in 1972, its telephone numbers were squeezed between Miyazaki (98x) and Kagoshima (99x) and begin with 988, 989, and 980. During the 1990s, when plans were being drawn up to amalgamate mid-sized cities and towns into larger municipalities, telephone numbering systems were merged in advance. For example, 7442 x xxxx Kashihara (Nara prefecture) 7444 x xxxx Sakurai 74452 xxxx Takatori 74454 xxxx Asuka etc. became: 744 2x xxxx Kashihara 744 4x xxxx Sakurai 744 52 xxxx Takatori 744 54 xxxx Asuka etc. Many of these towns have in fact refused to merge, leaving callers with more digits to dial when making local calls. This is partially balanced by not having to dial an area code for the neighboring city. Area code as local brand naming After entering the 2010s, local products and events have begun using names which come from the area code. 0465net (Odawara, Kanagawa) 0428 T-shirt (Ome, Tokyo) 028 Market (Utsunomiya, Tochigi) 028 Machinaka (Inner-City) Wi-Fi (Utsunomiya, Tochigi) Bar 053 (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka) See also List of dialing codes in Japan Communications in Japan § Telephone services List of telephone operating companies § Japan Telephone numbering plan References ITU allocations list External links Telephone information page of the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) Whitepages.jp Whitepages in English Japan