Japan is a really popular tourist destination for English speakers, plus it has something of an expat population, plus lots of people get sent there on work projects. Therefore there’s plenty of need there for private, encrypted internet connections that a good VPN can provide.
Almost all paid-for VPN service will provide servers in Japan, but are there any free VPN options that also have servers in Japan? Do we have any options to get an IP address in Japan for free using a VPN?
The good news is there are a couple of viable free VPN options with Japanese servers; here is a quick summary:
- ProtonVPN – Free & Unlimited (recommended)
- Tunnelbear – Free and secure, 500 MB monthly data
- UrbanVPN – Free and unlimited, but not private
As per usual for the entire topic of free VPN options, the current search results on this are poor and low-relevance, returning results to VPN services that are not actually free, or don’t have free Japanese servers specifically, or single companies promoting their own product only.
In this article, I’ll stay as relevant as possible by listing only VPN options that are both 100% free to use, and have servers specifically in Japan that can be used on their free versions. In this way, I hope my content is more useful than some other search results on this topic.
Let’s look at the 3 major options in more detail.
Free VPN Option #1 – ProtonVPN (Free & Unlimited)
This is undoubtedly the best free VPN option available that also gives you a server in Japan, but also totally unlimited use, even on the free version. You get the best of everything!
ProtonVPN are primarily a Premium VPN service offering servers in around 60 countries, but they also have a free version of their product that covers Japan!
Here are the main benefits of ProtonVPN’s free version:
- Totally unlimited use
- Has multiple servers in Japan – Tokyo (currently 7 free servers). Also has free servers in USA and Netherlands
- Strict no logs policy.
- Fast, reliable servers. Even the free version has always worked well when I’ve used it.
- Based in Switzerland with a strong commitment to privacy (like their ProtonMail service).
- Even the free version looks, feels and operates like a proper VPN service (it’s not a browser add-on – it’s a full on proper VPN software)
- You can upgrade to the Premium version with more countries/servers for a very competitive price
Click here to view a full server list and get started with ProtonVPN, and select their Free Plan.
It’s a legitimate VPN service, where you download their software and load it up, select your server and go. It covers all browsers you use and is not just built into one browser, so you get comprehensive protection once you enable it.
Also, if I were to recommend one option out of the three we’ll cover that has the best chance of unlocking streaming services in Japan, I’d pick ProtonVPN, simply because it’s got multiple servers to test out, plus it’s a proper full-on VPN program.
However, to keep this in context, most free VPN’s struggle to consistently access geo-restricted streaming services – Premium VPN’s with a specialty in streaming are best for this. However, of your free options, ProtonVPN is probably your best bet, but success can’t be 100% guaranteed on this with any service unfortunately.
Many users may need to look no further than this to get everything they need from a free Japanese VPN. It’s literally got everything you need, because it’s free, unlimited, and has multiple servers in Japan. Nevertheless, we’ll also cover some other options, though they can’t quite match up to ProtonVPN.
Free VPN Option #2 – Tunnelbear Free Version (500 MB data per month)
This is what I would consider the second best free VPN option that specifically has Japan servers, but it comes in as quite a distant second best to the excellent ProtonVPN, just because of it’s data cap.
Nevertheless, Tunnelbear is still a perfectly usable free VPN with a server in Japan (Tokyo), but on the downside it only gives you 500 MB of data to use each month. This makes it really unattractive compared to ProtonVPN with it’s unlimited use.
Click here to visit Tunnelbear’s site. Click the Tunnelbear logo on the top left to go back to the homepage, and click on “Plans”. If you sign up for the Free account, you get 500 MB of data to use each month.
On the positive side, like ProtonVPN or any Premium service, Tunnelbear is a proper looking and proper feeling VPN service, even on the free version. It’s not a cheap looking VPN built into a browser that’s almost a proxy/VPN hybrid – it’s a full software program you load separately, and that gives you protection on all browsers once it’s enabled.
However, the big problem is the low data allowance. Here’s what you could realistically do with Tunnelbear Free’s 500 MB monthly allowance:
- Perfect for short term holiday use (eg. 1-2 weeks or less in Japan), just logging into your emails once or twice a day, making purchases etc. Any more than 1 week away you might need a Premium service (see last section).
- Very light, basic browsing (emails, shopping, directions, news etc), but you will see your 500 MB/month quote drain quickly – just 16/17 MB per day for a month.
- Anything where you really need a secure connection – making payments, logging into sensitive accounts, entering any other personal information – I’d use the Tunnelbear VPN or ProtonVPN and not a shared VPN like UrbanVPN we’ll cover below.
- You can use it to keep your connection secure whilst signing up for an unlimited, Premium VPN service that’ll serve you better long term (see section at the bottom).
Here’s what you can’t really use Tunnelbear free for:
- Videos/streaming services/YouTube – uses too much data as indicated above. You’ll run out of your allowance very quickly
- Social media – might get away with a really small amount, but again it can use up more than you might think.
Therefore, the free Tunnelbear version is professional and secure, but really limited in terms of usability over a month. Once you open the program, there is a data counter that tells you how much you have left this month. You can also tweet at them for an extra 1 GB of data, but even this won’t go very far.
Free VPN Option #3 – UrbanVPN
Now we’re getting to the last free VPN option I could find with Japanese servers, but it’s still a viable option and almost like the inverse of Tunnelbear – totally unlimited but not very private.
UrbanVPN are a totally free, peer-to-peer VPN service with a Japan server.
They’ve got servers in 80+ countries at present, including in Japan, and use of all these servers is unlimited and free.
Click here to get started with UrbanVPN
Here are the main benefits of UrbanVPN:
- Totally free to use
- No need to set up any account or provide any details – just download the program/app and get started.
- Unlimited server use.
- Available for all major browsers, devices and operating systems.
- Has a server in Japan.
But unfortunately, there are some negatives to the service:
- There are some reviews that report slow and unreliable servers (unfortunately, this is to be expected on free services)
- An ambiguous privacy policy that doesn’t make it exactly clear how your data is collected, used or stored.
- Zero customer support if the service goes down or you have difficulties (again to be expected with a free service)
- It’s just difficult to know exactly how secure your data is, or where it’s going. Ultimately, security and privacy and too much up-in-the-air with a peer to peer service like this. It’s the same reason I don’t use the Opera browser VPN for logging into really important accounts – I don’t like using generic shared IP address proxies/VPN’s, even if they claim to be “VPN’s”. You don’t know where your data is going, and they don’t offer the same level of security and privacy as a Premium VPN.
UrbanVPN is definitely NOT a 100% confidential, zero logs VPN:
However, we get that privacy isn’t always that important for some users; perhaps it’s more just having a Japanese IP address to help access geo-restricted content. And whilst a free, shared VPN like UrbanVPN might only have limited success with this, it’s unlimited data use is a really big advantage.
Here’s what UrbanVPN could be good for:
- Video streaming on sites like YouTube (because bandwidth is unlimited), as long as your connection is good enough for it. If some YouTube content is restricted only to Japanese viewers, it might help you get round this.
- Possibly logging into streaming services that require a Japanese IP address, provided you are happy entering login details on a shared/P2P VPN. However, be aware that these free, shared VPN services RARELY consistently work for unlocking major streaming sites like Netflix or Disney Plus. Even some Premium VPNs struggle to consistently do this, so free VPN’s have even less chance. You might have some success, but I’d keep your expectations low overall, and try ProtonVPN if you’re having trouble.
- Social media account possibly, again if you’re OK with this. Personally I’d only do this if my passwords for these accounts wasn’t used for any other account.
Whatever you’re doing, just be aware of the privacy policy, and that your personal data and browsing history can still be collected whilst using the UrbanVPN service. If privacy and security is your primary concern, then I’d use ProtonVPN, Tunnelbear or a Premium VPN instead.
Some Premium VPN Options With Japanese Servers
If at some point you decide you’d like to use a VPN in more locations and have unlimited use and better support, you might want to consider upgrading to a paid VPN plan. Japanese users are spoiled for choice here, because literally ALL paid VPN services will offer at least one location/server in Japan.
Firstly, ProtonVPN, and Tunnelbear both have Premium plans (with more countries/servers and unlimited use) you can upgrade to for very reasonable prices.
However, we’ve also listed some other Premium VPN services for you to browse through, that also offer Japan servers (all Premium VPN’s offer IP addresses in Japan), plus unlimited use and 24/7 support.
Some Premium VPN Services With Japanese Servers (links are affiliate links)
| Provider | Price (12 months paid in advance) | Number of locations in Japan | Number of Devices Allowed | Main Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private Internet Access | $3.33/month | 2 (Tokyo plus Streaming Optimized server) | 10 | Review here |
| VyprVPN | $3.75/month | 1 (Tokyo) | 5 | Speed |
| ExpressVPN | $8.32/month | 3 (2 Tokyo servers plus Yokohama) | 5 | Good for streaming |
| NordVPN | $5/month | 1 (Tokyo - 80+ servers) | 6 | Double Encryption & Server Choice |
| AtlasVPN | $3.29/month | 1 (Tokyo - Streaming Supported) | Unlimited | Cheap no nonsense VPN |
Signing up for a VPN is usually very easy. You simply visit their site (click on one of our links above for each provider), sign up, pay your subscription, download their product and boot up the program.
Once running you simply select a preferred server location and open the VPN connection. You now have a secure, encrypted connection with an IP address in that location, that will keep all your browsing and personal data safe over public and private Wi-Fi networks.
