Best Practice for SMS to Japan

Issue

Customers wishing to notify end users in Japan should follow the best practices outlined in this document.

Environment

• All versions of xMatters
• SMS Notifications

Answer

Some customers may experience difficulty when notifying end users using SMS to Japanese numbers.  We suggest following these best practices:

Number format best practice:

Please ensure you enter a 2-digit Country Code = 81, followed by a 2-digit area code and an 8-digit mobile phone number.  The full number would look like 81-XX-XXXX-XXXX.

Notification format best practice:

Avoid cutting and pasting from word processors for notification text, use a plain text editor or type the message directly into xMatters.

Keep messages short and use only the SMS default character set to avoid length limitations:

Default Character Set:

@ £ $ ¥ è é ù ì ò Ç Ø ø Å å Δ _ Φ Γ Λ Ω Π Ψ Σ Θ Ξ ^ { } \ [ ~ ] | € Æ æ ß É ! " # % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Ä Ö Ñ Ü § ¿ a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p q r s t u v x y z ä ö ñ ü à [Space] [Line Feed] [Return]

Mobile Carriers in Japan impose the following length limitations on SMS messages.

• KDDI is limited to 140 characters using the default character set or 70 characters if adding special characters.
• Softbank is limited to 664 characters using the default character set or 332 characters if adding special characters.
• NTT Docomo/Rakuten is limited to 660 characters