The Japanese PlayStation Store is a treasure chest for those willing to put in the little effort required to unlock it by creating a Japanese PSN account. For instance, Sega just released , and on December 22nd it will launch , while free themes are released quite often. With a Japanese PSN account, you can get them with little effort, and enjoy them without spending a dime. Below you can find a full fledged guide that will teach you to create a Japanese PSN account, activate it, install it on your PS4, as well as a few basics to manage it, like redeeming Japanese PlayStation Store codes, changing your password, and more. This whole process can very easily be completed in half an hour or your time. If you use the web-based PlayStation Store log out from it, and then close the window. If you use Google Chrome the translation feature should let you navigate it with ease, but first things first: you need an account. The next window is where things start to get a bit complex, especially since Chrome does not automatically translate the pop-up. Below you can see all the data you need to input. You can use any e-mail address. Gmail will work perfectly. If it displays this message in orange, you are trying to use a mail that you already used for another region. You can use any gender and birthdate, even your real ones. This is actually advisable, as they might be helpful to recover your password in the case you forget it. As a matter of fact, I would advise to note down all the data you submit during the process, as it might turn out to be useful in the future. Leave the country as is. If you actually live in Japan, select the prefecture you live in. The password needs to be eight characters long, and include at least one special character or number. Af course you need to type it twice. If it displays the following message, you forgot the special character or number. Normally, it will display an image asking you to select certain elements. Click on the little headphone icon. Make sure that your speakers are on. Type them in the space below, and then click on the blue confirm button. Scroll down and click on the big blue button. Type in the password twice again, making sure not to make any mistakes. The mail you received looks like the picture below. Click on the blue button again. If everything went well, this is what you should see. Go back to the store window and click on the log in button. If you did not close the window, you should be already logged in, and see the window below. Insert the PSN ID of your choice of course a different one from your usual PSN ID. Insert your email, your password, and confirm, then type in your PSN ID as described above. If you see the following message in orange, tough luck. Any answer will work just remember it, in case you need to recover your password. If you want, you can even click on the blue link under the secret question to type in a custom one, to which you can give any answer you like. Now comes the tricky part. The page you can see below asks you to insert your address. The only data you really need is postal code, prefecture, municipality and the first address line. Prefecture should be already selected on the one you choose while creating the account. The best way is to find the address of a local hotel. Check under the picture to find how. First of all you need to find a suitable hotel and its address in Japanese. Below you can see an example. Copy it and paste it under municipality. The example above should look like the picture below. If Sony starts getting thousands of users living in the same hotel in Tokyo, they might start getting antsy about it. Click the blue confirm button. If you see any orange text, something is wrong. Try making sure you divided the address correctly, or if worse comes to worst, pick another one. You can now use the account exactly like your usual one. Luckily you can save a backup. Accept the terms and conditions, and select next, then insert your new Japanese PSN ID and password like you typed it in the process above, then click on sign-in. Simply confirm on the first window. Keep in mind that since your PS4 is a western one, in the dashboard you still use X to confirm and circle to cancel. Your name should be already filled in. Select a PSN Avatar if you like, then confirm again. Next are your privacy options, leave them as is for now. Confirm in the next screen. Ignore linking to facebook by selecting the option on the left. Skip the two PlayStation Plus screens. Activate the PS4 as your primary console. This will allow you to play Japanese games you downloaded from the PSN on your main account, and get their trophies on it. Welcome to PlayStation 4! Your account is now fully functional and active. Keep in mind that now the dashboard will be back to the language you selected with your primary account, so you can easily find your way around. To get around the PlayStation Store, just use the web store with google chrome, and you can easily navigate it with the automatic translation and start downloads from the web interface. The Account Management menu is a bit more tricky, but if you really need to find something there, just look at the one in your main account and retrace the same steps on the Japanese one. It should be a rare occurrence, though. Now that you have your Japanese account ready and waiting, you can start by downloading all sorts of spiffy demos and free themes. Here is where to find them for PS4. When you look for themes, select the option indicated below the last of the menu to order them from the cheapest, bringing up the free ones at the top of the list. Those missing them are bonus themes that require a purchase in order to be redeemed. But what if you actually want to buy some games? There are a few stores that sell them, but not all of them are reliable. Just make sure you select the ones with the Japanese flag, because PlayStation Store cards are not region free. Insert the code in the field indicated below, and confirm. Confirm again with the blue button. Then reload the store, and your wallet will be updated, ready to purchase your game. Insert your password and type it a second time remember, you need at least one number or special character and over eight characters in total , then confirm. If you see the sentence below, you changed your password successfully. Before you go enjoy your new Japanese account, here is another useful tip. If you want to take part in Japanese beta tests, you need to set your account so that Sony is permitted to send you marketing mail. Here is how to do it. Select account settings from the web store. The following two options are quite different. At times they will be both on by default. The first is the one you need on for betas, allowing Sony Interactive Entertainment to send you marketing mail and notifications. Hailing from sunny not as much as people think Italy and long standing gamer since the age of Mattel Intellivision and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Definitely a multi-platform gamer, he still holds the old dear PC nearest to his heart, while not disregarding any console on the market. RPGs of any nationality and MMORPGs are his daily bread, but he enjoys almost every other genre, prominently racing simulators, action and sandbox games. He is also one of the few surviving fans of the flight simulator genre on Earth.
