Originally Posted by Efrem
However, it's 50Hz. Synchronous AC motors run slower. Used to mess up turntables (to play vinyl records) and clocks that had motors inside them, but who uses either of those now? Probably won't affect anything the average person would travel with, or even own, today.
The electrical situation in Japan is actually even more complicated.
The voltage is slightly lower than in the US, nominally 100 V rather than 120 V. This isn't usually a problem, though, since most US appliances are designed to behave reasonably in "brownouts." The frequency varies from region to region: in Tokyo it is 50 Hz, while in Osaka it is 60 Hz. The dividing line between the two halves of the power grid is somewhere in between.
Also, two-wire outlets without a safety ground are much more common in Japan than in the US.