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Japan Emergency Numbers: 110, 119, #7119, #8000, and 118
Japan emergency numbers split the job a single 911-style line does elsewhere: 110 reaches the police, 119 reaches fire and ambulance, and 118 reaches the Japan Coast Guard, and all three are free to call.123 For the in-between cases, staffed triage lines (#7119 for general medical questions, #8000 for children) tell you whether you need an ambulance at all, so knowing which number fits which situation saves minutes when they matter.45
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) site. This article is general information, not medical advice; if symptoms may be life-threatening, call 119 immediately, and for a borderline case, get a judgment from a licensed physician or nurse, which is exactly what #7119 and #8000 provide.
Overview
There is no single Japan 911 equivalent. Police emergencies go to 110, while fire and ambulance share one number, 119, and the 119 dispatcher's first question is whether you are calling about a fire or a medical emergency.6 Maritime incidents go to 118.73
The numbers fall into three tiers, and picking the right tier is most of the decision:
- Emergency dispatch: 110 (police), 119 (fire and ambulance), and 118 (Coast Guard).867
- Professional triage: #7119 for general medical questions, staffed by physicians, nurses, and paramedics, and #8000 for children, staffed by pediatricians and nurses. Both answer the question "do I need an ambulance or a hospital right now?"45
- Consultation, no one in immediate danger: #9110 for non-urgent police matters and 189 for child-welfare concerns.910
Every resident needs these numbers, and the week you move in is the time to save them, together with your prefecture's full-length fallbacks. This page summarizes each line and points to its dedicated guide where one exists.
Japan's Emergency and Triage Numbers at a Glance
The table below covers every emergency, triage, and consultation number a resident is likely to need. The dialing numbers are national, but hours, coverage, and language support are set locally and change over time, so each row carries the date of its source (as of the dates in the table; confirm current figures with the FDMA, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and your prefectural police).
| Number | Use it for | Who answers | Hours | Language support | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110 | Crimes and traffic accidents8 | The prefectural police communications center covering your location1 | 24 hours | An interpreter joins the call in Tokyo; national policy directs all prefectural police to arrange interpreters, but practice varies811 | 2026-09 |
| 119 | Fire, sudden illness, serious injury6 | The municipal fire headquarters covering your location12 | 24 hours | Three-way interpreter bridging at 673 of 720 fire headquarters; Tokyo has English-speaking staff in-house1213 | 2025-01-01 |
| 118 | Incidents at sea: vessels in distress, people in trouble in the water, oil discharge, suspicious vessels, smuggling7 | One of 11 regional Japan Coast Guard headquarters3 | Not stated on the Coast Guard page | Not stated on the Coast Guard page | 2026-09 |
| #7119 | Unsure whether to call an ambulance or go to hospital now4 | A prefectural or regional center staffed by physicians, nurses, and paramedics4 | 41 areas; most 24 hours, some limited hours; several prefectures have no #71194 | Japanese by default; some centers multilingual (Gunma 9 languages, Hyogo 11 or more)21415 | 2026-07 |
| #8000 | A child's sudden illness or injury on evenings, nights, weekends, or holidays5 | Your prefecture's desk; pediatricians and nurses5 | Varies by prefecture; all 47 run past midnight16 | Tokyo answers in Japanese; the national table does not list languages216 | 2026-05-22 |
| #9110 | Non-urgent police consultation: stalking, domestic violence, neighbor trouble, malicious sales917 | The consultation desk of the police headquarters covering your area9 | Varies by prefecture9 | Tokyo: Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean17 | 2024-10-17 (Yamagata); 2017-03-30 (Tokyo) |
| 189 | Suspected child abuse; child-welfare consultation10 | The nearest child guidance center10 | 24 hours, 365 days18 | Assume Japanese; one nonprofit source reports the line is Japanese-only19 | 2024-11-13 (hours); 2023-09 (language) |
Only 110, 119, and 118 dispatch help. The other four lines give advice or take reports, and the triage lines exist to tell you whether you need an ambulance.45
Which Number to Call
The deciding question is whether someone's life, safety, or property is in danger right now. If it is, call an emergency line; if you cannot tell, call a triage line; if no one is in danger, a consultation line is the right fit.
The flow below maps that decision. When a situation might be life-threatening, skip every other step and call 119.6
Danger right now: 110 or 119
Call 110 for crimes and traffic accidents.8 Call 119 for a fire, a serious injury, or a sudden severe illness; when the situation is serious, the ambulance is dispatched before the dispatcher has finished asking questions.6
A traffic accident with injuries needs both services. Call 119 first for the injured. Kasugai City in Aichi tells residents its fire department also passes the report to the police, but that is one municipality's published practice, not a national rule.20
Whatever the dispatcher does, a driver involved in a traffic accident must stop, aid the injured, prevent further danger on the road, and report immediately to the police under Road Traffic Act Article 72(1). This applies to cyclists and to minor injuries too.21
Unsure whether it is an emergency: #7119 or #8000
#7119 connects you to physicians, nurses, and paramedics who advise whether to call an ambulance or go to hospital.4 #8000 does the same for a child's symptoms at night or on a holiday, with pediatricians and nurses advising on how to manage symptoms and which hospital to visit.5
The two lines overlap for children, and the split varies by area. Many #7119 centers take callers aged roughly 15 and over, while others, including Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Hyogo, take all ages (as of July 2026; confirm current figures with the FDMA #7119 table).4 Gunma, for example, directs questions about children under 15 to #8000 (as of October 2025).14
The FDMA ambulance guide says not to hesitate to call 119 for signs such as a sudden severe headache, chest pain or pressure lasting minutes, one-sided numbness or weakness, slurred speech, unconsciousness, continuous convulsions, heavy bleeding, extensive burns, near drowning, or a baby under 3 months who seems wrong. The same applies to any other situation in which the patient's condition is abnormal or unusual.6
No one in immediate danger: consultation lines
#9110 is for matters where no crime or accident has happened, or that are not urgent, but where you want police advice.9 In Tokyo that covers trouble in your immediate surroundings, malicious business practices, stalking, and domestic violence; if you have just been victimized or witnessed a crime or accident, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) tells you to dial 110 instead.17
189 accepts both reports of suspected child abuse and consultations about child welfare. You can stay anonymous, and you do not need to be certain abuse has occurred.1018
Consumer problems such as fraudulent sales contracts have a separate line, 188, covered in The Consumer Affairs Hotline (188).
The Emergency Lines: 110, 119, and 118
Each line below gets a short summary and a pointer to its full guide, which covers the call step by step.
110: Police
110 reaches the communications center of the prefectural police covering your location; on a mobile near a prefectural border, a neighboring prefecture may answer first and transfer you.1 In Tokyo, a police interpreter joins the call if you do not speak Japanese.8 TELL Japan, a support organization, suggests asking for "tsūyaku" (interpreter), though official police pages confirm the interpreter service without naming a keyword (as of September 2026; confirm current guidance with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department).228
Lost or found property goes to a police station or a 交番 (kōban, "police box"), not to 110.8 The full call procedure is in 110 in Japan: Calling the Police.
119: Fire and Ambulance
One number covers both services, so the dispatcher opens with 「119、消防です。火事ですか、救急ですか?」 ("119, fire department. Is this a fire or a medical emergency?").6 The ambulance crew treats the patient on scene and chooses the hospital; the patient does not.6
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 火事 | kaji | Fire; answer 火事です (kaji desu)6 |
| 救急 | kyūkyū | Emergency medical (ambulance); answer 救急です (kyūkyū desu)6 |
| 救急隊 | kyūkyūtai | Ambulance crew6 |
| 消防本部 | shōbō honbu | Fire headquarters, the local fire department that receives 119 calls and runs ambulances2312 |
Ambulance transport itself is free; Kobe City explains that municipalities bear the cost of fire services under the Fire Organization Act.24 Treatment at the hospital is billed separately, so the FDMA suggests bringing cash or a card to pay there.6
For medical calls, the full guide is Calling 119: When and How. For fires, the script and evacuation steps are in Calling 119 for a Fire in Japan.
118: Japan Coast Guard
118 connects free of charge to one of 11 regional headquarters of the 海上保安庁 (Kaijō Hoanchō, "Japan Coast Guard"), and has operated since May 2000.3 It covers accidents and injuries at sea, oil discharge, suspicious or drifting vessels, poaching, smuggling, and illegal entry.7
If you live on the coast, or boat, swim, or surf, save it alongside 110 and 119. Live118, which sends smartphone video to the Coast Guard, launched on 18 January 2025 (as of September 2026).7 The full guide is 118 in Japan: Coast Guard Emergencies.
The Triage and Consultation Lines
These four lines route to a desk run by your prefecture, region, or municipality. The national number is the same everywhere, but hours, target ages, and language support are local.45910
Short codes starting with # do not work from every phone, so each desk publishes a full-length fallback. Tokyo's #7119 works from mobiles and push-button lines, with fallbacks of 03-3212-2323 for the 23 wards and 042-521-2323 for the Tama area (as of September 2026; confirm current figures with the Tokyo Fire Department).25 Gunma publishes 050-5526-4381 for rotary phones and incompatible IP services (as of October 2025), and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) lists a full-length number for every prefecture's #8000 desk (as of May 2026).1416
#7119: Adult Medical Triage
#7119 connects you to a 救急安心センター (kyūkyū anshin sentā, "emergency peace-of-mind center"), where physicians, nurses, and paramedics advise whether to call an ambulance, see a doctor, or wait.4 The consultation is typically free, but normal call charges apply (as of October 2025–September 2026, per the Gunma, Hyogo, and Tokyo pages).141525
#7119 is still not nationwide. The FDMA lists it in 41 areas; by the rows of the FDMA table, 33 of those run 24 hours and 8 run limited hours, and six prefectures (Akita, Mie, Shimane, Saga, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima) have no row at all (as of July 2026).4 The FDMA does not publish that list directly and some rows may predate July 2026, so check your own prefecture's page.
Coverage is also partial in some prefectures: Hokkaido covers only Sapporo and surrounding municipalities, Aichi only Nagoya City, and Wakayama only Tanabe City and neighboring towns (as of July 2026).4 Recent launches include Hyogo on 11 July 2025 and Gunma on 1 October 2025, both running 24 hours (as of April 2026 and October 2025 respectively).1514
Selected fallback numbers from the FDMA table follow (as of July 2026).
| Area | Hours | Full-length fallback | Target ages | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 24 hours | 03-3212-2323 (23 wards); 042-521-2323 (Tama) | All ages | 2026-074 |
| Kanagawa | 24 hours | 045-232-7119 or 045-523-7119 | All ages | 2026-074 |
| Osaka | 24 hours | 06-6582-7119 | All ages | 2026-074 |
| Hyogo | 24 hours | 078-331-7119 | All ages | 2026-074 |
| Nagoya City | 24 hours | 052-951-7119 | Roughly 15 and over | 2026-074 |
| Fukuoka | 24 hours | 092-471-0099 | All ages | 2026-074 |
| Niigata | Daily 18:00–08:00 (24 hours at Golden Week and New Year) | 025-284-7119 | Roughly 15 and over | 2026-074 |
The full guide is 7119: Japan's Non-Emergency Medical Consultation Line.
#8000: After-Hours Pediatric Triage
Dialing #8000 transfers you automatically to your prefecture's 子ども医療電話相談 (kodomo iryō denwa sōdan, "children's medical telephone consultation") desk, where pediatricians and nurses advise on a child's symptoms and which hospital to visit.5 Every prefecture has run the line since July 2010.16
Hours generally run from evening to the next morning, with some prefectures answering 24 hours, and all 47 now cover past midnight (as of May 2026).16 Tokyo, for example, answers Monday to Friday 18:00–08:00 and 08:00–08:00 on weekends, holidays, and at year-end, with a fallback of 03-5285-8898 (as of May 2026).16
For an online check, the Japan Pediatric Society's symptom checker, Kodomo QQ, is available in Japanese, English, and Chinese (as of September 2026).2 The full guide is #8000: The After-Hours Pediatric Line.
#9110: Police Consultation
#9110, the 警察相談専用電話 (keisatsu sōdan sen'yō denwa, "police consultation line"), is a nationwide number that connects to the police headquarters covering your area.9 The Tokyo MPD notes that call charges apply.26
Staffing differs by prefecture. Yamagata, for example, takes calls 24 hours but has specialist counselors only on weekdays 8:30–17:15, with duty officers at other times, and publishes 023-642-9110 for rotary and some IP phones (as of October 2024).9
In Tokyo, #9110 reaches the MPD General Advisory Center, also reachable at 03-3501-0110, with service in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean (as of March 2017, the date of the MPD's English page).17 More on police contact options is in 110 in Japan: Calling the Police.
189: Child Consultation Hotline
189 connects to the nearest 児童相談所 (jidō sōdanjo, "child guidance center") and has been free to call since December 2019.10 The number is read "ichi-hayaku" (いちはやく), a Japanese word meaning "promptly".18
Municipal guidance describes the line as open 24 hours, 365 days (as of November 2024).18 The Children and Families Agency also runs a separate consultation line, 0120-189-783 (as of September 2026), and notes that 189 cannot be reached from some IP phones.10
Calling From a Mobile, Landline, or Pay Phone
110 and 119 can be called from a mobile, a landline, or a public phone.61 On a public phone, no coins or card are needed: press the red emergency button if the phone has one, then dial.27 Any coins or cards inserted for a 110 call are returned when you hang up.1
Location data is sent automatically with 119 calls from mobiles and IP phones, a system running since January 2007.28 The Tokyo Fire Department still notes that pinpointing a mobile caller can take time, so give a landmark, intersection, or building name if you do not know the address.13
Short codes can cross borders in unexpected ways. Hyogo tells IP-phone users and callers in the parts of the prefecture using 06 and 072 area codes to dial 078-331-7119 instead of #7119 (as of April 2026; confirm current figures with Hyogo Prefecture).15
A voice SIM can call 110 and 119, but data-only and SMS-only SIMs cannot make emergency calls, according to carrier IIJmio's guidance (as of September 2026).29 Trade press also reports that a smartphone with no SIM cannot place emergency calls in Japan, though no ministry statement confirming this was found (as of July 2022).30
If your own carrier's network goes down, JAPAN Roaming, inter-carrier emergency roaming among docomo, KDDI and Okinawa Cellular, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile, can carry 110, 119, and 118 calls over another carrier's network in its emergency-calls-only mode (as of April 2026).31
Language Support on Each Line
For 119, most fire departments bridge a telephone interpretation center into the call, a setup called 三者間同時通訳 (sanshakan dōji tsūyaku, "three-way simultaneous interpretation"). It runs 24 hours in major languages, both on the call and at the scene, at 673 of 720 fire headquarters (as of January 2025; confirm current figures with the FDMA).12 The Tokyo Fire Department has English-speaking staff at all times and handles Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish through the interpretation center (as of September 2026).13
For 110, Tokyo documents a police interpreter joining the call.8 Nationally, the National Police Agency has directed every prefectural police force to expand three-way calling and arrange interpreters at any hour, though the notice does not list which languages each prefecture offers.11
The triage and consultation lines vary most:
- #7119: Japanese in Tokyo (as of September 2026).2 Gunma adds eight languages, including English, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese (as of October 2025), and Hyogo offers English, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, and others (as of April 2026).1415
- #8000: Japanese in Tokyo (as of September 2026); the MHLW table does not list languages.216
- #9110: Tokyo's advisory center works in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean (as of March 2017).17
- 189: The Children and Families Agency's page says nothing about languages.10 A nonprofit, Lights On Children, reported that the line itself is Japanese-only and that support at child guidance centers varies (as of September 2023).19
If someone near you speaks Japanese, the FDMA suggests asking them to help with the call.6
Hotlines, interpreter services, and phrase lists are in Emergency Language Help in Japan: Interpreters.
What to Say First
Name the service, then give the location, then keep your phone reachable. On 119, answer the opening question with 救急です (kyūkyū desu, "ambulance") or 火事です (kaji desu, "fire"), then give the location, symptoms, age, your name, and a callback number.6
| Line | Say first | Then |
|---|---|---|
| 119 | 救急です (ambulance) or 火事です (fire)6 | Location, symptoms and when they started, age, name, callback number6 |
| 110 | That you need the police; if you do not speak Japanese, say so and an interpreter can join (documented in Tokyo)8 | Municipality, street address, and landmarks, as accurately as you can1 |
| 118 | When, where, and what happened7 | Keep the report calm and brief7 |
Stay reachable on the number you gave, because the ambulance crew may call back if they cannot find you.6 An address card and a fuller phrase list are in Emergency Call Preparation in Japan: Checklist.
Good to know
Ambulance rides are free, with a few local exceptions
The ambulance itself is free, but some hospitals now add a 選定療養費 (sentei ryōyōhi, "surcharge for visiting a large hospital without a referral") when a patient arrives by ambulance with a non-urgent condition. Ibaraki Prefecture states this is not an ambulance fee.32
Since December 2024, 23 Ibaraki hospitals charge patients judged non-urgent from ¥2,200 to ¥13,200, with exemptions including genuine emergency symptoms and public medical assistance (as of July 2026; confirm current figures with Ibaraki Prefecture).32 Since June 2024, three core hospitals in Matsusaka City, Mie, charge ¥7,700 to mild-condition ambulance patients who are not admitted (as of September 2025).33
Doctors at the hospital judge urgency, not the caller, and Ibaraki itself urges residents to call an ambulance without hesitation in a real emergency.32 Never delay a call over cost. Treatment costs are covered in What an ER Visit Actually Costs in Japan.
#7119 is not available everywhere yet
Six prefectures have no #7119 row in the FDMA table (Akita, Mie, Shimane, Saga, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima), and Hokkaido, Aichi, and Wakayama are only partly covered (as of July 2026).4 Check your prefecture's status the week you move.
Where #7119 is missing, the fallback is local. Mie, for example, runs a medical information center at 059-229-1199 that tells callers which institutions can see them now, though late at night it may not always find a nearby facility (as of January 2025).34 For anything that may be life-threatening, 119 is always the answer.6
Save every number and fallback before you need them
Short codes fail from rotary and some IP phones, so store the full-length fallback for your prefecture's #7119, #8000, and #9110 desks alongside 110 and 119 (as of the dates each desk publishes).1425169 Border areas add a twist: parts of Hyogo need the 078 number for #7119, and a mobile 110 call near a border may reach the next prefecture first.151
Do not call 119 just to test whether it connects; the FDMA asks people not to.28
Hearing- or speech-impaired callers can register for NET119
NET119 lets people with hearing or speech impairments report a fire or medical emergency to 119 by web-based text chat, after registering in advance with the fire headquarters covering their home.23 It runs at 677 of 719 fire headquarters, with 682 planned by the end of fiscal 2026 (as of April 2026).23
The police equivalent is the National Police Agency's 110 app system, which lets registered users report by text and images to the police anywhere in Japan. Its chat screen does not support foreign languages, and anyone able to call by voice should do so.35 The Coast Guard runs a similar NET118 service, with registration by QR code or at entry@net118.jp (as of September 2026).7
Disaster alerts arrive through a separate system
Emergency numbers are for calling out; warnings come in through a different channel. J-ALERT, the 全国瞬時警報システム (Zenkoku Shunji Keihō Shisutemu, "nationwide instant alert system"), pushes ballistic missile information, earthquake early warnings, and major tsunami warnings from the national government to 緊急速報メール (kinkyū sokuhō mēru, "emergency alert messages") on mobiles and to municipal disaster radio.36 How the earthquake warnings work is covered in The Earthquake Early Warning System.
See also
- The Koban (Police Box) as Universal Interface
- What to Bring to the ER
- Clinic vs. Hospital: The Two-Tier System
- Fraud and Scams Targeting Residents
- Tsunami Procedure in Japan
- Traffic Violations and Accidents in Japan: Tickets, Points, and Next Steps