Country code +81

Sending SMS to Japan

Japan uses +81. Japanese mixes three writing systems, all unicode, so segments run to 70 characters. The market is distinctive in that carrier email long outcompeted SMS for person-to-person messaging, leaving A2P SMS with an unusually transactional character — verification codes and delivery notices rather than marketing.

At a glance

Japan by the numbers

The figures below come from public country data and set the context for how much SMS traffic Japan actually carries.

+81

Japan country code

ISOJP / JPN

127,288,000

People

377,835

Area km²

5.007 Trillion

GDP (USD)

Sender ID

How your name appears in Japan

General guidance — we have not yet confirmed Japan-specific sender ID rules.

9:41

SMSLOCAL

Text Message

Your verification code is 4172. Valid for 10 minutes.

now

Delivered on +81

Sender ID rules for +81

Both alphanumeric and numeric sender IDs are supported where the local network allows it. Exact registration steps, character limits and lead time vary by operator, and are confirmed as part of onboarding before your first send.

Alphanumeric ID

Your brand name instead of a number, typically up to 11 characters, where the network allows it.

Numeric ID

A long code or short code — falls back to this wherever alphanumeric isn’t supported.

Approval time

Same-day to a few business days, depending on the operator and ID type.

What people send most: OTP and account verification · Order and delivery updates · Appointment and service reminders.

Message length: under the standard SMS encoding, a segment typically holds 160 GSM-7 characters, or 70 once a message uses Unicode — Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, emoji. Longer messages split into several segments automatically and are billed per segment; exact limits are confirmed for Japan as part of onboarding.

Before you send

What Japan requires

General practice for reaching Japan — market-specific requirements are confirmed with you before your first send.

Requirement 1 of 4: Get clear consent before sending marketing messages, and keep a record of it.

Requirement 1 of 4

Get clear consent before sending marketing messages, and keep a record of it.

Checked automatically on every message we send to Japan — nothing for you to track by hand.

Networks

Mobile operators in Japan

Named operators for Japan have not been confirmed yet — routing still reaches every licensed network in the market.

Full network coverage

Routes provision automatically to every licensed operator serving Japan — no operator list for you to maintain.

One route per message

Each send is evaluated in real time and placed on the best-performing path available at that moment.

Delivery reporting either way

Per-message delivery status, the same whether an operator is named on this page or not.

Traffic

Common SMS use cases in Japan

OTP and account verification

Time-critical — it has to land in seconds, which is the reason SMS still wins here over push or email.

Order and delivery updates

Keeps the recipient's attention without needing an app open, for the moment they actually care about the update.

Appointment and service reminders

Cuts no-shows more effectively than email — most people notice a text within minutes of it arriving.

Dialling

How to dial Japan

Every part of the number, laid out separately, then the same thing written the way an API expects it.

+Exit

81Country code

national numberNational number

+81 — +81 followed by the national number

From abroad, replace your exit code with +, then 81, then the national number — dropping the national trunk prefix if the country uses one (a leading 0 in most, though not in the +1 numbering plan). Store numbers in E.164 (+81…) and they work from any country and any API.

Reference