🇯🇵 How to Fax a Japanese Company or City Office
Select Japan from the list, type the number without its leading zero, upload your document and pay $2.99 for up to 3 pages. A Tokyo company fax written 03-XXXX-XXXX is entered as 3XXXXXXXX, nine digits. Do not use a 0120 or 0800 toll-free number; those generally cannot be reached from outside Japan, so use the regular 03 or 06 number the company lists for overseas callers. Delivery usually takes a few minutes and you are refunded automatically if it fails.
📋 In This Guide
Why Japanese Offices Still Run on Fax
Japan is the most fax-dependent economy in the world, and not out of nostalgia. A fax is a signed page that arrives on paper, can be stamped with a hanko, filed, and treated as a formal document, and that is how Japanese business and local government are built. Order confirmations, invoices, purchase orders, supplier quotations and press releases still go by fax between companies. Ward offices, city halls, hospitals, schools and real-estate agents take applications and forms by fax. A foreign company that cannot fax a Japanese partner is a foreign company that keeps getting asked to.
Our general Japan guide covers the basics for any number. This page is for the two cases that generate most faxes from abroad: a business and a municipal office.
Number Format for Companies and City Offices
Japan's country code is +81. Domestic numbers start with a zero that is the trunk prefix, and it drops when you dial from abroad. Geographic numbers are nine digits after the zero is removed: a one- or two-digit area code plus the rest. Tokyo's 23 wards are area code 3, so a Tokyo company fax written 03-1234-5678 is entered as 312345678. Osaka is 6. Nagoya is 52, Yokohama is 45, Kyoto is 75, Sapporo is 11, Fukuoka is 92.
Example: a company in Shinjuku lists its fax as 03-5321-1234. Select Japan, enter 353211234, done. A ward office in Osaka listing 06-6208-1234 is entered as 662081234.
Japanese websites print numbers with hyphens, and sometimes with the +81 and the zero in brackets: +81-(0)3-1234-5678. That bracketed zero is the one you drop. Enter only the digits after it.
0120, 0800 and 0570 Numbers
Many Japanese companies list a 0120 or 0800 number for fax orders and customer service. These are domestic toll-free lines and in most cases they cannot be reached from outside Japan. The same applies to 0570 NaviDial numbers, which route by region inside Japan. Companies that deal with overseas customers usually print a regular geographic number next to the toll-free one, labeled for calls "from overseas or IP phones." Use that number. If there is none, email the company and ask for the 03 or 06 fax line; every office has one.
A 050 number is an IP-phone number and is reachable from abroad; enter it as 50 followed by the eight remaining digits. Mobile numbers starting 090, 080 or 070 are phones, not fax machines, and should not be used for fax.
The Japanese Cover Sheet
Japanese offices expect a cover sheet, called a fax soufu-jou, and it matters more than in the US because the receiving machine is often shared by a whole department. Put the recipient company name, department and the person's name with the honorific (Tanaka-sama, or the department name followed by onchu), your company and name, the date, the number of pages including the cover, your email and phone, and one line on what the fax is about. Our free cover page option at checkout covers all of this; fill the To field with the department and person, and the Note field with the subject.
Send a PDF. Japanese text at fax resolution is fine as a clean PDF and nearly unreadable as a phone photo. If your document is in English, that is normal for international correspondence; add a one-line Japanese subject if you can, since it helps the person sorting the tray.
Faxing a Ward or City Office
A ward office (kuyakusho) in Tokyo's 23 wards or a city office (shiyakusho) elsewhere handles residence registration, family registry (koseki) extracts, tax certificates, national health insurance and pension matters. Many of these offices accept requests and supporting documents by fax, and some require it for certain forms. The fax number for a specific section (koseki, tax, insurance) is on the office's own website, usually on the section's page rather than the general contact page. Quote the section name on your cover sheet so the fax reaches the right desk, and include your name in katakana if you have it registered that way.
Family-registry and residence certificates are commonly requested from abroad for visas, marriages, inheritance and pensions. The request form, a copy of your ID and, where required, a return envelope or payment arrangement are the usual contents. The office's page will say what it needs; follow it exactly, because a municipal office will return an incomplete request rather than chase you for the missing piece.
Time Zone and Timing
Japan is UTC+9 all year, with no daylight saving. That is 13 hours ahead of US Eastern in summer and 14 in winter. Companies work roughly 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday; ward and city offices 8:30am to 5pm and close on national holidays, which Japan has many of. From the US East Coast the working window is the previous evening, about 7pm to 4am Eastern. Company fax machines are usually left on overnight; municipal ones often are not.
What It Costs
Japan is in our first pricing tier: $2.99 for up to 3 pages, with extra pages at $0.99. A purchase order with a cover page and two pages is $2.99; a ten-page contract is $9.92. You see the price before you pay, there is no account and nothing renews. If the fax cannot be delivered the full amount goes back to your card automatically.
Why Faxes to Japan Fail
Three causes cover almost every failure. A toll-free number. 0120, 0800 and 0570 lines generally do not accept calls from abroad; use the geographic number. The leading zero left in. If your number is ten digits starting with 0, drop the 0. A machine switched off. Municipal offices turn machines off outside hours and on holidays. You are refunded automatically on failure and can resend during Tokyo working hours.
Why send it here
One price for the whole fax, shown before you pay, and nothing added at checkout.
Nothing is printed on your document. It arrives exactly as you uploaded it.
If it cannot be delivered, the money goes back to your card without you asking.
It works from anywhere. Send from any country, in any browser, with no account.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to fax a company in Japan?
Is there a catch at $2.99 for Japan?
Can I fax Japan for free?
Do Japanese companies still accept orders and documents by fax?
Can I fax a ward office or city hall in Japan?
Do I need a Japanese cover sheet?
Can I send a document in English to a Japanese company?
What is the fax number format for Tokyo?
What is the fax number format for Osaka?
Can I fax a 0120 or 0800 toll-free number in Japan?
Can I fax a 0570 number?
What about a 050 number?
Can a Japanese company fax me back?
What time should I fax a Japanese company?
Do I get proof the fax was received in Japan?
Is my document stored after I fax Japan?
Why did my fax to Japan fail?
Can I fax Japan from outside the United States?
Can I request a koseki or juminhyo by fax from abroad?
How do I address a Japanese company on the cover sheet?
Can I fax a Japanese hospital or school?
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