These cards are sold directly to the public from NTT outlets and other
authorised stores. Apart from the nationwide cards, which are sold
throughout the country, most public issue cards are produced and distributed
by regional offices, and typically feature famous places, events, or people
from that region. In total, there are 11 different NTT regional distributors.
Public issue cards show the NTT logo "
"
on the front of the card.
| NUMBER | ISSUING OFFICE | INCLDUING THE FOLLOWING PREFECTURES |
| 110 or 111 | nationwide | - |
| 230 or 231 | Tokyo | - |
| 250 or 251 | Kanto (Greater Tokyo) | Kanagawa |
| 270 or 271 | Shin-etsu & Nagano | Niigata |
| 290 or 291 | Tokai (Nagoya & surrounding area) | Gifu, Shizuoka, Mie |
| 310 or 311 | Hokuriku | Fukui, Kanazawa |
| 330 or 331 | Kansai | Kinki, Isaka, Kyoto |
| 350 or 351 | Chugoku | Hiroshima, Yamaguchi |
| 370 or 371 | Shikoku | - |
| 390 or 391 | Kyushu & Okinawa | Fukuoka |
| 410 or 411 | Tohoku | Akita, Miyagi, Aomori |
| 430 or 431 | Hokkaido | - |
At first, regional codes all terminated with a zero (apart from Osaka, whose code was 331 - a special case). In April 1991, these were changed from XX0 to XX1, and the issue numbers recommenced from 001.
Public issue phonecards have a six digit code on the reverse of the form "XXX-XXX", with the first three digits indicating the region, and the last three digits assigned as the design is issued. (Occasionally, however, the first three digits are replaced by the name of the district issuing the cards - in Japanese - see map !)
Map of Japan showing the different regional issuing numbers
and the district names in Japanese
(click on the map to see an enlarged version)
