Many people are looking for a VPN to get a Japanese IP for many reasons. Some want to watch the Japanese Netflix catalog while others want to unblock geo-restricted content. People in this country also look for a great free VPN for Japan to stay safe online and get additional security.
That’s because VPNs offer plenty of benefits that can make your online experience excellent. To be honest, there aren’t many free Japan VPNs in 2024 that we can wholeheartedly recommend. However, as the title of the article says, we’re still going to give you some.
Our team spent quite a bit of time testing these providers and making sure they work properly. Therefore, the best free VPNs for Japan are presented below, but before that, we’ll also show you how to use a premium Japanese VPN for free for a limited period.
Best Free VPN for Japan for Up to 45 Days
As many of you know, free VPNs are known for lacking in features. They’re not as safe and secure as their premium rivals, plus, they tend to limit your bandwidth and streaming capabilities. That’s why we decided to let you in on a secret trick that many people use.
Let’s talk about it by presenting the best free VPNs for Japan in the form of 2 premium services usable without losing money.
ExpressVPN: The #1 Free Japan VPN for 30 Days
You most likely didn’t expect to see ExpressVPN on this list, but there it is. It’s a premium service and one of the best VPNs for Japan. However, it can also be completely free thanks to a 30-day money-back guarantee. What does this mean?
It means you can get a full refund in the first 30 days of your purchase. And that, our friends, means that you’ll lose no money in the end! First, we recommend getting ExpressVPN’s cheapest deal through the button below. A 49% discount and 3 free months for the annual plan.
Get ExpressVPN for Free for 30 Days
You can even get a monthly plan if you want, as it offers a 30-day refund policy too. Either way, go to its site, pick a plan, and enter your email. Now, once you’ve completed the payment, enjoy ExpressVPN with no limits or constraints in terms of security, privacy, bandwidth, and streaming.
Right before the first 30 days expire, it’s time to contact ExpressVPN through live chat. Simply say you want to get a refund and you’ll be reimbursed pretty much immediately. This way, you use the absolute top free VPN for Japan for 30 days and lost exactly zero dollars, euros, or any other currency.
By the way, you don’t have to get a refund if you don’t want it. You can just keep using this provider and enjoy all the sweet benefits that it offers.
Why Use ExpressVPN?
And what are these benefits? Well, let’s just say ExpressVPN has 3,000 servers in 105 countries, including Japan. It actually has a boatload of Japanese VPN servers that you can use abroad to unblock Netflix Japan, NHK, Nippon TV, and other popular channels/platforms.
Another perk of ExpressVPN is that it’s great for both people in Japan and abroad. If you’re in this country, its 3,000 servers will be great for streaming and even torrenting. On top of that, ExpressVPN is dead simple to use and has apps for all platforms and devices.
Users enjoy this service on their iPhones, Android devices, and Windows/macOS/Linux computers. ExpressVPN has impeccable security and privacy. It packs AES-256 encryption with an automatic kill switch and even VPN split tunneling, a handy feature.
Furthermore, the provider even has Lightway, a proprietary protocol that ensures blazing-fast 10 Gbps speeds and top-grade privacy. Now that we mentioned it, ExpressVPN has a no-logs policy and three separate third-party audits from PwC, KPMG, and Cure53.
This means you get a trustworthy, safe, and secure provider usable as a free VPN for Japan for 30 days. ExpressVPN supports platforms like Smart TVs, Android TVs, and Fire TV Stick, which increases its usefulness and makes it very versatile.
Of course, there are 5 simultaneous connections per account. You can also enjoy unlimited traffic, RAM-only servers, and Private DNS, which will prevent your ISP from tracking your activities. All of this comes with 3 free months on top of the annual plan with a 49% discount and a 30-day refund policy.
CyberGhost: A Phenomenal Free VPN for Japan for 45 Days
Don’t wanna use ExpressVPN? You can try CyberGhost instead! This provider is just a tad below ExpressVPN in terms of quality but hey, you get a whopping 45-day money-back guarantee! It functions the same as ExpressVPN and even offers more servers, which we’ll get to in a minute.
For now, CyberGhost can be a free Japan VPN for 45 days by following the same steps. Below is the button that’ll take you to its site where you can claim the cheapest plan. It’s a 2-year plan at the time of writing, with a few free months and a staggering discount that brings the price to less than $2.5/mo.
This long-term plan gives you a 45-day money-back guarantee. However, if you go for a monthly plan, CyberGhost reduces it to 14 days, which gives you less leeway to play with this VPN. Either way, the trick is to get CyberGhost by choosing a plan and paying for the subscription.
In the same fashion, you can then use it limitlessly and enjoy watching Japanese Netflix overseas or performing other online activities anonymously. Before the first 45 (or 14) days expire, contact CyberGhost the same way through live chat and request a refund.
Much like ExpressVPN, it’ll issue a refund at the same moment, giving you the entire sum of money back. If you need more information, please read our guide on how to take advantage of the CyberGhost free trial.
Why Use CyberGhost?
CyberGhost has 9,100+ servers in 91+ countries, offering even 100+ of them in Tokyo. This makes the provider suitable for Japanese residents and people abroad wanting a Japanese IP. The provider is very versatile, as it has dedicated torrenting/streaming servers.
Our team tested these servers multiple times and can confirm they’re impeccable in terms of performance and meeting our expectations. Streaming servers are very capable of unblocking restricted platforms while torrenting servers ensure lightning-fast torrenting activities.
Besides, CyberGhost comes with WireGuard, which improves speeds and gives you additional security. This VPN can also block ads and malicious sites, which is further enhanced by DNS leak protection and split tunneling, to choose which sites will use a VPN tunnel.
Not only that, but this Romanian VPN is great for privacy. Its jurisdiction is privacy-friendly, which CyberGhost confirms with a no-logging policy audited by Deloitte. While not the most intuitive VPN, it’s surely easy to use and supports all platforms.
People enjoy CyberGhost on Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, and macOS thanks to 7 concurrent connections per single account. The downside of CyberGhost is that it won’t work in Japan’s neighbor country China but if you need that, you better get ExpressVPN.
Overall, this can be a perfect option for Japan in 2024 if you’re looking for a free VPN for a limited period. If you’re traveling to Japan on a vacation, a 45-day free trial will surely satisfy your needs and you won’t lose any money. Besides, you can use ExpressVPN for 30 days for free as well.
This means you get a total of 75 days of VPN usage without losing any money – fantastic!
The Top 3 REALLY Free VPNs for Japan in 2024
As promised at the start of this guide, we will also talk about 100% free VPNs for Japan. These providers are safe and secure, so you shouldn’t worry about that. However, they are limited in terms of other factors that we’ll discuss as we present these VPNs.
1. Atlas VPN
Before you ask, Atlas VPN doesn’t have free Japanese VPN servers. However, it’s a solid provider with an excellent free plan that offers impeccable security and plenty of features. For one, it has a 256-bit encryption that secures your traffic and makes you untraceable online.
This is accompanied by a kill switch that works flawlessly, as well as support for OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols. Atlas VPN is very easy to use, and its apps can be installed on all platforms, allowing even beginners to get used to it quickly.
We like Atlas VPN’s privacy, as it boasts a no-logging policy audited by VerSprite. On top of that, even as a free VPN, it allows you to download torrents, unlike ProtonVPN. Sadly, that’s all there is when talking about its upsides – let’s discuss its more dramatic downsides.
Atlas VPN is great for people in Japan only because it lacks servers in this country. In fact, it offers just 3 server locations – 2 in the US and 1 in the Netherlands. Most annoyingly, it also limits you to 5 GB of bandwidth a month, which is critically low for any activities.
Not to mention that it isn’t streaming-friendly, so unblocking geo-restricted platforms is a no-go. Atlas VPN is reasonably fast though, although it’s much slower than ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. This VPN will reduce your internet speeds, so keep that in mind when performing bandwidth-consuming tasks.
While still safe and secure, Atlas VPN lacks many features of its premium plan. You don’t get SafeSwap, MultiHop+ servers, or an ad blocker. Plus, there’s just 1 connection per account and 24/7 live chat support is reserved for premium users only.
As you can see, a 100% free VPN for Japan is quite limited and not on par with the previously presented services. Atlas VPN offers a premium plan as well but we don’t recommend it because CyberGhost is infinitely better.
Pros
- Good performance
- Rock-solid security
- No-logging policy
- WireGuard is supported
Cons
- It limits you to 5 GB of bandwidth a month
- No ad blocker
- One connection per account
- Only 3 server locations (no Japan)
2. ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN is another great really free Japan VPN in 2024. At first, it seems perfect, actually. ProtonVPN has unlimited bandwidth PLUS servers in Japan! On top of everything, the provider is known for impenetrable security and privacy, as it’s based in Switzerland.
Aside from WireGuard, ProtonVPN’s free version lets you use split tunneling, a kill switch, and even VPN Accelerator. Moreover, the free version has IPv6 and DNS leak protection, which further adds to the overall quality and makes the service extremely trustworthy.
Have you checked our ProtonVPN review? If so, you’ve most likely seen its stern no-logging policy audited by SEC Consult. The provider stores the bare minimum of information to keep itself afloat even when talking about its free users. As you can expect, not everything’s perfect.
ProtonVPN is slow and aside from free Japan VPN servers, it offers just 2 locations in the US and the Netherlands. As a free service, it limits you to pure browsing because it can’t unblock any popular streaming platforms and strictly forbids P2P traffic.
Its premium version has an ad blocker and Secure Core (Double VPN) but the free version lacks these features. Also, much like in Atlas VPN, only one connection per account is allowed and its customer support is one of the worst because it’s not available 24/7 through live chat.
ProtonVPN’s paid version tends to be very expensive, so in most cases, it’s not worth the money. It’s better to get CyberGhost or ExpressVPN if you’re going the premium route. And if you don’t care about torrenting/streaming and you want unlimited bandwidth for safe browsing, this is surely a stellar option.
Pros
- Unlimited monthly bandwidth
- IP/DNS leak protection
- Servers in Japan
Cons
- Slow speed
- Isn’t suitable for streaming
- No live chat support
- Torrenting support is absent
3. PrivadoVPN
The last choice on the list of the best free VPNs to use in Japan is PrivadoVPN. This provider isn’t the most popular option but it’s more than great. For one, it offers solid speeds, which allows for smooth browsing. Yes, it also allows for torrenting, which is another big plus.
Unlike ProtonVPN and Atlas VPN, it offers many server locations as well. This means you’ll get servers in the US, France, Switzerland, the UK, Argentina, and many other countries. Of course, free Japanese servers aren’t here, so if you need them, go for ExpressVPN or CyberGhost.
PrivadoVPN is a feature-rich provider with bank-grade encryption, an automatic kill switch, and even 3 VPN protocols, such as OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. In addition, as a free provider, the VPN stores zero logs of your online whereabouts, making sure you’re always anonymous online.
Overall, PrivadoVPN is a solid choice if you take away its limitations. One of them is a 10 GB monthly bandwidth cap coupled with a smaller server fleet compared to the premium version. The paid version also has Japanese servers, whereas, this one lacks them.
Another thing to mention is that PrivadoVPN is a poor choice for streaming. Its free version doesn’t work with Netflix and unblocking other popular platforms will be impossible. PrivadoVPN, while simple to use, doesn’t allow for more than a single connection per free account.
And its torrenting capabilities aren’t impressive given the aforementioned bandwidth limit. That said, even though it’s versatile for a free service, it doesn’t mean it’s the best free VPN for Japan in 2024. This title goes to our premium provider with a 30 or 45-day money-back guarantee.
Pros
- P2P (torrenting) support
- Larger-than-average server network (for a free VPN)
- Military-grade encryption
Cons
- Streaming capabilities are poor
- 10 GB limited bandwidth
- No Japanese servers in the free version
- No simultaneous connections
How to Use a Free VPN in Japan?
If you’re a total newbie in the world of Virtual Private Networks, you might be wondering how to use a VPN. Or, to be more precise, how to use a free VPN in Japan? Well, it’s actually simple if you follow these steps:
- Pick one of the best free Japanese VPNs from our list. If you go for ExpressVPN or CyberGhost, we already explained the entire process. If you pick a 100% free VPN, go to its site and download the application to your device.
- Install a VPN by following the on-screen steps. These VPNs work on Windows, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Android, so all your devices are supported.
- Open the application and sign up. All the free services require an account to be used but it’s FREE to create, so don’t worry about getting charged.
- Connect to a VPN server of your choice (in Japan or elsewhere) and enjoy going online safely and anonymously.
What Can I Do With a Free Japanese VPN?
A free VPN for Japan is a pretty powerful tool if you know how to use it. If we’re talking about ExpressVPN and CyberGhost, they’re very versatile, allowing you to enjoy torrenting, streaming, going on the dark web, browsing the surface web, and many other things.
These providers have no compromises and you can use them limitlessly. Now, when talking about really free Japan VPN providers, their focus is to keep you safe and secure online. Since they’re limited in terms of streaming and torrenting, these activities will be out of the equation.
Users who choose Atlas VPN, ProtonVPN, and PrivadoVPN can expect impenetrable security and the highest level of privacy. Whether you live in Japan or you’re abroad, you’ll get pretty much the same benefits of masking your online presence and preventing your ISP from tracking your activities.
We know free providers are quite limited so we wanted to make sure to at least talk about secure services. Are there free Japan VPNs that offer even streaming and torrenting? Yes, Hola VPN is one of them but this provider is very dangerous to use due to intrusive logging practices.
Our Hola VPN review will tell you everything you need to know about it and why we hate it so much. To digress, with a really free VPN for Japan, you can expect to have your privacy and security regained, with the addition of very limited torrenting in PrivadoVPN and Atlas VPN.
Aside from that, they don’t offer much because they’re free. That’s why our team at 01net always prioritizes premium providers.
Free Japanese VPN Servers: Which Providers Offer Them?
When it comes to the free VPNs with Japanese servers, there’s not much to talk about. Sure, ProtonVPN offers them, along with unlimited bandwidth. However, these servers aren’t very fast and they won’t work with Netflix Japan.
They’ll be great for watching some Japanese TV channels, for instance, but not in the best way due to below-average performance. Another provider we can mention is TunnelBear. This provider has free VPN servers in Japan and offers an impressive server network for a non-paid provider.
But, it has just 500 MB of bandwidth a month, even though it’s faster than ProtonVPN. We tested this provider as well and concluded that it doesn’t work for streaming, with a questionable torrenting policy. TunnelBear isn’t a provider we recommend, and in this case, we can say the same.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the conclusion is that free VPNs for Japan, while decent, are far from being great. We love Atlas VPN, ProtonVPN, and PrivadoVPN because their non-paid versions are at least safe and secure, and won’t store any logs of your online activities.
But if you ask us, ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are at least 5 times better. With unlimited bandwidth, streaming/torrenting capabilities, no-logs policies, and superb performance, these are your best choices if you’re looking for a non-paid VPN provider for Japan.
Sure, you’re limited to 30 or 45 days of use but at least you can combine these two services and get 75 days of risk-free VPN enjoyment. And if you live in Japan and you need a long-term solution with the same capabilities, sadly, the only way is to make that purchase.
So what’s it going to be now? Which VPN are you going to get? Think about it twice – the differences can be massive!
