or 0800 is a Japanese toll-free line and will not connect from abroad; ask for the ordinary number. From a browser on Airlophone there is no exit code at all: you type the number starting +81 and the price for that exact number appears before it dials.
What is the country code for Japan?
+81. From the US you dial 011 first to leave the country, so the full string begins 011 81. From the UK and most of Europe the exit code is 00 instead, and from Australia it is 0011.
How much does it cost to call Japan?
On Airlophone it starts at $0.22 a minute, billed per minute with part of a minute counting as a full one. The exact price depends on the band: landline $0.22, mobile $0.59 per minute. The band is read from the digits of the number itself, so you are never asked to guess whether a number is a landline or a mobile. Calling the same number on a mobile carrier's international direct dial or while roaming is charged separately by that carrier and is normally a great deal more.
What is the best time to call Japan from the US?
Japan does not change its clocks, so it is 14 hours ahead of US Eastern time in winter and 13 in summer. A Tokyo office day of 9 to 5 runs from 7pm to 3am in New York in winter, so the workable call from the US is in the evening, and a family call is either very early or very late.
Do I need an app or a SIM card?
No. Airlophone runs in a browser tab, so there is nothing to install and no SIM to buy, and it works the same on a laptop you have borrowed. The person you call needs nothing either: the call arrives on the ordinary phone network, so their phone rings whether it is a landline or a mobile and whether or not they have internet.
Call Japan now
No exit code, no app and no SIM. Type the number and see its exact price before you dial.
What happens
What happens when you press call
The price comes first
The rate for that exact number appears before anything dials. A landline and a mobile are not the same price.
The call goes out from your browser
Nothing to install. Your browser is the phone, so it works on a laptop with no SIM in it.
You draw down credit you already put on
Prepaid, never renews on its own. An empty balance ends the call rather than running up a bill.
What you pay
Calling is prepaid, from $5.00
$5.00 is the smallest amount you can put on, for a company or for one person. Nothing renews, and credit never expires.
Check us
The whole card is published before you sign up
220+ countries, a landline and a mobile rate in 200 of them, every figure on one page.
Before you start
What this does not do
Worth knowing now rather than after you have put credit on.
Emergency numbers are refused
999, 911, 112 and every local emergency number are blocked outright. Use the dialer your phone came with. See the help page for what to do instead.
Calls go out, they do not come in
Nobody can ring you back unless you rent a number, and those are United States and Canada only today.
It runs in a browser tab
There is no app to install, which is the point, and it also means the call ends when the tab does. Keep it open for the length of the call.
Try it on the number you actually need
One person builds and answers for this, which is why the limits above are on the page instead of in a support queue. Put a real number in and see the price before you add credit.