Ask your hotel front desk first. Telephones usually do not. Here is who will make the call for you, and how to ask.
Websites here often have English, and telephone lines are usually Japanese. Ask your hotel front desk, and hand over the details written down.
There is a way through this, and you can do it in your own language. The normal thing to do here is to ask someone to make the call for you — and the people below do it as part of their job, every day, without being asked twice.
1. Your hotel front desk. The single most useful service in Japan. They will book restaurants, call a taxi, chase a lost bag, telephone a hospital, and explain your dietary needs — and they will not consider it an imposition. Ask the evening before, not five minutes before you want it.
2. A police box (koban). For anything lost or official. There is one near almost every station.
3. Anyone standing next to you. In an emergency, hand your phone to the nearest person. People take it. This is normal here and nobody will be annoyed.
The trick is not the words. It is having the information ready in writing so the person helping you does not have to interview you first.
| You need to | Ask | Say / show |
|---|---|---|
| Book a restaurant that has no English website | Hotel front desk, the evening before | Name and number on your phone, date, time, number of people, anything you cannot eat |
| Book a mountain inn or a hot-spring room | Hotel front desk | The inn’s name, your dates, and whether you need a private bath |
| Call a taxi | Hotel front desk, or any shop or restaurant you are in | Where you are, and where you are going — written down |
| Report something lost | The station office, or a police box (koban) | What it is, where you think you lost it, and where you are staying |
| Ask a hospital whether they can see you | Hotel front desk — they do this regularly | Your symptoms, your age, and your insurance |
| Hotel front desk | The name of the bath house, and ask about private baths in the same call | |
| Explain a dietary need in advance | Hotel front desk, when booking | The card from the printable cards page |
| Find out if a road or trail is open | Hotel front desk, or the inn nearest to it | The place name and your date |
Your hotel front desk is the answer to almost everything on this page. Ask the evening before, and they will have it arranged by the morning.