GoKawiilEarlier this year, TokyoDev founder Paul was at his local library when noticed a poster for a “Foreign Language Human Rights Hotline.” He was pleased to see that—until he noticed the phone number printed on the poster. It started with the number 0570.
The problem? Even when used to access public services, 0570 numbers are not toll-free. When dialed from a mobile phone, they cost the caller 33 yen per minute.
That may not sound like much, but it adds up to 1980 yen per hour, which is significantly higher than Japan’s average minimum wage of 1064 yen. This means 0570 numbers can be a financial burden for those people who need help the most.
If you live in Japan, you’ve almost certainly run into 0570 numbers before. They’re typically used on customer support pages for banks, airlines, utility companies, etc. As Paul discovered, they’re also sometimes used on posters advertising services for people in need.
What’s the story behind these pricey 0570 numbers? Why are they so widespread, and why were they adopted in the first place? Most importantly, if you need to call one, how can you avoid racking up a huge phone bill?
History: From FreeDial to NaviDial
The service behind these 0570 numbers is called NaviDial. To understand it better, we first need to understand its older sibling, FreeDial.
Toll-free calls in the 1980s
For many decades, Japan’s telephone infrastructure was run by a state-owned monopoly called Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation. In 1985, it was privatized and became the NTT that we know today. Later that year, NTT launched FreeDial, their service that uses the 0120 prefix.
As the name suggests, FreeDial is a toll-free service, likely inspired by the 1-800 numbers that were standard in North America. It also provides major technical benefits, being the first large-scale service in Japan to utilize an “Intelligent Network.”
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