Hi all

Well, from some post here, there seams to be good deer hunting in the north part of Japan.
But, how is the hunting in the south parts? Main island?
What is legal to hunt?

Also, what kind of guns are legal, BP? Handgun?

quote:

Originally posted by vegard_dino:
Hi all

Well, from some post here, there seams to be good deer hunting in the north part of Japan.
But, how is the hunting in the south parts? Main island?
What is legal to hunt?

Also, what kind of guns are legal, BP? Handgun?

There are 3 different kinds of licenses you can apply for in Japan. Trapping, air rifle, and firearm. If you get a trapping license, you can hunt animals up to and including deer. An air rifle license is hardly worth the trouble as it's almost as restrictive and strict as the license you'd have to get to own a real gun; you might as well get the firerarm license. Then you can hunt anything in Japan. But, if you get a firearm license you will be hunting with a shotgun for the first 7 years you hold it. Then and only then, if don't fall afoul of the law, you'll be permitted to buy and own a rifle. You will never realistically be allowed to own a handgun in Japan, and even if you could get one of the exceedingly rare permits to possess a handgun (it'd have to be locked up at a police station armory when you're not using it) you will never be allowed to hunt with it.

Including Tsukiguma:



Which means "Moon bear," as the locals refer to the Asian Black Bear due to the crescent shaped white mark most have on their chests. They live on all the main islands.

Or Higuma:



Which is what they call a griz, or brown bear, on the northern island.

Hunting on the southern islands is good. You don't have much competition. Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu have a lot of territory you can hunt because the natives have mostly moved on top of each other in the Osaka or Tokyo areas. So the wild boar and deer run rampant. The deer get smaller as you move south, but they're there. Pheasant, waterfowl, and quail populations are very good as well.

But you have to actually reside legally in Japan to hunt there.

You could try to ask Hokkaido about this ... Or maybe not...

STIG

Yes, you still can.

China Fleet Sailor,

Thanks for answering the question, It's much appreciated.

The easiest way to get a hunting license in Japan is to join the U.S. military and get stationed over there.

The other method is to marry a Japanese girl so you have a chance at residency. Racially Japan is a very homogenious country, and their policies that protect this homogenious nature make residency "very difficult".

Virtually all hunting in Japan is done with a Shotgun. It takes 10 CONSECUTIVE years of safe hunting in Japan to get your rifle license. Miss a year of hunting and you start back at year 1. In the 4 years I was there, I heard rumors of guys with their rifle permits, but never actually met one.

Air gun permits? There was an office shooting in Japan a few years back and in it's after math, the Japanese revoked virtually all of the air gun permits.

When trying to accomplish something in Japan, it's important to remember, culture is more important then any written rule. They are way more creative when interperting rules then the 4 idiot justices (you know which 4 I mean) we have on the Supreme Court.

What about bow hunting? can one use a trapping license to hunt with a bow?

Can a foreigner visiting Japan hunt?

Visitors cannot hunt in Japan. You cannot obtain a bluebook without meeting the residency requirements.

quote:

Originally posted by stigonom:
You could try to ask Hokkaido about this ... Or maybe not...

China Fleet Sailor

I've spent some time traveling around Kyushu and one thing that struck me as odd is that I never see any game I would expect to see squirrels, deer racoon rabbits etc. The countryside there seems perfect (and quite vast) for these animals but I don't even see rode kill.

By the way, I'm not trying to contradict your assertion that there is a lot of game, I just find it odd that I don't see any.

Mark

Mark, most the good hunting in Japan is in the North.

Alternatively be friends of the japanese national shooting team ! I am serious

Sorry to clarify go to their national training centre and try and get to the national shooters i believe just outside osaka. They are really a very friendly bunch.

as far as I know all of the current trap shooting team members hunt black bear and deer with centre fire rifles (except the women). They are treated like national heros in Japan and have special dispensation to do so.

I have been invited to hunt with them this summer.

Met all of them at the World Shooting Championship in Munich last month

None of this joining the US army business ....

quote:

Originally posted by londonhunter:
Alternatively be friends of the japanese national shooting team ! I am serious

Sorry to clarify go to their national training centre and try and get to the national shooters i believe just outside osaka. They are really a very friendly bunch.

as far as I know all of the current trap shooting team members hunt black bear and deer with centre fire rifles (except the women). They are treated like national heros in Japan and have special dispensation to do so.

I have been invited to hunt with them this summer.

Met all of them at the World Shooting Championship in Munich last month

None of this joining the US army business ....

(cough)

Any chance you could pull a few string s old boy?

Anytime my friend ............

This is freaky

Somhow I think I am being stalked
from Europe to Asia all the way up the Kyber pass

I am a shooter and I am OK
I shoot all night and I FX&*K all day

While this is my first post, I can add some info as I lived in Japan for a while and researched hunting there extensively.

The info posted so far is correct and I can add that there is NO bowhunting allowed. Also, if you don't possess a bluebook, you aren't even allowed to handle a firearm, much less hunt with one. To hunt you have to get your firearms permit (bluebook) then pass the test for your hunting licence. One of the issues with obtaining a firearms permit there is finding information and people that know what the process is who are willing to work with you. The police handle most of the paperwork but many of them don't even know the laws associated with firearms ownership. While I participated in several hunts as an observer, I was never able to wade through the bureaucracy to obtain my permit. One other thing, each prefecture had it's own hunting permit so you have to take a test to obtain the permit (by passing the exam) for each prefecture you want to hunt in.

The potential for hunting tourism there is off the charts, particularly in Hokkaido, but the government and people of Japan seem to be very anti gun so it's unlikely that visitors will ever be able to hunt there.

Here's some links to check out:

http://www.vill.nishiokoppe.ho...r/Ryouku/English.htm

http://risk.kan.ynu.ac.jp/mats...ublication/02WSB.PDF

http://search.japantimes.co.jp...in/nn20080502f3.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...GP5E&feature=related

Here's some firearms ownership related links:

http://www.guncite.com/journals/dkjgc.html

http://yarchive.net/gun/politics/japan_gun.html

Hope you all find this info worthwhile!

Thanks much for the links and the input. It's appreciated.

Hi all...Good information.
But, sadly, not easy to go hunting in Japan then.