| Name | Yellow 677-PN Payphone |
| Date | 1983 |
| Manufacturer | Anritsu Japan and Tamura Electric Works for NTT. |
Development of the Yellow 677-PN Payphone
| The 677-PN public payphone was a distinctive late-Shōwa Japanese payphone model developed during the transition from earlier rotary public telephones to the push-button electronic era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Finished in a vivid yellow housing with soft rounded edges, the telephone combined the robust construction of earlier Japanese public telephones with a more modern, user-friendly industrial design intended for indoor public environments such as railway stations, hospitals, government buildings and shopping areas. The example shown is marked “677-PN 電話機” and carries a manufacturing plate indicating production in October 1983 (Showa 58). The plate also references specification version “5103 No.1 Edition.” One label identifies the manufacturer as 安立電気株式会社 (Anritsu Electric Co., Ltd.), although it is very stylistically similar to models associated with Tamura Electric Works (possible subcontracted production and component supply). Unlike earlier rotary “red” and “blue” Japanese payphones, the 677-PN used a push-button keypad suited to Japan’s increasingly electronic telephone exchanges. Separate slots accepted both 10-yen and 100-yen coins, with a warning that 100-yen coins could not provide change. The lower emergency panel provided direct access to police (110) and fire/ambulance services (119), with instructions noting that emergency calls required no coins. Internal components included a removable cash tray, heavy anti-vandal fittings and modular service connections designed for intensive daily public use. |
Below- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation 678-PN Red Payphone, manufactured by Tamura Electronics Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in July 1983. This payphone was a consignment public telephone commonly installed in locations such as railway stations, shopping malls, amusement parks, and retail stores. In 1995, NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd.) discontinued the older red, yellow, and blue public payphones, replacing them with green and grey telephone card payphones.
The photographed 678-PN Red Public Payphone is owned by collector Takuya Nakayama. The photograph was taken and uploaded to Wikipedia for public domain use.
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