The city of Tahara in Aichi Prefecture is bringing back public pay phones in response to widespread mobile phone disruptions following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Residents in Tahara, which is located on the Atsumi Peninsula and vulnerable to tsunami, asked Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp. to set up more pay phones in the area after seeing the rush of people using existing facilities in 2011.
Located on a narrow strip of land surrounded by ocean, it is estimated that if a large-scale earthquake were to hit the Nankai Trough, the city could be struck by tsunami up to 21 meters high.