I am currently on exchange in Japan for half a year and cannot play online games.
Let me explain further, my university WIFI blocks online games, but I had already been warned about this. Some people told me you can still play online games by using mobile data hotspot. Unfortunately I got a mobile data provider that does not work for online games, it seems some do and some don’t. Sakura Mobile doesn’t.
On top of that I had to commit to a minimum contract length of 3 months and am unable to terminate the contract and switch to a different provider that works for online games. I was wondering if I could maybe possibly bypass the blockage on online games with a VPN and if so which one to use. I’m asking so I don’t spend money and then it doesn’t work.
40 comments
I dunno about vpn, but if I were you, I would just go to a place that offers free wifi and game there, like McDonald’s or Starbucks for those three months.
I’ve never heard of a mobile provider blocking games though. Kinda shocking to be honest because so many people play them.
Just six months. Just play some single player games for awhile. Online games are always waiting for you.
Most VPNs have a satisfaction or refund policy. As long as you choose a reputable one you don’t have much to lose.
Have you tried GeForce Now? Offered via SoftBank in Japan.
are you saying they block online gaming in your university dorms or only on campus? Just curious
are you saying they block online gaming in your university dorms or only on campus? Just curious
are you saying they block online gaming in your university dorms or only on campus? Just curious
Half a year is short anyways. You don’t need to game. You could always go to a manga cafe, the wifi is fast.
Vpn tends to circumvent ISP restrictions. In my case, I can barely run steam link between PC’s (even on my local network) without it.
Try exitlag.
I always hear good things about NordVPN, they’ve got the standard 30 day money back policy too if it doesn’t work out.
This is weird, I use Sakura Mobile long term sim 25gb via a 3rd gen iPhone SE and I have no issues playing games. (My dorm wifi is absolute fucking ass, they somehow thought splitting an NTT DSL connection between 40 people was a great idea.)
I tend to play FFXIV on NA Datacenters and have ping times around 100-120ms with spikes of 200. I would really recommend reaching out to the Sakura Mobile English tech support and seeing if you can get the issue resolved. Check your APN settings according to the little booklet you should have gotten with your Sim card. I occasionally will play some CS:Go or overwatch with friends, and don’t really have issues. Sometimes the connection will drop but this is rare (once a week or so, and when it drops my US Sim drops too so I think its a phone issue).
Beyond that, I use NordVPN if I need to get around geo-blocks. I’m pretty sure they have a satisfaction policy, but if you’re playing FPS’s the ping might be pretty rough. I would recommend VPNing to somewhere else in Japan to get out of Nord’s network and onto the normal internet, but YMMV. Test a few different servers. Nord will even let you pick on a city by city basis. Keep in mind some services may block connections from VPNs. (Hulu I have to connect to from Seattle Nord for some reason, for example.)
Are you in a dorm? Can you not get your own wifi?
If you’re being blocked on school wifi via phone/school computers then yeah that’s fair, it’s not your wifi and if you’re on a school device then it’s also not your device and I wouldn’t bother with vpn stuff in that situation.
If it’s your phone then A, use data or B, wait until you’re home.
But really getting your own internet if you’re talking about residing in a dorm is the most likely solution to this.
It’s a signal. Grow up and forget about the games. It’s time to move on. Find a girl, earn some money, become an adult.
One of the most unhinged threads on here in terms of replies.
Do you live in Tokyo? There are a lot of gaming cafes with great connection and PCs that don’t cost much 😜👍🏻
A few mixed replies here lol. But I’ll happily say as a gamer, make the most of a period of time to break the cycle and challenge yourself to do something different.
My year abroad as a student was the most socially rewarding year of my life as a relatively introverted person. I didn’t have any choice but to hang out with people, and in the end I’m so glad I did.
Had a three-month work stint in Tokyo about four years ago before getting married, and managed to get the fittest I’ve ever been in my life because I didn’t have a tv.
It’s a great opportunity to use these chunks of time to do something different. It’s cliche but life’s too short.
An obfuscated VPN worked for getting around my school’s restrictions. I know for sure that Nord offers that option
Softbank air is what I use if you can afford it.
Look at see if there’s an esports cafe or something in town?
In Tokyo, Shin Okubo there’s an esports csfe that let you play whatever you want on top spec computers.
You’re on exchange, and worried about games instead of exploring your new location?
This is à prioritisation problem. Put this new experience first.
You’re only here for 6 months. I agree with the others that you should go out and do stuff outside, meet people, see things you’ll never have the chance to see again.
6 months will come and go in the blink of an eye. You can always game back at home.
You can set up obfuscation and tunnelling to get past the game filter and hide your VPN usage from your university (my uni also banned vpns lol), I use Private Internet Access and its very simple to use on your PC, however last I checked it can’t be done easily through mobile for some reason. ~~When I get to my PC I’ll look it up but I’m pretty sure it’s as simple as ticking a box.~~ Yeah, you go to settings, multi-hop and then tick Multi-hop and Obfuscation and set a server in the Shadowsocks bit.
One word of warning though, some devs will ban players using VPN, and it will add a decent chunk on your ping.
Half a year is nothing, stop playing games and go play with your peers at whatever they are doing.
*palm slap* Rocket science is hard *picard face*
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focus on your study for your future dude.
trust me as someone who was addicted to online games during college.
You come to Japan for six months and you want to play video games? Just get into a few casual relationships and make some good friends.
Get a Nintendo switch and buy the physical copies of the game you want to play (offline mode).
https://protonvpn.com/pricing
Proton VPN has a free tier that doesn’t completely suck and/or steal all your personal data and is just a honeypot like all the “FREE VPN” apps you find on the app store.
Try Proton VPN free tier, if it lets you access your games, then support them by signing up. (1-year is about 72 EUR vs 6x 1-month@9.99 EUR, so for an extra 12 EUR or so you’ll get an extra 6 months)
If the free tier works for your gaming (latency and ping) then maybe you can get by just with free… but just know that free tier is unstable. It will work great like 90% of the time then randomly your ping and latency will go insane.
You just about ALWAYS have a “Refund/Changed my mind” window where you can say that you changed your mind – can be as low as a week or as long as 3 weeks – Depending on the company policy.
I have my own 24/7 Ubuntu server (JP region) running OpenVPN that I sometimes use for stuff, send me a PM and I’ll hook you up with a login credential. I won’t charge you a penny as long as you don’t use up too much bandwidth lol
I was able to play using Nord VPN, give a shot. I also tried McAfee VPN, but it didn’t work. Also, Nord VPN support can help you to even set your whole network to a address outside Japan.
Wow.
Maybe try out some VPNs that have trials. Just don’t forget to stop a subscription before the first bill comes. (Those trials will lead into a real subscription if not canceled on time)
I know this isn’t the answer you’re looking for per se but, have you tried playing offline games? 😅
I personally wouldn’t mess around with trying to bypass the University’s setup because there’s always the possibility that it’ll be detected and get you in unnecessary trouble.
That said, if you’re on a laptop, as others have mentioned you could go to a manga cafe or somewhere else with serviceable WiFi and a bit of privacy.
I’m a huge gamer myself, to the point that I had my whole desktop shipped over when I came here 8 years ago. But I play more “offline” games than I do online, so this kinda situation would affect me way less.
Looping back to the start of my post, given you’re only here for half a year, I’d unjokingly suggest you find some interesting games you can play by yourself/offline and enjoy your time here. There’s a ton to do and see in Japan. But even so I still had to get my gaming fix so, again I understand, but maybe try something like Baldur’s Gate 3 or if RPGs aren’t your thing, a story based shooter or whatever you find interesting.
Or change contracts in 3 months and get a hotspot from softbank or somewhere that you can actually game from.
If the gaming is worth it to you, just get another contract with another phone and continue paying for the 3 months of your current contract. Three months can’t cost that much or you would not have gone with them in the first place. (The website says maybe 4,000 / month?)
Compare the price of 3 months of cell phone service with whatever it would cost you to go to internet cafe or whatever other workaround you find. That is the cost of gaming.
Some vpns are very friendly for gamers, and there are many, easy solution
I recommend going to a Manga/Internet cafe with your computer. They don’t cost too much, and usually have amenities like drinks.
My apartment’s wifi also blocks game and video/voice call data, and I need to use NordVPN’s obfuscated server to bypass it (regular Nord VPN servers can’t be connected)
I’m currently using WARP 1.1.1.1 to bypass it and it is working flawlessly (and free)
Try the VPN Mullvad. I’ve been using it here in Japan with no issues for a few years to connect to games that require a US IP address to play. I’ve also used it at a previous job that blocked YouTube and Google maps to get around the block