Sid Meier's Civilization V

Sid Meier's Civilization V

65 ratings
Basics - Japan
By Ryan
Hello, this is a quick video guide of what to expect if you are to pick Japan as your Civilization.
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Video of how to play Japan.
This will tell you what to expect out of the special units, what to expect out of the playstyle, and what victory conditions to expect to dominate with.

Victory Conditions
Hello, if you really didn't want to watch the video I'll give a quick rundown of what you probably should be thinking if you are randomly paired up with the Japanese or are just new to Civilization and think they would be fun to play!


Victory Conditions

  • Domination
    One of the best offensive Civilizations in the game. Not only that, but are actually one of the best defensive as well. The fact that your units fight as if they were at full health throughout the entire game is one of the greatest advantages you could have. Luckily, the AI that plays Oda Nobunaga generally is more peaceful than aggressive. Otherwise, Japan would annihilate anybody in many games. The two unique units that they receive should be used when they are available and attacking is viable at any given time. Highly Recommended.

  • Science
    Any Civilization that has many cities or has taken over many Capitals has a high chance at winning Scientifically. The increased rate of science is always helpful in pursuing this victory. Chances are you will be taking cities left and right due to your personality trait so if you feel as if you want to stop Dominating for whichever reason - this would be your second best option to win. Recommended.

  • Culture
    Now, this victory condition could be argued to be something that Japan could do quite well. Those arguements would derive from the great defense you could pose as Japan. It's not always that cut and dry considering you do not have a personality trait bonus as Japan - not that you need one to win any specific victory. Nonetheless, you could do the one-city challenge quite well with Japan since you will stand strong on defense/offense. Somewhat Recommended.

  • Diplomatic
    Now, Japan, and other Asian countries were very much isolationists. Same could be said in Civilization V. You do not have any personality traits to help you with a Diplomatic Victory. You will expand quickly in most cases and AI will probably hate you for it. It is possible to win Diplomatically with Japan - it's just one of the harder options. Not Recommended.
Social Policies
Won't get into as depth as the Victory Conditions only because Social Policies can usually go anyway for any Civ and still win. Will only note those that are very important to each Civ.
  • Liberty
    Liberty is the expansionists dream Social Policy. As Japan you can ignore any AI that have their differences with you expanding too quickly. Why is that? Japan can defend like no other so even if the AI goes to war with you, you'll be able to fend them off quite well. Once you are able to build up a military I highly suggest you do so. The extra worker/settler will help you in the early game as well.
The rest are really up to you on how you're playstyle will be for policies, Tradition for hunkering down with few cities - Honor for cutting down enemies early on - Liberty for expanding like a mad-man but again, that goes for any Civ, not just the Japanese.
Factoids
  • There are 5 million vending machines (jidohanbaiki) in Japan. That's one for every 25 people.

  • The oldest festival in the world is reputed to be the Aoi Matsuri, held every May 15th or 16th in Kyoto. It originated during the reign of Emperor Kinmei, sometime between 539 and 571 AD.

  • The longest suspension bridge in the world is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge connecting Kobe with Awaji Island. Opened in 1998, the central span is 1,991 metres in length - about 1.5 times the size of the Golden Gate Bridge, and 4 times the size of the Brooklyn Bridge.

  • The oldest novel in the world was written in Japan over a thousand years ago. The Tale of Genji was written in the 11th Century by Murasaki Shikibu, a member of the Imperial Court. Her lengthy (over 500,000 words) novel concerns the romantic and sexual exploits and intrigues of the Imperial Court centered on the main character of Genji.
14 Comments
Flapjack0404 28 Aug, 2017 @ 9:03pm 
Lol Peacefull my arse. The last two games ive been in Japan has declared war on me.
Beastinlosers 22 Dec, 2015 @ 3:16pm 
Japan is has a good chance at getting a culture victory. Using work boats to generate culture along with (name escapes me) the "children of the sea" or "...posieden..." will greatly help. Great article sorry for any typos
cubiksoy 24 Jul, 2015 @ 7:22am 
Wow, it never occured to me to go for Cultural with Japan by exploiting their defensive power, but it makes sense. Think I'm going to do an OCC with Japan now!
Ryan  [author] 1 Jul, 2013 @ 6:26pm 
Well, Japan works both ways, only reason I don't recommend Diplomatic and to a lesser extent Culture is because of how well they work offensively. Civilization does have a funny way of putting Civilizations in the strangest locations sometimes too. Suppose it also depends on what map type your playing on too, but regardless, glad to hear that you get good RNG with Japan! I tend to get the short end of the stick too often with Civilizations.... but thats luck for ya!
just hopeless 1 Jul, 2013 @ 6:15pm 
It's funny because I pretty much play Japan the complete opposite way than this guide...and I always find Kyoto surrounded by floodplains. The other day, I was playing Japan and got Kyoto up to like 45 population because it was surrounded by 2 rivers going through desert, and by the end game I had two cities but the best production, population, literacy, and population growth. Although this was a really lucky game, I find myself in this position actually quite often playing Japan.
Lorde Carlos 16 Jun, 2013 @ 11:35am 
I aprreciate the guides. Good work!
Ryan  [author] 11 Jun, 2013 @ 2:44am 
Good, was hoping it just wasn't me that it was working for.
Pwnmode 10 Jun, 2013 @ 9:02pm 
The links work for me.
Ryan  [author] 1 Jun, 2013 @ 7:05pm 
Odd, it comes up on mine - I'll have to take a further look into that when I've got some more spare time. Thanks for pointing it out thought! Greatly appreciated.
Anakin_the_Green 1 Jun, 2013 @ 6:05pm 
Steam application.