If you are looking for a way to get a Japanese IP address, the best way to get one is by using a VPN. By connecting to a VPN server in Japan, your IP address is changed and all of your internet traffic is encrypted. This means you can gain access to Japanese services that aren't available in your current location – without anybody finding out!
In this article, we list the steps to get a Japan IP address and recommend the best Japan VPN services for the job.
What's the best way to get a Japanese IP
The easiest method for getting a Japanese IP address is to use a VPN. We have listed the best VPN services with Japan VPN servers below. If you want to find out more information about any of the providers, keep scrolling for our detailed summaries or click through the provider's website.
- ExpressVPN - The best way to get a Japan IP. It's a secure and blazing-fast VPN, has servers in Japan, and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN - The best budget VPN for Japan. It offers lightning-fast servers in Japan and worldwide, exceptional features, and budget-friendly plans.
- Private Internet Access - A secure VPN with Japan IPs. Offers many servers in Japan, a court-proven no-logs policy, and strong encryption.
- Surfshark - A feature-rich VPN with Japanese IP. It has servers in Tokyo, works with all streaming platforms, and offers unlimited connections.
- VyprVPN - A reliable VPN with Japan IPs. It's one of the only VPNs that owns and maintains its entire server network making it reliable.
How to get a Japanese IP address with a VPN step by step
Using a VPN to get a Japanese IP address is easy. Simply follow the steps below and you can unblock Japanese content from anywhere in the world.
- Subscribe to a VPN. To get an IP address in Japan, we recommend ExpressVPN But, in this guide you will find five top-of-the-range VPN services to consider.
- Download and install the software on your device.
- Connect to a server in Japan.
- Now you can access websites or services that are exclusive to Japan.
Best VPNs for Japan IP – In-depth Analysis
All of our recommended VPNs have servers in Japan – so you can access geo-restricted content using a Japanese IP. Every service differs slightly, which is why we have provided in-depth summaries about each provider. These will help you pick the best subscription for your needs.
ExpressVPN is the best way to get a Japanese IP address. It's consistently one of the fastest VPNs, with servers in Tokyo, Shibuya, and Yokohama. Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN Demo ExpressVPN is consistently rated as one of the best VPNs in the world, and the good news is that it provides access to servers in Japan. This means you can use ExpressVPN to get a Japanese IP address and access geo-restricted content there. Even people living in Japan may want to use ExpressVPN to access free online streams – because the government is very strict on copyright protections. ExpressVPN keeps no logs, and it provides robust military-grade encryption. The VPN software is available for all platforms and it is extremely easy to use. Subscribers are permitted to use the VPN on up to 5 simultaneous devices, and the software is fully featured with a kill-switch. In addition, this VPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can test the service risk-free. We love this VPN for getting an IP address not only in Japan but in all 105 countries
where it has servers. This VPN works with Netflix, UK TV stations like BBC iPlayer – and it can help you unblock regional content from all over the world - as well as Japan. Plus, this VPN has superb 24/7 live chat support to help you when you need it. A fantastic all-rounder with a strong no logs policy and watertight encryption. NordVPN is the best budget Japan VPN. It comes with super-fast servers worldwide, user-friendly apps, and a long list of customizable features; and it’s affordable! Nord Demo NordVPN is a premium service VPN provider that won't cost you a fortune. People staying abroad will be happy to hear that this VPN offers many servers in Japan, enabling you to access geo-restricted local content. Folks in Japan will also benefit from thousands of fast servers in over 111 countries
worldwide, enabling you to stream Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and HBO Max seamlessly. NordVPN is consistently among the fastest VPNs we test, but if you’re looking to further enhance your VPN speeds, consider checking out Nord’s own protocol, NordLynx. It’s built around WireGuard, so it’s super light in terms of code and even faster than OpenVPN protocol. Besides, this protocol provides the obfuscation (stealth servers) to bypass VPN blocks in the countries of the region and worldwide. Speaking of features, NordVPN is designed with the user experience in mind. It offers fully featured apps for all popular platforms; Chrome, Edge, and Firefox extensions; and even excellent router compatibility. For added peace of mind, this VPN offers DoubleVPN (which changes your IP twice in a row), Threat protection (which protects you from ads and malware), Onion over VPN, and many other exclusive features. Finally, NordVPN truly is a no-logs service, and has proven it on multiple occasions in front of independent auditing services – so all your sensitive data is in safe hands! Currently, I find NordVPN the ultimate best buy option on the market, but don’t just take my word for it, give it a spin using its 30-day money-back guarantee. Private Internet Access has plenty of Japanese IPs and it focuses on online privacy. It has proven its no-logs policy in court, has excellent encryption, and it's great for torrenting and streaming. PIA Demo Private Internet Access VPN is a US-based provider that is great for advanced users in need of a Japanese IP address. It is a secure VPN that is often praised by Reddit users due to the fact that it has proven its no-logs policy in court. The VPN has apps for all platforms that come with a kill-switch, DNS leak protection, OpenVPN encryption, a SOCKS 5 proxy, split tunneling, and port forwarding. And this VPN allows users to set the strength of their encryption too, which makes it better for advanced users who know what they are doing. With PIA you get fast and secure servers in 84 countries
, including IPs in Japan. And this service can unblock all the hard to get services you are interested in - both in Japan and around the globe. I love that this VPN has live chat support and that you can test it risk fee using its 30-day money-back guarantee. A low-cost VPN that's great if you intend to torrent. Surfshark is a feature-rich VPN with plenty of Japan IPs. You can use it on unlimited devices with one subscription, and it's great for streaming Japanese content. Surfshark Demo Surfshark is a VPN based in the British Virgin Islands that is often praised by consumers for its unblocking capabilities and its unlimited number of simultaneous connections with a single subscription. This makes it great for families who want to use it at home and on public WiFi. It has servers in 100 countries
, including IP addresses in Japan. Surfshark is extremely fast, which makes it ideal for streaming or downloading via BitTorrent. Plus, Surfshark unblocks sought-after services like Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime. Where Japanese services are concerned, this VPN will be able to unblock anything you want – as soon as you connect to its Tokyo-based servers. To provide watertight privacy, Surfshark has reliable apps for all platforms that provide industry-standard OpenVPN encryption. And it also has a killswitch and obfuscation. This makes it a fantastic all-rounder. Overall, it's a cheap VPN that is perfect for those who are on a budget and you can test it using its 30-day money-back guarantee. Perfect if you haven't a lot to spend but want a secure VPN that is good for gaining privacy and security online. VyprVPN is a reliable VPN with Japanese IP addresses with servers in Tokyo. They own and maintain all of their servers and it has been fully audited by a third party to prove it's secure. VYPR Demo VyprVPN is a reliable VPN that has servers in Japan and in over 64 countries
countries. It can unblock all popular services, and it is ideal for streaming in HD thanks to its proprietary network of Tier-1 servers. Encryption is implemented securely and is provided with our recommended protocol: OpenVPN. The VPN software is available for all platforms, and it is easy to use. It also has advanced features that make it great for bypassing censorship, torrenting, or doing other sensitive online tasks. This makes it ideal for gaining privacy and security online – as well as to spoof your location and get a Japanese IP. Admittedly, this VPN isn't as fast as some of our other recommendations, but it has extremely nice apps with a lot of advanced features and it unblocks a huge amount of sought after content worldwide. This alone makes it worth testing on any device using its 30-day money-back guarantee. And, if you need obfuscation this VPN has a proprietary Chameleon feature that performs excellently. CyberGhost is an easy way to get a Japan IP addresses. It offers optimized P2P servers in Tokyo, servers dedicated for streaming, cheap plans, and excellent apps for all your devices. CyberGhost Demo CyberGhost VPN is another superb VPN service that provides access to servers in Japan, meaning it's easier than ever to bolster your online privacy when in Japan, or to unblock Japanese websites from anywhere else in the world. Easy-to-use apps are available for all platforms, each built with strong encryption, a kill-switch, and DNS leak protection to ensure you're fully protected. CyberGhost VPN even boasts a strict no-logs policy, meaning your activity is never recorded. Not only is this service great for beginners and experienced VPN users alike, everyone that subscribes to CyberGhost can unblock international services such as iPlayer, Crunchyroll, and Netflix US. And it is great for unblocking Japanese TV channels and streaming services that are unavailable outside of the country. In total it has servers in 100 countries
worldwide, which means you will never be short on places to connect to. Subscribers are permitted to use the VPN on up to 7 simultaneous devices, which is very generous, and this VPN has a 45-day money-back guarantee so you can test it thoroughly. A great all-rounder that won't break the bank, and can give you privacy both at home and when using public WiFi. 1. ExpressVPN
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5. VyprVPN
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Can I get a Japanese IP address for free?
Although there are a few reliable free VPN services on the market, the unfortunate reality is that trustworthy free services do not come with IP addresses in Japan. For this reason, if you want to use an IP address in Japan, you will need to pay for a cheap VPN or one of the services recommended in this article.
In addition, you can also opt to set up Tor to only use exit nodes in Japan, and this will give you an IP address in Japan for free. However, Tor is very slow and will only be useful for doing tasks that are not data-intensive.
Can I use a free VPN to get a Japanese IP?
There are many free services on the market, but we must urge you to stay away from 99% of them. You must avoid these using most free services because:
- The VPN harvesting and selling your data
- Weak encryption
- Concerning privacy policies
- Critical leaks
- Spyware, adware, or other types of malware
The good news is that there are some free VPNs that are safe to use. However, very few trustworthy free providers actually have a server in Japan. This makes it impossible to enjoy a Japanese IP address for free (without putting yourself at risk).
To get access to a free Japanese VPN server (with a Japanese IP address), the best option is to use the VPNs money-back guarantees provided by the VPNs in this guide.
What can I do with a Japanese IP address?
As soon as you connect to a VPN server in Japan, your device appears as if you were actually in Japan. This allows you to use local Japanese services that are usually blocked outside of the country. Here's a quick list of the kinds of services you can use by connecting to an IP address in Japan:
- Japanese internet banking (for banks like Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan Post Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, etc.)
- TV Japan
- Fuji TV
- NHK
- TV Tokyo
- Netflix Japan (which carries a lot of exclusive anime tiles)
- Hulu Japan
- Rakuten TV
Is it illegal to change my IP to a Japanese one?
No. Using a VPN to pretend to be in a different country is completely legal. For this reason, you are free to change your IP address to Japan any time you wish.
In addition, all of the VPNs we have recommended provide watertight privacy thanks to their no logs policies and military-grade encryption. As a result, it is impossible for your ISP, the government, or local network administrators to ever tell that you are using a Japanese IP address.
As a result, not only is it legal to change your IP address to Japan – but nobody will know that you are doing it anyway!
Are there any other ways of getting a Japanese IP?
Using a VPN is by far the best, most private, and most secure way of getting a Japanese IP address. However, there are other methods too. These are listed below:
SmartDNS
SmartDNS is used all over the world by people who want to stream geo-blocked content. The drawback is that it doesn't provide encryption at all. As such, using SmartDNS, you don't get any of the peace of mind or safety features – or protection against government snooping – that you get with a VPN.
Proxies
Lastly, you could use a free proxy server. There are many proxies around, and some are certainly very cheap (if not free). The drawback of free proxy servers is that they are usage-limited. For that reason, you are likely to experience times when you reach your connection limit when you are in the middle of your favorite TV show. All in all, proxies offer slow speeds, highly questionable privacy policies, and an increased likelihood of third parties accessing your data. With that in mind, proxies are largely a privacy gamble that we strongly suggest avoiding.
Why we recommend VPNs for getting a Japanese IP
VPNs are by far the best tool for getting a Japanese IP address. This is because they provide much higher levels of privacy and security than any other service available on the market (most provide none). However, to get watertight privacy, you must subscribe to a reputable VPN provider (because there are plenty of terrible ones on the market).
All the VPNs in this guide are trustworthy premium services with rock-solid reputations. Our recommendations provide the highest levels of personal privacy available, so you can unblock websites without ever being tracked (and at the best possible speeds).
With ISPs, governments, advertisers, and corporations all desperate to harvest your web data, we consider a VPN an essential tool for every single internet user in 2024.
IP Address for Japan: Considerations
Although getting a Japanese IP address is easy, there a few things that you should consider when picking a VPN. All our recommendations were selected because they provide all the features mentioned below:
- Servers in Japan to get a Japanese IP
- Fast servers for streaming in HD and torrenting
- Secure encryption to prevent your ISP from tracking you
- Apps for all platforms that are easy to use
- Advanced privacy features so you can enjoy Japanese services without being tracked
- Excellent customer care
- Great value for money
How to get a dedicated Japan IP?
Some VPNs provide an additional service that you can get by paying a small extra fee: dedicated IPs.
A dedicated IP address is a VPN IP that is never used by anyone but you. This ensures that the IP address appears to be a normal residential IP address (rather than a shared VPN IP with tens or hundreds of users).
A dedicated IP is not as good for gaining privacy as a shared VPN IP. However, some people require a dedicated IP address; which is why some VPNs rent them out.
If you want a dedicated IP address in Japan, you will need to talk to your VPN to find out whether they have dedicated IPs available there. To find out more about VPN providers that rent dedicated IPs, please follow the link.
IP Address for Japan: Conclusion
In this guide, we have provided a step-by-step guide to getting a Japanese IP address. To get an IP address in Japan, we recommend ExpressVPN because it provides everything you need to unblock Japanese services without being tracked.
To give you plenty of options, however, we have also included four other services that are perfect for the task. Simply click on the provider that suits your needs by clicking on one of the links below.
- ExpressVPN - The best way to get a Japan IP. It's a secure and blazing-fast VPN, has servers in Japan, and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- NordVPN - The best budget VPN for Japan. It offers lightning-fast servers in Japan and worldwide, exceptional features, and budget-friendly plans.
- Private Internet Access - A secure VPN with Japan IPs. Offers many servers in Japan, a court-proven no-logs policy, and strong encryption.
- Surfshark - A feature-rich VPN with Japanese IP. It has servers in Tokyo, works with all streaming platforms, and offers unlimited connections.
- VyprVPN - A reliable VPN with Japan IPs. It's one of the only VPNs that owns and maintains its entire server network making it reliable.