Japanese TV has captivated the world with their engaging and interesting shows, music, news, anime, manga, radio, games and many more. With each and every media and entertainment platform that they have depicts their wonderful culture, and with it more and more people have grown to love and like Japanese TV.
One of the most popular sites that everyone wants to get their hands on and get access to is DAZN, a platform where you will be able to get updates and watch sporting events and activities in Japan. Other most wanted entertainment platforms that are very interesting to have access too are Netflix Japan, AbemaTV, GYAO, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Radiko, Niconico, FMM and many more. With all these wonderful streaming and gaming platforms, it is sad to say that they are all geo-restricted sites. This means, if you are not in Japan, you will not be able to connect and access to any content.
Why is Japanese TV blocked in other countries?
Though it might not seem that the Japanese government is not huge in restrictions when it comes to the internet, they are very much strict about copyright infringement. Hence, what many of these sites would do is just to buy rights to broadcast their content within Japan because expanding and buying rights to show their content internationally could be very expensive. With that said, these sites would implement what is known as geographical restrictions. This function that they impose is what makes their content accessible only to those who only have Japanese IP addresses.
How to watch Japanese TV even if you are outside Japan?
Though it may seem as impossible and difficult to be able to access Japanese TV, it is the contrary. To circumvent geographical restrictions, the only thing that you need is to subscribe to a Virtual Private Network or more commonly known as VPN.
A VPN is a platform or a tool that could provide you a Japanese IP address. This is done by giving you connection and access to their servers located in Japan. Since Japanese TV sites gets their ability to restrict access to those who are outside Japan through the identification of location of the individual who is trying to access the site through his or her IP address, having a VPN is one of the most effective and impressive solution to be able to bypass geo-restrictions.
To help you choose the best VPN service provider that would best suit your needs and that would be perfect fit for accessing Japanese TV entertainment sites, we have listed top best VPNs you will find in the market and industry.
Best VPN services for accessing Japanese TV outside Japan
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN has been one of the leading VPN service providers for quite a while now. With 160 server locations, no wonder they are one of the most preferred choice by many. In addition to that, ExpressVPN offers exciting features which are very useful and suitable for watching Japanese TV outside Japan.
This VPN service provider is available on and compatible with wide range of device operating systems such as iOS, Android, Mac and Linux. This means, you will not have to worry about any of your devices being restricted to access your favorite entertainment TV Japanese shows. Furthermore, what is great about this VPN is its speed is fast which ensures you will never experience any lags and buffering.
As for its privacy and security features, ExpressVPN offers impressive military grade AES-256 encryption and strict implementation of no logs policies. These mentioned features will assure you that your connection is safe from prying eyes of hackers, government and third parties. In addition to that this VPN also runs its own encrypted DNS and has a kill switch that ensures even if your connection drops, you will not have to worry of loopholes and of your connection losing protection.
ExpressVPN allows its clients and subscribers to connect up to five devices simultaneously and in case you encounter any problems, you do not have to fret as they have 24/7 customer service that will help and provide support anytime.
2. NordVPN
NordVPN is another trusted VPN service provider that is perfect for streaming content on Japanese TV such as Netflix Japan, Amazon Prime, Tsutaya, Wowow, Niconico, Tver and many more. They are one of the best VPNs when it comes to speed performance. They offer unlimited bandwidth which allows you to watch content all day long.
This VPN service provider comes with about 5000 plus servers located in about 59 countries worldwide including Japan with about 82 servers scattered all over the country. This is perfect as you will not have any problems in watching any Japanese TV shows.
For security measures, NordVPN has state of the art top notch security and privacy encryption features that assures and ensures your data are protected from hackers, malware, unsolicited advertisements and many more while you are watching your favorite Japanese TV shows.
This VPN is available on wide range of operating system and has fast connection speeds which ensures you will not experience any lags and buffering.
3. ProtonVPN
Though ProtonVPN is a newbie in the VPN industry, it has already been able to make a name for itself with its impressive performance and fundamental features. Through this VPN, you will be able to enjoy any Japanese TV shows to your hearts content. They have about 526 servers located in about 42 countries including Japan. Their connection speed is top notch and could go head to head with other veterans in the industry. In fact, all of their servers have a minimum of 1Gbps bandwidth.
ProtonVPN implements and abides to their strict no logs policy which means none of your data will ever be recorded nor leaked. They also have military grade AES-256 encryption which ensures your connection is kept private.
4. HideMyAss
HideMyAss is another leading VPN that offers services in about 190 countries worldwide and are continuously expanding. With this expanding numbers of servers worldwide creates more opportunities for its users to have the ability to access and unblock restrictions in every country of the world soon.
For its privacy and security, this VPN has 256-bit AES encryption which protects your data from getting lost, getting malware and cyber theft.
5. Trust.Zone
Trust.Zone is another good option for watching Japanese TV. It could bypass geo-restrictions and is compatible with wide range server network. So even if you are miles away, you will not encounter any problems watching your favorite TV shows. TrustZone, unfortunately is only available on Windows and Android. Though this is the case, they offer plans with reasonable prices.
With 156 servers in 87 zones, you could surely enjoy watching your Japanese TV shows with the VPN’s ability to unblock geo-restrictions. In addition to that, this VPN has military grade encryption which also means, your connection is secured from the prying eyes of hackers and third parties.
Choosing the best VPN service provider
Though we have listed the best top VPN service providers above, it is still difficult and tricky task to choose the best VPN that will suit your needs. Hence, we have set criteria below of things you should consider when choosing a VPN.
- Server location- this factor is very important as this is one of the determinants if you will be able to access geographical restricted sites. In this case, you will need a VPN that has servers located in Japan. This is one of the most important requirements for you to be able to access sites that are geographically restricted to Japan.
- Bandwidth and speed- this factor is what makes your streaming experience enjoyable, if you have fast connection speed and unlimited bandwidth, you will not need to worry about experiencing buffering and lags.
- Cost- VPNs come in different plans with different prices. Ensure you choose one that will fit your budget and at the same time offer features that will suit your needs.
- Protocols run on VPN- ensure that the protocols of your VPN are updated and offers more protocols.
- Number of simultaneous connections allowed- this factor gives you the flexibility to be able to connect and use other devices.
Is it legal to use a VPN?
Yes, in many countries using a VPN is legal. However, it depends on how you use your VPN. If you are just using it for watching and chatting with friends, then yes it is legal but if you will be using it for activities listed below, then, no using VPN will be considered as illegal.
- Hacking – this has been one of the major threats in the cyber world. With the ability to mask your identity some hackers use VPN in order to do this illegal activity.
- Illegal-file sharing- there are some documents or files that needs permission before being able to share.
- Activities on Dark Web – activities such as buying, stealing and selling illegal weapons, drugs and illicit materials are punishable crimes.
- Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking – the ability to become anonymous usually makes it easier for some people to bully and stalk others.
Can I use a free VPN instead?
Yes, however, we highly discourage it as there are some free VPNs that do not have servers in Japan and aside from that, using a free VPN does not assure and cannot ensure that your connection will be kept private and safe. In addition to that, free VPNs have slow connection which means, it will be difficult to enjoy watching Japanese TV shows as there is a huge possibility that you will encounter buffering and lags.
Conclusion
Japan offers very interesting and enjoyable TV channels and games that you would truly want to get your hands on. However, access is not instant and will need the use of a VPN if you wish to be able to watch especially when you are not in Japan.
Through this article, we have mentioned how you will be able to go around the geographical restrictions that Japanese sites implement on their content and that is through the use of a VPN. We also have listed the top best VPN service providers which you could choose from for you to be able to access and watch your favorite Japanese TV shows. We hope we were able to help you make a sound decision and we also hope you enjoy watching your Japanese TV shows
