rickettsia japonica rickettsia japonica rickettsia japonica is a species of rickettsia. it can cause japanese spotted fever. rickettsia japonica scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: pseudomonadota class: alphaproteobacteria order: rickettsiales family: rickettsiaceae genus: rickettsia species group: spotted fever group species: r. japonica binomial name rickettsia japonicauchida et al., 1992