Rule card · Japan
Keep your SoftBank number active while abroad
Keep a SoftBank number active abroad: 5 years, ending on the last day of month 60. The fee is printed as 429 yen. That page does not print 税.
Checked against official pages on October 3, 2026. Rules move; when this one does, it goes on the changelog.
Rule at a glance
postpaid accounts only- If you do nothing
- This storage does not start on its own. It starts when you apply for 電話番号・メールアドレスお預かり: maximum 5 years, through the last day of month 60, and the contract ends that day. Calls and texts on this page are unverified.
- Cheapest way to hold it
- 429 yen a month as printed. The page does not print 税.
- Roaming needed to receive codes abroad
- Unverified (The storage page does not print whether calls or texts stop during the hold.)
- Twelve months away, roughly
- 429 yen a month as printed. The page does not print 税, so this cell is not a tax-included annual total.
Keep a SoftBank number active abroad by applying for number and mail-address storage before you leave. SoftBank prints a maximum of 5 years. The contract ends on the last day of the expiry month, which the same page counts as the last day of month 60.
Five years, ending on the last day of month 60
SoftBank's storage page, checked 3 October 2026, states: "保管期間が5年を経過した場合は、期間満了月の末日をもってソフトバンクとの契約が解除となります。" Once 5 years have passed, the contract with SoftBank ends on the last day of the expiry month. SoftBank counts that period as 5 years from the month after storage starts, through the last day of month 60. The page's example is an application on 15 January 2020 and a deadline of 31 January 2025. That pair shows the calendar. It is an example, not the deadline for someone applying on another day. The note after the example says there is no advance notice of that ending.
au also prints a 5-year maximum, and au's contract ends when the storage period expires, not on the last day of the month. The Japan page keeps those two endings apart. docomo's maximum on its own card is 6 years.
The monthly fee is printed as 429 yen
The fee table prints 月額利用料 as 429 yen. The page opened on 3 October 2026 does not print 税, so the 429 yen stays without a tax label. Application is done at a SoftBank shop. The same page states: "ソフトバンクショップにて保管のお手続きをいたします。" The shop handles the storage procedure. An identity document is required.
What the page stores is the phone number and mail addresses such as @softbank.ne.jp and @i.softbank.jp, for up to 5 years. It does not print whether calls or texts stop while the number is stored. docomo does print that stop, for calls and communications, at the moment you apply.