Travel Risk Atlas

Japan

Eastern Asia · Capital Tokyo

Level 1 United States Exercise Normal Precautions FCDO United Kingdom No advisory against travel Green Netherlands Green — you can travel Level 1 Canada Take normal security precautions AA Germany Teilreisewarnung — advises against travel to parts

Each opens that government's own advisory for Japan — the authoritative version, updated far faster than this page.

18.2 Very low risk
Atlas Risk Score · 55th safest of 220
mountain near city
Photo: Max Bender / Unsplash

Japan is one of the safest countries on earth for crime — lost wallets are routinely handed in with the cash intact. Its risk profile is almost entirely natural: earthquakes, typhoons and volcanoes.

The practical difficulties are cash, language and rules rather than danger. Medical costs for visitors are high and travel insurance is essential.

Where the risk actually is

Each region is coloured by the advice that applies to most of it, drawn by hand from the wording of all five government advisories. Numbered markers flag localised warnings — usually a border strip or remote interior — that cover only a small part of an otherwise lower-risk region.

Aichi — No specific warningAichi — No specific warningAkita — No specific warningAomori — No specific warningChiba — No specific warningEhime — No specific warningEhime — No specific warningEhime — No specific warningEhime — No specific warningFukui — No specific warningFukuoka — No specific warningFukushima — No specific warningGifu — No specific warningGunma — No specific warningHiroshima — No specific warningHiroshima — No specific warningHiroshima — No specific warningHiroshima — No specific warningHiroshima — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHokkaidō — No specific warningHyōgo — No specific warningHyōgo — No specific warningIbaraki — No specific warningIshikawa — No specific warningIshikawa — No specific warningIwate — No specific warningKagawa — No specific warningKagawa — No specific warningKagawa — No specific warningKagawa — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKagoshima — No specific warningKanagawa — No specific warningKumamoto — No specific warningKumamoto — No specific warningKumamoto — No specific warningKumamoto — No specific warningKumamoto — No specific warningKumamoto — No specific warningKyōto — No specific warningKōchi — No specific warningKōchi — No specific warningMie — No specific warningMie — No specific warningMie — No specific warningMiyagi — No specific warningMiyazaki — No specific warningNagano — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNagasaki — No specific warningNara — No specific warningNiigata — No specific warningNiigata — No specific warningOkayama — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningOkinawa — No specific warningSaga — No specific warningSaitama — No specific warningShiga — No specific warningShimane — No specific warningShimane — No specific warningShimane — No specific warningShimane — No specific warningShimane — No specific warningShimane — No specific warningShizuoka — No specific warningTochigi — No specific warningTokushima — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTottori — No specific warningToyama — No specific warningWakayama — No specific warningYamagata — No specific warningYamaguchi — No specific warningYamaguchi — No specific warningYamaguchi — No specific warningYamanashi — No specific warningŌita — No specific warningŌsaka — No specific warningŌsaka — No specific warningLake KhankaBiwa KoQagan NurSonghua HuSupung Reservoir1. Fukushima exclusion zone — Do not travel1
What governments advise No specific warning Localised warning — see the notes below

Overseas territories, shown separately so the main map stays readable

Tokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warning
Tokyo · Tokyo · Tokyo
Tokyo — No specific warningTokyo — No specific warning
Tokyo · Tokyo

What the warnings actually cover

  • 1
    Fukushima exclusion zone — Do not travel. The remaining restricted area around the Fukushima Daiichi plant — parts of Futaba, Okuma, Namie, Tomioka, Iitate and Katsurao. Everywhere else in Fukushima prefecture, including the city and the ski resorts, is open and unrestricted.

A numbered marker warns about the small area described in its note — the rest of that region carries the base advice. Mapped by hand from the official wording in July 2026; always check the current advisory before you book.

What drives the score

Each pillar is scored 0–100 against every other country. Longer bar = more risk.

Natural hazards
10% of score · mainly tsunami, earthquakes, cyclones, flooding
83/100
220th of 220
Crime
15% of score
14/100
23rd of 220
Official advisories
25% of score
13/100
88th of 220
Political stability
10% of score
11/100
2nd of 220
Conflict & terrorism
15% of score
10/100
81st of 220
Health & medical
15% of score
8/100
35th of 220
Road & transport
10% of score
6/100
18th of 220
Women's safety
not in the score
32/100

Biggest factor here: natural hazards. Earthquakes, floods, cyclones, drought and tsunami exposure.

Practical facts

The things worth knowing before you land.

Emergency number
110
Police 110 · Fire and ambulance 119
Currency
JPY ¥
€1 ≈ 182 JPY
Languages
Japanese
Visa (EU passport)
90 days visa-free
US: 90 days visa-free · UK: 90 days visa-free
Population
123.4m
World Bank 2025
Capital
Tokyo
Driving
On the left
3.6 road deaths per 100k
Power
Type A, B
100V
Safely managed water
99%
Widely available · of residents, not a tap-water verdict
Dialling code
+81
GDP per capita
$36k
A rough guide to price levels
Visitors a year
31.9m
International arrivals, 2019

When to go

Average daytime high and nightly low for Tokyo, over 2010-2019. Bars are rainfall; the colour band is how hot the days get.

Mildest and driest around April to May, and July to August.

Daytime high cold mild warm hot
Top figure is the average daytime high, below it the average nightly low, and millimetres of rain under each bar. Figures are the average daytime high; bar heights are the month's rainfall. Shaded months are the mild, drier ones. Source: NASA POWER daily observations, 2010-2019, public domain. Japan is big. These numbers describe Tokyo only — elsewhere in the country can be nothing like it.

Common scams in Japan

Patterns reported repeatedly by travellers and local police. None of this is about individual businesses — it's about set-ups you can learn to spot in seconds.

Kabukichō bar touts and inflated bills

Tokyo, Shinjuku and RoppongiOccasional

A tout offers a cheap drink deal. Inside, hostess charges, table charges and bottle fees produce a bill of ¥100,000 or more, and staff escort you to an ATM. Tokyo police have signposted parts of Kabukichō about this.

How to avoid it: Do not follow touts, who are technically illegal in Kabukichō. Choose bars with prices posted at the door.

Sources Tokyo Metropolitan Police — advice for visitors r/JapanTravel bar scam threads

Fake IC card and rail pass resellers

Online, Tokyo and Osaka stationsOccasional

Third-party sites sell Japan Rail Passes or Suica cards at a markup, occasionally with vouchers that cannot be exchanged.

How to avoid it: Buy the JR Pass from JR's own site or an authorised agent, and IC cards from station machines.

Sources Japan Rail Pass official site

Risk hotspots

Specific places that come up again and again — either in government advisories or in traveller reports. Everywhere else in Japan is not automatically fine, but these are the areas worth a plan.

Nankai Trough and Tokyo region Natural hazard

Japan's government assesses a high probability of a major Nankai Trough earthquake in the coming decades. Preparation, not avoidance, is the answer.

Active volcanoes with raised alert levels Natural hazard

Sakurajima, Aso and others carry restricted zones that change. Check the JMA volcano alert level before hiking.

Earthquakes and typhoons

Japan records around 1,500 felt earthquakes a year. Buildings are engineered for it and the warning system is excellent: enable emergency alerts on your phone and install the official disaster app, which works in English.

During shaking, get under a table and stay away from windows; do not run outside. Typhoon season runs roughly June to October and routinely cancels flights and trains with a day's notice.

Cash and payment

Japan is more card-friendly than it was, but small restaurants, shrines, rural buses and many ticket machines are cash-only. Foreign cards work reliably at 7-Eleven and Japan Post ATMs and often fail at bank ATMs.

Sources for this page

Vaccinations, malaria and outbreaks. This atlas does not give medical advice — it is personal, it changes, and it is the one thing worth getting from a doctor. Both national services publish current advice for Japan:

CDC Travelers' HealthTravelHealthPro (NHS/UKHSA)

Check the official advisory before you book. This page reflects data as of August 2026. Advisories change without warning, and only your own government's advice affects your travel insurance.