Does Japan use PAL

Answer 1

Japan uses NTSC, but has a different region code. If your DVD player is set up for North America, commercial region code 1 discs (NA) will not play in a player made for the Japanese market (region 2). If you are making your own discs, you should be able to specify Region 0, or all regions to make sure it plays everywhere.

Answer 2

There are three television standards worldwide. PAL is the British and German standard, adopted by most of Europe and the majority of countries that were part of the British Empire. SECAM is the French standard, adopted by a handful of countries outside France. NTSC is the North American standard, used in most of the Americas and many other countries. Japan uses NTSC rather than PAL, so it is almost compatible with North American signals. "Almost" because as with all television standards, there are subtle differences between the implementation of the standard by different countries. Japan has adopted a slightly different method for representing the brightness of the image. The difference can be seen with different contrasts, particularly in the darker regions of an image. It most certainly doesn't stop American content being used on Japanese equipment and much of the time, the difference won't be noticed. It is important to note that Japanese equipment manufactured for the North American market is fully compatible with North American standards. It's not time to discard your Japanese television just yet.