How to Watch Football In and From Japan

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Greetings from the Gridiron Japan IT Section!

One of the first thing my fellow Navy friends ask me when they are traveling here to Japan for a tour of duty, be it a long term stay or a two week free vacation junket, is this- "Dude, how do I watch the Bears?" Well, let me tell you shipmates, and fellow readers, accessing the NFL, CFL and even college football is a course learned the hard way ever since I moved here in 2022.

Now, to start off, if you are relying on your Google TV Sunday Ticket or your cable provider's streaming service, you are gonna need to invest in a VPN, and the one I HIGHLY recommended is ExpressVPN! If you have ESPN Plus like I do, you are definitely going to need ExpressVPN, as it is the only VPN I have experimented with that works with it. 

However, in order to watch ESPN plus or Sunday Ticket here in Japan with a VPN, do not try and watch them on your smart phone or tablet, as the apps the platform use are tied to your GPS location, whereas if you use the VPN and Google TV or ESPN Plus on your laptop (a laptop is a must here), your GPS location isn't needed.  With that said, you need to ensure that your cookies are cleared in your browser, as they hold location information. Thus, here are the steps I learned the hard way when using a VPN to watch college football via ESPN Plus.

1. Install VPN

2. Clear your browser of any and all location information, and then close it.

3. Fire up your VPN and select a connection point in the USA.

4. Start browser and log in to your accounts to watch football.

Now, with all that said, if you want to watch the CFL, turn off your VPN and use another browser, as CFL+ will not work with a VPN and you must be outside of North America to watch CFL games via a web browser, smart TV or your tablet. The same goes for watching the X League and Japanese college games here, in that you do not need a VPN to access the games, and many games, especially the X2 and X3 variety are available live on YouTube.  However, in order to watch the X League Super teams and major college football games, you will need a subscription to American Football Live by RTV, which is about $15 per month and you can easily sign up with and navigate using the translation function of your web browser.

Now, lets talk answer my Navy buddy's question about how to watch his Chicago Bears while here in Japan, especially if they are here on full time orders for a year. The answer is simply this, sign up for the NFL Game>Pass International service via DAZN. However, keep in mind, that you will first have to sign up for DAZN's main service, with the NFL Game>Pass being an add on service.  The great thing about DAZN + Game>Pass is that you are able to watch not only every NFL game, but also most of the major sports in Japan (except rugby), including baseball. Additionally, you don't need to worry about using a VPN with DAZN, and most importantly DAZN has apps for the phone, tablet and smart TV. 

Of course, if you don't want to spend anymore than you have to, turn on the VPN and watch The NFL Channel, which while free, does not offer any live games, only replays. The NFL Channel is available on Pluto, Tubi, and Plex, the major free streaming services that I know for sure work with a VPN in Japan. Now, if you are active duty military, reserve military or retired military, you can also access the The NFL Channel via the AFN Now apps that are available for your smartphone, tablet and smart TV. Honestly though, of all these listed free streaming services, Tubi, Pluto and Plex work the best; while AFN is limited to card carrying members of the military and don't have the ease of use and selection of programming as Tubi, Pluto and Plex.

Finally, lets talk about watching major American college football on YouTube, which you can; however, the streams available are pirate ones that may or may not work. So use judgment and caution. Many work and come through loud and clear, while others try to get you to sign up for something and likely are associated with illegal gambling.  The illegal streaming of sporting events is a serious Federal offense in America, as it is here in Japan. I can't speak to the legality of watching these feeds, but I would suspect that Google knows who is watching and using their platform. So watcher beware! ~ Greg