Gear Rental in Japan/Japanese Gear

When planning a dive trip to Japan. It is better to rent from your LDS and schlep the gear over with you than renting in Japan unless you are Japanese or have a Japanese body type.

For both men and women:

Wetsuits typically are slimmer in the butt, hip and thigh with broad shoulders (V-shaped body type). BCs & wetsuits may measure the same around but the armholes & sleeves are cut for someone with a less "meaty" body type. So measurement isn't everything.

Dive Computers are more conservative too. (The pearlescent sky-blue Scubapro Extender is only available in asia & is actually manufactured by seiko/citizen and runs on their algorithm). The instruction manual & display will always be in Japanese.

The quality of the gear, as in all countries, will range from high to low and everything in between.

Gear rental in Japan is no different than anywhere else- dive computers here are the same as anywhere else in the world- except for few models that are only released in Japan.

Wetsuit and BC sizes at most places will be fine for most foreigners unless you are really tall or quite fat. You will probably need a size larger than your regular size those for med use a Japanese large etc...

The only other problem I have encountered is with booties for people with large feet US12 or greater as most places do not have rental booties that size. The best thing to do is contact the shop you are planning on diving with and ensuring they have your size.

I have my own gear, so I don't have to deal with renting and we use club tanks and air, so don't have to deal with that either.

My understanding though is that gear rental is very expensive here in Japan. I've heard that renting a tank can run 1500-2000 yen (about $15-$20US) (Tokyo/Yokohama area) I can't confirm that as I've never rented gear here. That is something you might want to check into before making your trip. It might be more cost effective to bring your gear with you.

You don't mention why you're planning a dive trip to Japan? You're not getting much bang for your buck here. I dive here, but only because I live here. I wouldn't travel here just to go diving. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good diving here.... just other places are better.

Unless you're talking about Okinawa. I've heard the diving in Okinawa is really great. I'm hoping to make it down there myself, later this year. You can probably reach the Philippines for a similar amount in plane fare and they have much better diving there.

I travel a lot for work and am in Japan a few times a year. I heard that Okinawa is supposed to be gorgeous - I would love to see pics from any future diving you do there :)

As for the wetsuit/gear fitting heads-up: Japan has quite a few Japan-only lines even for the Big Brands & depending on the operation, not all everyone will carry a full line of rental gear. Some places are geared more towards locals while others are geared more to tourists & expats so what they carry would vary accordingly. For example, Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger are both very muscular & fit, but it is obvious that they have different body types and it's not just a matter of size.

In N. America, we are so spoiled for choice generally, that we assume that rental gear will fit us when we travel. & usually that is so esp. since we usually travel to the Carib where N. American tourists are expected. Japanese fit & sizing is different enough that I felt the need to give a heads-up to anyone planning on diving there :)

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Originally Posted by littleleemur

I travel a lot for work and am in Japan a few times a year. I heard that Okinawa is supposed to be gorgeous - I would love to see pics from any future diving you do there :)

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I have a LOT of photos posted on my facebook page, including quite a few from Japan. If you have facebook look me up at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=843784243

I also have some entries at underwaterphotography.com's site. Here's a link: http://www.underwaterphotography.com...aspx?MID=24058 I hope to make it down to Okinawa later this year. I'll definitely do a trip report with photos after I get back.