7119: Japan's Non-Emergency Medical Consultation Line

7119 Japan is the nurse-staffed telephone triage line for sudden illness or injury when you are unsure whether to call an ambulance or visit a hospital now.¹² It helps a resident with ambiguous symptoms get urgency advice at 2am without committing to a 119 ambulance ride first.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Tokyo Fire Department site and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency #7119 table. This article is general information, not medical advice; for your specific situation, consult a licensed physician.

Overview

The 救急相談センター (kyūkyū sōdan senta, "emergency consultation center") is Tokyo's name for the #7119 window, while the national program is called the 救急安心センター事業 (kyūkyū anshin senta jigyō, "emergency relief center program").¹² Both names point to the same service: phone triage for the is-this-an-emergency decision.

Staffing is a medical team rather than a general call center. Tokyo describes physicians, nurses, and staff with ambulance-crew experience, while the national agency describes physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians giving phone advice.¹²

The program runs in 41 areas nationwide, and each area publishes its own coverage and hours (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency).² Tokyo practice does not automatically apply elsewhere, so confirm your prefecture before you need the line.

What #7119 Is and Is Not

The center handles urgency decisions and hospital guidance. It does not handle general health questions or ongoing treatment.

The three things the center does

The center gives symptom-based urgency advice for a sudden illness or injury.³ It then advises whether and when a hospital visit is needed.³ It also introduces a currently accepting hospital based on hospital-reported availability.³⁴

When the consultation finds high urgency, the center arranges ambulance dispatch. Tokyo states the ambulance will be dispatched, Osaka states it will depart immediately, and the national agency describes transfer or callback to the 119 line.⁴⁵²

Topics the center will not take

The center does not take general health consultations.³⁴ It does not answer medication questions, including how to take a prescribed drug, because prescriptions follow examination results.⁴

It does not give second opinions or advice on the treatment policy for an illness already under care.³⁴ Osaka additionally lists nursing-care and childcare consultations as out of scope.⁵

Use #7119 for sudden cases, not ongoing care questions

The line triages a new sudden symptom and points to the next step. Questions about a current prescription, a chronic treatment plan, or general wellness belong with the treating clinic instead.³⁴

How a #7119 Call Works

Dialing is short in implementing areas, with a landline fallback worth saving. The opening prompt is automated, and the triage itself is conversational.

Numbers to dial and the opening voice prompt

The short dial is #7119 from a mobile phone or push-tone line in implementing areas (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency).¹² Tokyo publishes backup landlines of 03-3212-2323 for the 23 wards and 042-521-2323 for the Tama area (as of 2026-09-07).¹² Osaka publishes 06-6582-7119 alongside #7119 (as of 2026-09-07).⁵

Tokyo's opening flow is automatic voice. Press 1 for hospital guidance and 2 for emergency consultation, and waiting without pressing connects to 1.¹ Tokyo operates 24 hours and 365 days with the consultation medical team (as of 2026-09-07).¹ Osaka operates 24 hours and 365 days with nurses under a physician support system (as of 2026-09-07).⁵

What the nurse asks and what advice sounds like

The nurse works from the reported symptoms and gives first-aid guidance plus referral to an appropriate receiving hospital.² When urgency is low, the advice covers roughly when to visit rather than dispatching an ambulance.⁴

A hospital introduction reflects that moment's reported availability. You must phone the hospital to confirm before going, because an emergency case in progress can still block acceptance.⁴

National user cases show both branches. A suspected stroke with slurred speech was routed immediately to ambulance transport, while a fever-plus-abdominal-pain case at night received a next-day hospital introduction with reassurance.²

Coverage by Area and Time

Coverage and hours vary by prefecture. Some areas run around the clock, while others run evening-only windows with daytime referral elsewhere.

24-hour areas vs limited-hour areas

Tokyo runs all day, 24 hours for all ages (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency).² Osaka runs all day, 24 hours for all ages (as of 2026-09-07).²⁵

Limited-hour areas run narrower windows. Yamagata runs 18:00 to next 08:00, Tochigi runs weekday 16:00 to next 10:00 with a separate weekend window, and Niigata, Toyama, Nagano, Tokushima, Kagawa, and Oita run evening-to-morning patterns that differ by weekday, Saturday, Sunday, and holiday (as of 2026-09-07).²

Age scope also splits the country. Saitama, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Tokyo cover all ages, while Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, and many others cover roughly age 15 and up and direct younger children to #8000 (as of 2026-09-07).²

Area	Short dial and backup	Hours	Age scope	As of	Notes
Tokyo	#7119; 03-3212-2323, 042-521-2323	24 hours, all days	All ages	2026-09-072	Mainland coverage pattern
Osaka	#7119; 06-6582-7119	24 hours, all days	All ages	2026-09-0725	Joint operation across Osaka Prefecture
Yamagata	#7119; 023-633-0799	18:00 to next 08:00	Roughly 15 and up; under 15 to #8000	2026-09-072	Evening-only pattern
Tochigi	#7119; 028-623-3344	Mon to Fri 16:00 to next 10:00; Sat Sun hol 10:00 to next 10:00	Roughly 15 and up; under 15 to #8000	2026-09-072	Weekday and weekend split

The table shows the same 2026-09-07 currency for every row. Confirm current figures with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency before relying on a limited-hour window.

How to confirm your prefecture before you need it

The national agency page carries the implementation table by center name with area, target ages, numbers, and hours, and each center name links to the local page.² Find your prefecture there and follow the center link for the current number and hours.

Non-implementing pockets and island exclusions exist. Okinawa excludes Kita-Daito and Yonaguni in the national table, and the Tokyo self-triage guide premises mainland Tokyo excluding island areas.²⁶ A neighboring prefecture's hours do not apply to your address.

Save the landline backup before a nighttime emergency

Short dials fail in some outage and roaming cases, and busy periods can block connection. Store both #7119 and your area backup number in your phone now rather than searching at 2am.⁵¹

Language Support

Operation is Japanese-default on the pages fetched for this guide. That shapes what a caller with limited Japanese should prepare in advance.

Japanese-default operation

Tokyo and Osaka publish the service in Japanese with no stated foreign-language routing or interpreter line on the fetched #7119 pages.¹⁵ The opening voice guidance described on the Tokyo page is Japanese-language keypress routing.¹

Workarounds when Japanese is limited

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare hospital search supports filtering by foreign language among other axes, which can supplement a #7119 hospital introduction when you need a language-capable facility.⁷ The Tokyo web triage guide runs on PC and smartphone with an English top page link, which you can use as a self-check before or alongside the phone call.⁶

No #7119 center fetched for this guide advertises a scheduled foreign-language #7119 window on its own #7119 page. Treat any third-party claim of English #7119 support as unconfirmed until the prefecture page states it.¹⁵²

#7119 vs 119 vs #8000 vs Self-Triage Tools

Pick the channel by urgency and age. The chart below shows the decision shape, and the subsections give the rule for each branch.

The chart above captures the triage choice. Direct 119 dispatch, #7119 consultation, #8000 pediatric routing, and app self-checks each cover a different starting point.⁴²⁶

When to call 119 instead

When you already judge urgency as high, call 119 for an ambulance directly rather than routing through #7119.⁴ Use #7119 when you are unsure or hesitating about whether the case is urgent.⁴

The #7119 program exists partly to keep ambulances available for high-urgency cases. It also catches hidden severe cases where callers hesitate over sirens or uncertainty.²

Do not route an obvious emergency through #7119 first

A suspected stroke, chest pain with collapse, or uncontrolled bleeding loses time on a consultation queue. Dial 119 and stay on the line.⁴²

When to call #8000 instead

In many prefectures, roughly age 15 and up uses #7119 while children under that floor use #8000.² The national table repeats the under-15 to #8000 direction across implementing areas.²

Osaka presents #8000 (or 06-6765-3650) as the night-time child emergency consultation alongside #7119 for general cases.⁵ Check the age row for your prefecture before a nighttime child emergency.

Self-triage before or instead of calling

The Tokyo web triage guide takes age, sex, and symptoms and returns an urgency assessment, then searches nearby hospitals when a visit is needed.⁶ Result screens can dial 119 or #7119.⁶

Guide usage notes matter. Advice is not an examination result and the final decision rests with you.⁶ The guide assumes the Tokyo medical system excluding island areas, rejects personal data in free-text fields, and uses Google Maps for routing.⁶

The national counterpart is the nationwide emergency-care app nicknamed Q助, offered by the national agency as the self-check option outside Tokyo.²

Good to know

Calling #7119 does not guarantee a hospital will accept you

A hospital introduction reflects that moment's reported availability. An emergency case in progress can still block acceptance, so the center instructs callers to phone the hospital before going.⁴ Leaving without that confirmation risks a wasted trip with a sick person.

Call charges apply even though consultation is free

Osaka states consultation is free while call charges stay with the caller.⁵ Heavy-call periods may also fail to connect, so save the landline backup number alongside the short dial.⁵

#7119 cannot look up where an ambulance took someone

The consultation center holds no transport-destination records. A family member asking after an acquaintance's destination will not get an answer there.⁴ Contact the fire station or hospital channel that handled the transport instead.

Short-dial limits during carrier roaming outages

Osaka notes the #7119 short dial sits outside emergency carrier-roaming coverage starting 2026-04-01, so during a carrier outage callers must use the full landline number such as 06-6582-7119 (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with Osaka City).⁵ Save the full number, not just the short dial.

The age floor decides #7119 vs #8000 in half the country

The national table splits areas into all-ages #7119 versus 15-and-up #7119 with younger children routed to #8000.² Calling the wrong line for a child at night costs time, so check the age row for your prefecture in advance.

This article describes systems and access paths only. It gives no medical advice; for any health concern, consult a licensed physician or an appropriate medical institution.

See also

• Booking a Doctor in Japan
• Finding an English-Speaking Provider
• Clinic vs. Hospital: The Two-Tier System
• What to Bring to the ER
• What an ER Visit Actually Costs in Japan
• Hospital Admission and the Visitor-Stay Reality

References

Footnotes

1. Tokyo Fire Department. 「東京消防庁救急相談センター」 (center top page: purpose, 24-hour staffing, dial flow, backup landlines). https://www.tfd.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/lfe/kyuu_adv/soudan-center.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA). 「救急安心センター事業（#7119）ってナニ？」 (national purpose, staffing mix, 41-area table with hours and age scope, user-voice cases). https://www.fdma.go.jp/mission/enrichment/appropriate/appropriate007.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷

3. Tokyo Fire Department. 「救急相談センターのしくみ」 (three services, exclusions, joint council operation). https://www.tfd.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/lfe/kyuu_adv/soudan-center-a.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

4. Tokyo Fire Department. 「救急相談センターQ&A」 (119 vs 7119 routing, ambulance dispatch, hospital-introduction limits, drug and transport-lookup exclusions). https://www.tfd.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/lfe/kyuu_adv/soudan-center-b.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

5. Osaka City Fire Department / City of Osaka. 「突然の病気やケガで困ったら」 (Osaka #7119 numbers, 24-hour nurse staffing with physician backup, exclusions, call-charge rule, #8000 cross-link, roaming short-dial limit). https://www.city.osaka.lg.jp/shobo/page/0000052526.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

6. Tokyo Fire Department. 「東京版救急受診ガイド（Web版）」 (self-triage web guide: urgency check plus nearby-hospital search, usage notes). https://www.tfd.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/hp-kyuuimuka/guide/main/index.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

7. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. 「医療情報ネット（ナビイ）」 (national hospital, clinic, dental, midwifery and pharmacy search with filters including foreign language). https://www.iryou.teikyouseido.mhlw.go.jp/znk-web/juminkanja/S2300/initialize ↩