Cable-ese to standard phone number?

August 20, 2012 7:07 AM

I found this phone number in a diplomatic memo, and am interested to know how it would be rendered in the traditional XXX-XXX-XXXX U.S. phone number format: (81-3) 3XXX-5XXX.
posted by ryanshepard to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like a Tokyo, Japan number.

Country code 81, city code 33, phone number 224-5227. Numbers in Japan are odd (to U.S. eyes) because they have a variable number of digits in the area code. (Also, when you're in-country, you don't need to dial 81, but you do have to dial zero before the area code. I believe leading zeroes on area codes is actually pretty common around the world.)
posted by spacewrench at 7:11 AM on August 20, 2012

That's a Japanese phone number, Tokyo specifically, in the U.S. I normally see Tokyo phone numbers written as follows: [phone].

On preview, Tokyo is city code 3, not 33.
posted by RichardP at 7:14 AM on August 20, 2012

Response by poster: I was assuming, incorrectly, that it was a US number - thanks very much, spacewrench.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:15 AM on August 20, 2012

Best answer: Spacewrench is almost right, except that Tokyo phone numbers are 8 digits, not 7. If you were in Tokyo dialing that number, you'd be dialing 8 digits. "03" is the city code, and the zero gets dropped when it follows the country code.
posted by adamrice at 7:15 AM on August 20, 2012

RichardP: Tokyo was 3 (or 03) decades ago, when I lived there, but they ran out of numbers and had to start using the 033 prefix. It was like splitting an area code in the US. I think there are both 03 and 033 numbers in Tokyo now.
posted by spacewrench at 7:17 AM on August 20, 2012

This is actually the standard for most of the world, except Canada/US, including the dropped zero for the area codes.
posted by defcom1 at 2:29 PM on August 20, 2012

This definitely a Tokyo number. I call Japan every day at work, and the 81-3- prefix followed by 8 numbers is always how I dial.
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 6:30 PM on August 20, 2012