Japan is one of the world’s biggest technological hubs, with mind-blowing advances and gadgetry coming to light every day. But the country’s digital development has a dark side, too — and that’s why you need a VPN in Japan.
With a VPN, you’ll get the ability to tweak and tune your internet experience while boosting your privacy. Here are 10 examples of the power of a VPN in Japan and beyond.
Top 10 Reasons Why You Need a VPN in Japan
1. A VPN Keeps You Safe While Torrenting
Japan does not take copyright violations lightly, and that includes torrenting and other forms of P2P filesharing.
If you get caught torrenting copyrighted material in Japan, you could face up to 2 years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million yen.
That makes Japan’s torrenting laws some of the harshest in the world. It’s imperative to stay safe when filesharing — and a VPN is the best way to do so.
By hiding your real IP address and encrypting your traffic, a VPN makes your torrenting activity virtually untraceable. You can stay out of jail and keep downloading your favorite media.
2. You Need a VPN to Watch International Streaming Content
If you’re visiting or relocating to Japan, you’ll probably still want to enjoy the same shows, movies and music you’re used to in your home country.
But streaming service geo-restrictions may make that difficult. Most streaming libraries are only accessible to specific countries, so if you try to stream while abroad, you may not be able to find what you’re looking for.
A VPN lets you mask your IP address with one from a country of your choice. If you want to watch a show from US Netflix, just pick a US VPN server, go to Netflix and stream away!
3. VPNs Help You Defeat ISP Throttling
Whether you’re gaming, streaming, torrenting or just browsing like a maniac, sometimes you need a lot of bandwidth. But ISPs don’t like it when one person hogs the internet, so you may end up with throttled speeds.
The result? Slow-loading pages, laggy games, long buffering periods and poor torrenting performance.
But a VPN can return you to full speed by preventing your ISP from seeing what you’re doing online. If the ISP typically throttles gaming traffic, for instance, a VPN’s encryption will prevent it by stopping the ISP from seeing that you’re gaming.
4. You Can Prevent Yourself from Being Tracked with a VPN
Personalized ads, nagging reminders of products you’ve looked at, creepily-accurate sponsored posts on social media… all weird, annoying and unnecessary.
And it’s all the result of web tracking, which largely relies on following your IP address across every site you visit.
If you don’t like having your whole web history in some random advertiser’s hands, a VPN can help. It lets you regularly and easily switch your IP address, so web trackers just won’t be able to follow you.
5. Online Rights and Freedoms May Be in Jeopardy in Japan
Japan’s internet is among the freest in the world, but the government has taken steps that suggest it’s primed to take a more conservative stance.
In preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese government instituted the NOTICE program. This program authorizes the government to attempt to hack into over 200 million IoT devices.
This worrying development suggests that future laws may restrict internet freedom in Japan. Should these developments arise, a VPN’s military-grade encryption will keep you safe.
6. Japan Collaborates with the Five Eyes Surveillance Alliance
There’s perhaps no greater threat to online privacy than the Five Eyes surveillance alliance. The US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand collaborate to spy on ordinary citizens and intensely monitor internet traffic.
And while Japan isn’t officially a member of the alliance, it’s a confirmed collaborator of the group. What’s more, its involvement has strengthened in recent years.
Because of this, keeping your traffic away from the government is imperative. A VPN’s advanced encryption will prevent the government from doing anything with your data, even if it does obtain it.
7. A VPN Protects Your Data on Public WiFi
Hackers will stop at nothing to get your personal information, credit card numbers and other sensitive data. Many favor using public WiFi networks to intercept your traffic without your knowledge.
A VPN is a necessity when using public WiFi. Thanks to its powerful encryption, hackers won’t be able to extract any useful information from your web activity.
8. VPNS Let You Conduct Schoolwork and Business from Abroad
To uphold their high security standards, many businesses and schools don’t allow users to access their sites and systems from abroad. That’s because many digital attacks come from other countries, so it’s safer to limit access to domestic IPs only.
But that creates problems when you’re traveling and need to submit that essay or work on that business report.
A VPN lets you change your IP address to one from any country you wish. That way, you can simply connect to a server in your home country and finish that urgent work no matter where you are.
9. You Can Keep Your Data Safe from Retention with a VPN
Japan’s data retention laws are pretty consumer-friendly, but the same can’t be said for other countries. If you use sites based in countries like Australia or the UK, your IP address and other data could be stored on international servers for years.
Your best bet at keeping your personal information safe from strict data retention laws is using a VPN. Your IP address will constantly change and you’ll get the added bonus of encryption.
10. A VPN Future-Proofs You Against Internet Censorship
Very few sites are censored in Japan, but the government has indicated that it’s interested in blocking more sites in the future.
Most censorship attempts have been piracy-related, especially anime and manga piracy sites. But UN experts on press freedom have expressed concerns that the independence of the press, including online outlets, is under threat by the Japanese government.
Should Japan engage in more censorship in the future, a VPN will be an indispensable tool for all internet users. Its encryption will prevent the government from knowing which sites you visit, rendering its official blacklist useless.
