June 18, 2021 Ceremony to Start Telephone Relay Service

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will hold an online ceremony on Thursday, July 1, 2021, to start a telephone relay service as public infrastructure jointly with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and the Nippon Foundation Telecommunication Relay Service.

Overview

The telephone relay service enables people with hearing or speech disabilities to communicate with other people through a sign language interpreter operator.
The Nippon Foundation Telecommunication Relay Service, a telecommunications service provider designated by the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, will start the telephone relay service from 10:30 am on July 1, 2021, based on the Act on Facilitating the Use of Telephones by the Hearing Impaired, etc. (Act No. 53 of 2020).
Before starting the service, MIC, MHLW, and the Nippon Foundation Telephone Relay Service will hold an online ceremony to start the service to make the telephone relay service widely known to the public.