Power plugs in Japan
Japan uses Types A and B sockets, running at 100 volts and 50 Hz / 60 Hz.
- Socket types
- A · B
- Voltage
- 100 V
- Frequency
- 50 Hz / 60 Hz
Will your charger work?
| Travelling from | Verdict |
|---|---|
| United States & Canada | Fitsyour Type A/B plug goes straight in |
| United Kingdom & Ireland | Adapter needed |
| Continental Europe | Adapter needed |
| Australia & New Zealand | Adapter needed |
This is about the shape of the pins only. "Fits" means the plug goes in and carries power — it does not always mean it earths, and it never means the voltage is right. Both of those are below.
The sockets you will find in Japan
Type A unearthed
NEMA 1-15
The unearthed plug of North America and Japan. North American ones usually have one blade wider than the other, so they only go in one way round; Japanese ones and most two-pin travel chargers are symmetrical and go in either way.
Type B earthed
NEMA 5-15
Type A with an earth pin added. A Type A plug fits a Type B socket, but not the other way round.
Worth knowing
Japan runs at 100 V, the lowest mains voltage in the world, and splits between 50 Hz in the east (Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo) and 60 Hz in the west (Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Hiroshima). Most sockets are unearthed two-pin, so the round earth pin on a Type B plug often has nowhere to go. Older sockets are also unpolarised — both slots the same width — and will not take a North American plug that has one blade wider than the other. Japanese plugs go into American sockets; the reverse is not always true.
Voltage and your devices
Japan runs at 100 V. Bring an appliance built only for 230 V and it will run weakly or not at all — annoying rather than dangerous. The damage goes the other way.
Almost every phone charger, laptop brick and camera charger made this century is dual voltage. Look for "100–240V" in small type on the body of the plug: if it is there, the voltage is not your problem and you only need the right shape. Anything that makes heat — a hairdryer, a travel kettle, curling tongs — usually is not, and is where people get caught.
Frequency is not uniform here — the supply is listed as 50 Hz / 60 Hz. It only matters to things with a motor or a mains-driven clock, so for chargers and electronics it makes no difference.
The same adapter works in
These places use the same sockets as Japan, at a comparable voltage. One adapter covers the lot.
Plug, voltage and frequency data from Wikipedia — Mains electricity by country. See all countries
The other questions travellers ask at midnight
Plug sockets are the easy one — it does not change while they are in the air. Flight times, gates and transfers do. Viaquo gives an agency's travellers a concierge that answers from the actual booking, so the questions that do change get answered without waking anybody up.
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