Who to Call and Where to Get Help

First, do this

For a crime or accident where you need help right now, call 110 (police). For fires and ambulances call 119, and for incidents or accidents at sea call 118.
Stay calm and say when it happened, where, and what happened.
For non-urgent police matters, call "#9110".
If you run into trouble while travelling, such as illness or a disaster, call the 24-hour Japan Visitor Hotline (you can find the number on JNTO's official website).
Check disaster information in the "Safety tips" app or on JNTO's "Japan Safe Travel Information" site.

Emergency numbers: 110, 119 and 118

Japan's emergency numbers are 110 for the police, 119 for the fire service and ambulances, and 118 for the Japan Coast Guard (incidents and accidents at sea). All three are three-digit numbers that you dial without an area code.

110 is for emergencies where you need a police officer to come right now. According to the government's public relations office, about 20 per cent of 110 calls do not need an emergency response, which slows down the response to cases that really are urgent. For non-urgent matters, use "#9110", explained below.

In many areas, 119 can also handle calls in other languages. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, when a foreign national calls 119, a "three-way simultaneous interpretation" service through a telephone interpreting centre covers the main languages 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. As of 1 January 2025, 673 of the 720 fire departments in Japan had introduced it.

118 is the number for incidents and accidents at sea, for example if your boat capsizes and you are thrown into the water, or if you witness an accident at sea. The Japan Coast Guard asks callers to turn on their smartphone's GPS, because the location data lets it pinpoint exactly where you are. Since January 2025 there has also been "Live118", which lets you send video of the scene from your smartphone (no app download needed).

Help lines for when it is not urgent

"#9110" is the police consultation line. Wherever you call from in Japan, it connects you to the consultation desk of the local police headquarters or similar. It is usually open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., but hours vary by prefecture. In Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's General Consultation Center takes enquiries in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

If you suddenly fall ill or get hurt and are not sure whether to call an ambulance, the Emergency Medical Consultation Service lets you talk it over by phone with a doctor, nurse or similar. However, it only runs in some parts of the country (41 areas, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency). For more details, see our page on sudden illness and injury.

Questions about visas and residence procedures are handled by the Immigration Services Agency's "Foreign Residents Support Center" in 11 languages including English, Chinese and Korean, on weekdays during the day only.

Phone lines for travellers in other languages

JNTO's (the Japan National Tourism Organization's) "Japan Visitor Hotline" answers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in English, Chinese and Korean. It offers support in emergencies such as accidents, illness and natural disasters, as well as general tourist information. You can find the phone number on JNTO's official website.

On 1 April 2026 JNTO launched the "JNTO TIC Call Center", dedicated to tourist information. It helps with tourist information for the whole of Japan and with planning itineraries, every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Outside those hours, the Japan Visitor Hotline handles general tourist enquiries. JNTO's walk-in tourist information centre in Marunouchi, Tokyo, closed on 31 March 2026. Across Japan there are more than 1,500 tourist information centres accredited by JNTO.

If you want to talk through emotional difficulties in English, there is "TELL Lifeline", a free phone counselling service run by the non-profit TELL (Tokyo English Life Line). It is anonymous and confidential.

Official safety apps and websites

"Safety tips" is an app for foreign travellers supervised by the Japan Tourism Agency. It sends push notifications for earthquake early warnings, tsunami warnings, weather emergency warnings and more within Japan. It also has flowcharts showing what to do in a disaster, communication cards and links to useful websites, and it works in 15 languages.

JNTO's "Japan Safe Travel Information" is a website where you can check weather warnings, transport information and more in English during disasters. The same information is posted on the X account "@JapanSafeTravel". The Japan Tourism Agency's "Safety tips for travelers" website gathers links to weather, warnings, news, medical information, a list of embassies and consulates-general in Japan, and more.

The Japan Meteorological Agency provides disaster prevention information on weather, heavy rain, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and more on pages in 15 languages, including Japanese. NHK WORLD-JAPAN, the international service of the public broadcaster NHK, is a 24-hour English channel you can rely on for English information during major disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons.

Before you call

In an emergency call, the key is to say calmly and briefly when it happened, where, and what happened. When you call 118, turning on your smartphone's GPS lets the Japan Coast Guard find your exact location from the location data. JNTO recommends keeping your smartphone and other devices well charged in case of emergency, and noting down your embassy's contact details in advance.

Tips

Save 110, 119, 118 and the Japan Visitor Hotline number in your smartphone's contacts.
Download "Safety tips" before your trip so you receive earthquake early warnings and other alerts.
Calling 110 for something that is not urgent delays help for people who really need it. If in doubt, try #9110 or the Japan Visitor Hotline.
Keep your smartphone well charged at all times in case of emergency (JNTO recommends this too).

Sources

Checked: 29 September 2026