Tokyo subway stations will lose their public phones

All public phones^*1 in Toei Subway stations will be taken away by November 2028. The Toei Subway is a group of underground train lines in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, the city office that runs these trains, announced the plan on September 29, 2026.

The phones belong to NTT East, a large Japanese phone company. NTT East asked the bureau to take them away.

People will be told before each phone is taken away. A notice^*2 will be put on the phone at least two weeks before that day.

People who still need a public phone can look for one near them on the NTT East website. People with questions can call the NTT East public phone team at 0120-394047. The team answers calls on weekdays^*3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

1. *1 public phones: phones in places like stations and streets that anyone can pay to use
2. *2 notice: a paper with information that is put up for people to read
3. *3 weekdays: the days from Monday to Friday