A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.com/
this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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How does the type-A (Japan) ground?
Japan uses weaker voltage and many things don't require a ground or can rely on an alternative method. That said, they'll have a good ol' three prong for appliances and newer buildings will have a few three prongs in select locations.
It doesn't, Japanese homes don't have that by default. Sometimes there are special options for grounding specific items.
IIRC most of the world relies on ground fault protection to protect against failure which is why we use ground pins, in Japan they detect short circuits which is roughly equivalent in safety.
I'm not sure why or how, but I remember from when I looked it up when I was out there last year that was the explanation I found
Edit: I'd love to be corrected by whoever downvoted
Virtually all systems protect again shortcircuit at the breaker lever. Japan mostly has no ground but a RCD/GFCI for the whole house.
Basically how this works is that it checks if all the current leaving on the live wire is also returning on the neutral wire. If the current returning on the neutral is less than the one leaving then a part of the current must have found another way to get to ground (through your body for example) and it breaks the circuit hopefully before any danger could happen.
Now this doesn't make ground useless, there are 2 different protection systems that work in different ways, and sometimes protect in different scenarios too, the RCD is also an active protection that can and fail, compared to ground wich is passive.
Having both is ALWAYS safer
No