THE YASUDA FIRE AND MARIN INSURANCE CO.,LTD.		Tokyo experiences major fires almost every year. Hundreds of buildings are reduced to ashes in a short time. Japanese buildings burn easily, and the fire department must be contacted at the earliest possible moment. An efficient system for notifying the fire department of fires is the Fire Call System. Tokyo citizens are, however, irresistible rubberneckers for fires and street fights and each time there is a fire, switchboards are jammed with calls asking "Where is the fire?" This system becomes free of charge in Taisho 8 (1919), and the first emergency number is set up -- '112' because it is the fastest to dial on a rotary phone. Later the number is changed to the present '119.'

---