How to win Civ 6 as Japan (2024)

Japan is one of the most versatile Civilizations. I will explain how to win a game of Civilization 6 as Japan. What are the civ's strengths, strategies and win conditions. This guide is focused on the Gathering Storm expansion.

How to win Civ6 as Japan?

The short answer is to rush Samurais in the Medieval Era and conquer a lot of territory. After winning many wars using Samurais, proceed to any type of victory you prefer, science and domination being easier for this civilization. Place districts adjacent to each other as Japan has a huge bonus while doing so.

Japan Civilization VI info

The Japanese Empire in Civilization VI is capable and good at achieving any type of victory, this coupled with its bonus in both early and late games makes it so Japan is one of the most versatile Civilizations.

"I must rid myself of my fear if I am to face the unstoppable force from over the seas. They have land, allies and armaments we are ill-prepared for. But we are not to give in to their threats and watch sunset fall upon our ancient realm. Let our faith guide us through this moment, and triumph over even the most impossible of foes. We shall outlast them."

Civilization Ability: Meiji Restoration

Campus, Commercial Hub, Harbour, Holy Site, Industrial Zone and Theatre Square districts receive +1 of their respective yields for every adjacent district, instead of for every two.

Hojo Tokimune's Leader Ability: Divine Wind

"The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win."

Land units receive +5 Combat Strength in land tiles adjacent to the Coast.
Naval units receive +5 Combat Strength in shallow water tiles.
Builds Encampment, Holy Site and Theater Square Districtsin half the time.
Units are immune to Hurricane damage, and units of civilizations who are at war with Hojo also receive double damage from Hurricanes while in Japanese territory.

Unique Building: Electronics Factory

A building unique to Japan. Provides +4 Culture to this City after researching Electricity technology. Its Production bonus is extended to all City Centers within 6 tiles that do not already have a bonus form this building type.


Research	Cost	Maintenance	Pillage Yield	Prerequisites	Required to build
Industrialisation	390 or 1560	2	25	Industrial zone Workshop building	Power Plant
Additional information	Provides 1 Great Engineer point, +4 and +4 if the Electricity tech has been researched. Provides 1 citizen slot for an engineer (+2 )

Unique Unit: Samurai

Japanese unique Medieval unit. Does not suffer combat penalties when damaged.


Research	Cost	Maintenance	Upgrades to	Resources needed	Strength	Moves
Military Tactics	160 or 320 or 640	3	Musketman (100 cost)	None	40	2
Additional information	Does not lose strength when injured. Has +10 against mounted unit.
Strategy	The Samurai is one of the best units in the Medieval Era. Its exceptional strength/cost ratio and ability to fight at full strength even when damaged can help you win wars in the Medieval Era. Combine with Siege Towers or Battering Ram in order to capture cities and put yourself ahead in the mid-game.

Start Bias

No start bias.

Types of victories

Japan distinguishes itself from other Civilizations by its ability to get any type of victory with ease.

Domination victory:

Surely the easiest type of victory to achieve as Japan. Early game play very aggressive (if playing on deity difficulty) or very expansive (lower difficulties). In the Ancient Era Japan doesn't really shine, but the Medieval Era is when you have to go conquer the World. The Samurai is the dominating unit and you should abuse it; its strength, low cost, accessibility and ability to fight at full when damaged makes it a wonderful unit to swarm your opponents with.

Thanks to Divine Wind (Hojo Tokimune's ability) encampments take half the time to build, also there is the district adjacency bonus, which makes it so Japan has very fruitful districts.

An excellent array would be Aqueduct+Industrial Zone+Encampment+Commercial Hub.
The Industrial Zone should be in the middle of all other districts for maximum productivity.
Replace Industrial Zones for Campus in cities with great Campus adjacency (Mountains or Geothermal Fissures).
Commercial Hubs are great to fund your military, but should be the least important district and you must get gold in other ways (Pillaging and trading with other civs).

Science victory:

Japan doesn't have a direct science bonus, but it's district adjacency bonus makes up for that. A science victory as Japan is relatively easy.

An excellent array would be Aqueduct+Industrial Zone+Commercial Hub+Campus. Campus and Commercial Hubs first, Campus should be in the middle.
Try and get Free Inquiry Golden Age dedications, this will make the Commercial Hub adjacency (to Campus) bonus go even further.
In the late game have some cities with good production in order to help your Space Port.

Culture Victory:

Cheap Theatre Squares makes it easy for Japan to generate Great Works and then Tourism. In the late game you have access to Electronics Factories, which provide extra culture and production, giving Japan over other Civilizations in this era.

An excellent array would be Aqueduct+Industrial Zone+Theater Square. Focus on Theater Square.
You are achieving a Culture Victory but conquering 1 or 2 Civilizations in the Medieval era doesn't hurt, build Encampments in your outer cities. Destroy Civilizations that go for Culture victory too.
In the late game Electronic Factories have top priority, Faith is also important to hire those Rock Bands and Naturalists.

Religious Victory:

Religon isn't the best option, but still a good one. While playing on Deity difficulty it could be very difficult to get a Prophet on time without getting wiped out. This makes it so a religious victory on deity should be one of the last you try.

Cheap Religious Zones make it easier for Japan to survive that hefty early game on deity.

Hojo Tokimune's strength bonus applies to Religious units too, this means your units +5 Combat Strength in land tiles adjacent to the Coast. This might prove a bit hard to use, but it is a good bonus that will help you win Theological combats.

Diplomatic Victory:

Diplomatic Victory is definitely one of the rarest, people tend to forget completely about it. Japan is not particularly good at it as the civilization likes going to war and therefore tends to get Grievances. Although capturing cities and destroying civilization are no accident, Japan is good at it and is wasting potential if it doesn't do it. Diplomacy gets heavily harmed by war.

An excellent array would be Aqueduct+Industrial Zone+Commercial Hub.
The Industrial Zone should be in the middle of all other districts for maximum productivity.
The extra productivity should be used to win over the Statue of Liberty (awards 4 points toward diplomatic victory).
If you see war is inevitable (a neighboring Civilization has Agendas that make them don't like you) go as soon as possible in order to not get punished with Grievances.
Build some Army for deterrence.

In depth: Hojo Tokimune's Leader Ability: Divine Wind

Coastal combat bonus:

Land units receive +5 Combat Strength in land tiles adjacent to the Coast. This bonus is not particularly good if not used with purpose, for example:

Coastal Barbaria Camps: Oftentimes Barbarian camps are places in the coast, use this to your advantage. Early Barbarian Camps are easy money sitting there for you to take and convert into a builder or more military units. Also it is a good source of Era Score and experience for your units.
Defending coastal cities: Build coastal cities early in the game, near other civilizations if possible, this will make it for a huge advantage while defending your territory in early war -when +5 Combat Strength shines the most-. If you apply this strategy on deity you could survive and win early war spending less resources than usual.
Attacking coastal cities: This applies better in the Medieval era, resulting in a whopping 45 Combat strength Samurais. Combines with support units cities will be captured easily.
Theological Combat: Hojo Tukimune's Ability applies to religious units too. This is an advantage best used defensively as religious units tend to not travel by sea.

Naval units receive +5 Combat Strength in shallow water tiles. Notice that it doesn't matter how far the coast is as long as it is shallow waters. Combined with Harbor Districts and you will control the sea, which will also allow you to get Great Admirals.

Encampments Holy Sites and Theater Squares built in half the time:

This bonus is great for religious, culture and domination victory. It's not the only bonus that makes Japan so versatile, but an important one.

Cheap Holy Sites come particularly handy while playing on deity and trying a religious victory. Making proper use of this and the extra coast strength you could get a Prophet soon enough without suffering for it. Although the first Holy Sites always delays the construction of other more necessary early districts like Campus or Encampment. Something to take into consideration when going for a religious victory.

Fast Encampments makes it for an easy Domination victory. A good economy, Samurais and generals swarming the enemy civilizations is terrifying. Some of the Civilizations that do have this kind of Military might are the Scythians (Tomyris) and the Mongols (Genghis Khan).

Theater Squares are fundamental for a Culture victory, but it can also help with other types of victories as culture gets you Civics faster, which in turn gives you advantages. This is particularly true for a domination victory.

Note: The Hojo Tokimune bonus multiplied with the bonus for not having a district that other civilizations do, results in a 70% boost.

In depth: Samurai strategy

For its costs, strength and ability the Samurai is simply one of the best units in the game. As soon as the Medieval era begins your number one priority should be rushing Samurais, it doesn't matter if you're not trying a domination victory. Samurai is the way.

Build a Government Plaza and get the Oligarchy legacy wildcard, this combined with Oligarchy results in Samurais with 56 strength, 61 if you fight on Coast tiles. To get an idea of how great this is, think about Tanks having 80 strength. Two Samurais are capable of destroying a Tank in Civilization VI.

Rush: To get Samurais going ASAP point your research (and Eurekas) into the Military Tactics tech. It goes like this: Research Bronze working, make a Spearman, kill a unit with your Spearman to trigger the Military Tactics eureka, research Military Tacticas, profit.
Use: As said before you have to boost your Samurais with Oligarchy and Oligarchy legacy wildcard. If the opponent has walls build a Battery Ram to support your Samurais. Just attack, conquer everything while the Medieval Era lasts. Try and make a war declaration that doesn't add too much grievances.
Promote: Use war time to give your units a lot of experience. In the end Samurais will be capable of attacking twice with their last promotion, Elite Guard. This is particularly good with Samurais as they attack with full force even when damaged, therefore the second attack will be as strong as the first.
Upgrade: Samurais properly used are effective well into the game. You could make a case in their favor against Musketmans despite the strength disparity (They have almost equal strength anyways), Samurais fight at full strength even when damaged, Musketmans don't. Now Infantry is a really worthy upgrade, hopefully you will have Samurais with Elite Guard to upgrade and make some nasty Infantry.

In depth: Electronics Factory

In this guide we talked a lot about early and mid game, eras in which Japan has great advantages or outright great bonuses. Late game Japan is good too thanks to it's district adjacency bonuses and Electronics Factories.

Electronic Factories take time to make a real effect, +1 Production is immediate, but +4 Culture takes time to make an effect, and even if it does, it isn't meaningful this late into the game.

You need to build only 1 for every 6 cities or so for it to make effect, although more won't hurt if you want more culture and also have a fully upgraded Magnus in a city. That city will enjoy +40 bonus production. You can go even further and build a godlike Industrial zone in that city with great adjacencies, and get the industrial era Great Engineer James Watt, who boosts the production of all electronics factories by 2. This city with huge bonus productions will be capable of building wonders with ease or even will be able to compete with regular German cities.

In depth: Meiji Restoration

Districts usually receive +1 bonus for every 2 adjacent districts, this is not very significant when playing with other civilizations. Meiji Restoration makes it so Japan has a +1 bonus for every 1 adjacent district. This is one of the keys to Japan being great at achieving every type of victory.

Don't get confused, this doesn't make Japan twice as great as other Civilizations when it comes to district adjacency. It's better than that, if you have an odd number of districts the bonus becomes stronger, for example a regular Industrial zone produces +1 with three adjacent districts, but for Japan it's +3.

Settling cities close

To get the most of these bonuses you have to settle cities close to each other, this might be counter intuitive for newer players, as they tend to settle cities far away from others. The correct number of tiles between two cities is 3. This way you can make it so an Industrial Zone is surrounded by a lot of districts. The same applies to Campus.

Government Plazas are op. Try and build it in a city with enough free space (no important resource tiles). This way you can surround the Government Plaza to get that juicy +2 adjacency bonus. This way you can get a good early Campus even if you don't have mountains nearby.

Holy Sites

I recommend to ignore religion in my how to win on deity guide, but if you're going for a religious victory there is no way of achieving it without an early holy Site and many more as the game advances. Hojo Tokimune's ability to build Holy Sites built in half the time makes it easier to get a Prophet.

The difficulty with building Holy Sites is that you're using the space of a more useful district and therefore the city has to grow. Choose pantheons that help in this respect.

Religious victories often become unviable when another civilization is as or more dominant. Unlike other civilizations Japan can do something here as you will have the infrastructure needed to go for another type of victory.

Campuses

Science is important no matter what type of victory you are trying to achieve. To get a Samurai in time you need a lot of science and therefore should have at the very least 1 good Campus.

Use the Mountains and Geothermal fissures in your favor. If you're unlucky enough to not get Mountains nearby (either occupied by a city state or other civs) then use the huge Government Plaza bonus. Either way don't be late at building Campuses.

Natural Philosophy civic card doubles Campus adjacency bonus and thus is very recommended. Its upgrade in the modern era is the Class struggle civic and doubles Industrial Zone adjacency too.

Harbors and Commercial Hubs

You have to choose between Commercial Hub and Harbor because the city can only hold one trade route so it doesn't make sense to have both districts. If given the option (city has coast tiles) build a Harbor, this is much better as it gives production and food too. Also the Great Admiral points are impactful as they have powerful bonuses.

Harbor is so much better than Commercial Hubs that making a Harbor in a 1 tile lake is worth it. You can surround it and get huge adjacency bonuses while getting food and production in a tile that otherwise would have been useless.

How to counter Japan

Japan is just a strong Civilization, hard to play against that other AIs. There are good way to go about it:

Pillage districts: Districts are part of the strength of Japan. Use your light cavalry to pillage them before they can do anything. Japan tends to build slow units and therefore you can get away with this.
Focus down Samurais with your Crossbowmans: The weakness of Samurais resides in its low movement. Use this to your advantage and kill them before they get close to you. Don't let them be alive and weak thinking they are not a threat, as they do have full strength even when at 10% hp.
Don't fight on the Coast or Shallow Waters: Japan has a bonus in these tiles, so simply don't touch them if not strictly necessary.