No one is ever going to go hunting in Japan as a tourist, but this may be of interest to U.S. military who will be stationed there or for any ex-pats who live there. It may be of general interest to the merely curious.

Military or not, as a foreigner legally residing in japan you can get a gun license and a hunting license. Once you get that, you have to register with the government of any prefecture where you want to hunt.

If you're in the Navy you're out of luck. The Navy doesn't like guns, eww! If you're in the Air Force, Army, or Marines, you may be still be able to mail (not ship) your sporting shotguns to Japan when you move there. You'll need prior approval, and only the Marines have any info on it on their currently maintained website. They'll be stored in the base armory, and you can use them at ranges on base, if they haven't all been closed do to "force protection" concerns. Then you can work on getting licensed. Up until 3 years ago, some installations arranged that you can take the classes and tests in English.

Any other foreign resident of Japan not affiliated with the U.S. military must get licensed first before purchasing a gun locally. If you're in the Navy and live off base you could do this as firearms are only prohibited on CNFJ installations. This is expensive, though, so you'd have to be motivated. You'll also have to take the test in Japanese. Some American teaching English and was the first foreignter to get licensed in his prefecture (either Hyogo [Kobe] or Kyoto) said on his website that they provided an interpreter to explain any questions he didn't understand. I can't find his website any more, though.

If you want to save money and avoid the hassle of getting a gun, or are in the Navy and can't possess a gun on base, there is a trapping license. Nets and trapping are perfectly legal.
Moreover, there are a lot more areas where you can practice it. Even inside the city limits of Yokohama I used to see red signs in Japanese and English that said "No gun hunting." So you could trap there with the landowner's permission. If memory serves, game up to deer can be trapped, and birds can of course be netted.

If you do get licensed you'll find Japan has some excellent hunting. On the island of Kyushu Wild boar are so numerous that they're an agricultural pest and have run-ins with people often enough it's in the news. I remember reading about a Asian Black bears killing people in the Japanese alps about once a year. They get at least as big as American Black Bears. The deer, shika, are regionally abundant and larger as you go north. Then there's Hokkaido with the Brown Bears. I'd often read or saw news stories about local hunting societies up there being requested to deal with nuisance Brownies.

Kamoshika, or japanese serow, is a type of mountain goat, essentially. It's a formerly endangered national treasure that will probably never be on license again.

I'd bet a lot of the locals would wish that the Japanese Macaques were on the license. They're all over the place and a real nuisance. They destroy orchards and invade homes, sometimes chasing the residents out. They're big monkeys and not afraid of people.

But they're not license.

Bird hunting is fantastic, especially ducks. Even in downtown Tokyo I'd see rafts of them, mostly Pintails, on any available waterway. This article from 1999 talks about Misawa AFB being a waterfowler's paradise. It still is, I'm sure, as there are only about 250k hunters throughout Japan. There are lots of pheasants, as well. They have some exotics like Green and Copper Pheasant in addition to Ring-Necks.

A few links that may be of interest.

Ministry of the Environment, basic information in English about wildlife protection and hunting laws in Japan.

A little more government info, including partial list of game species and types of licenses.

Scan of a few pages from a book about Bear hunting in Japan. It has an English translation. It's from 1957, but they still have lots of them and the grainy pics show how an Asian Black Bear compares to a large dog like an Akita.

All Japan Hunting Club. In Japanese, but they do have pictures of field trials, etc., so you can get a flavor of what bird hunting and shooting is like in Japan. They also have a magazine; select zenryo after you enter and you can see old magazine covers under "history."

Finally, the Japan Clay Target Shooting Association. The opening page is in Japanese, but they have an English site. Maybe good people to contact if you want to find out about getting licensed to own a gun.

If a gun license is too much of a hassle, how about archery hunting? I would not mind shooting some bear with an arrow.

My local police station desk sergeant told me no license is necessary to own archery equipment in Japan, but unfortunately archery hunting isn't legal.

The only legal methods of take are netting or trapping, firearm, and air rifle.

I added a little more info about the type A license, which is netting and trapping. The air rifle license (type C) is just as difficult to get as the firearms license (type B) so I see no advantage to it.

I also added a link to the Japan Clay Target Shooting Association. They have an English language site (which they don't maintain) but if the contact info is up to date they may be able to provide info on the licensing procedures.

I met a lot more people than I ever would have expected how are target shooters. Bolt action rifled shotguns are extremely popular among target shooters, in addition to regular shotguns owned by clay bird shooters. You can't get a rifle until you've owned a shotgun without incident for 10 years.

I wonder how hard it would be to trap a bear. Dispatching him with a sword could be a bit of sport. However, I heard that only swords with tin/aluminum blades are currently legal in Japan without onerous licensing requirements, so that might put bear dispatching with a Koto era tachi out of the question.

By the way, what part of JP are you stationed in? Are there mountains and rural area nearby?

On the topic of air rifle licenses, the Brits are already heading down this road. I am pretty sure Americans would never agree to register even their firearms, let alone air rifles and edged weapons.

A zinc/aluminum blade is the only legal sword you can own without a license. You can't sharpen it, so it's not a weapon. Technically you could license a sword as a weapon under the same rules as a gun, but in reality it ain't gonna happen.

A koto tachi doesn't need to be licensed. It's registered as a work of art through the prefectural education board. But then, you can't use it.

I'm not in Japan or even on active duty anymore. I was stationed in Yokohama and Yokosuka for a total of 7 years. Now I'm in Dallas and a partner in a Japanese restaurant. All those years are finally paying off.

You don't have to go far to find mountains in Japan. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is about an hour by train west of Yokohama, or just over 60 miles from Tokyo. The closer you get to the park the more rural it gets. It isn't pristine wilderness around the park, but it's rural enough that the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force and the USMC can conduct artillery and armor training. Those guys have 34,000 acres to practice fighting Godzilla.

If you leave Tokyo and head north, as soon as you enter one of the neighboring prefectures, Yamanashi or Saitama, you're in the Japanese alps. Not pristine wilderness, but a lot of game. I've stayed at many inns in those mountains and eaten a lot of deer, bear, and boar.

The problem is Tokyo traffic. Getting to the station in it or driving out of town through it can be murder. But you can drive clear across the country, from Tokyo on the Pacific clear across to Niigata on the Sea of Japan, in 4 hours once you're clear. It's just mountains the whole way.

Thanks CFS, for your post. I guess I'll have to consider moving to Japan if I'm going to hunt there, which could be a good thing. Spent 3+ years living there previously, but was prior to my becoming a hunter, and I was too young to go it alone anyway. My inlaws have room, so maybe wifey and I will figure something out one of these years...

BTW, any idea as to a time frame for residency status? 6 mos?

I really don't know. You're best bet is to contact someone at the Japanese Embassy or the MoJ's Immigration Information Center

Wakata; domo arigato gozaimasu.

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:
Wakata; domo arigato gozaimasu.

Nani mo nai.

Hello CFS

Thank you for taking the time to post the information on Japan.

I would love to go hunting there but I know I never will be able to. Is there a way to get invited by a local and use their shotgun.

Regards
Aziz

Maybe for shooting sports like skeet or trap. One of the requirements to get a permit for a small bore rifle for target shooting is to participate in at least two matches. Part of the certification process to get any firearms permit is to shoot a qualifying course. So it appears that it isn't illegal to handle and use a rifle or shotgun without having a firearms permit while at a range.

I'm not aware of any legal way to use somebody else's shotgun and hunt with it. You still wouldn't be a licensed hunter.

I've had friends who have gone hunting with local hunters in Japan, but they didn't do any shooting.

Which Japanese restaurant, I live in Austin and have family in Dallas, I go there now and then.

Thanks.

I sent the info in a PM. Gotta keep the riffraff out, you know.

Got it, thanks!

CFS, again, thanks for the links and info. Situation grim, but not hopeless!

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:
CFS, again, thanks for the links and info. Situation grim, but not hopeless!

It's not nearly as hopeless as you think. A buddy of mine stationed in Japan sent me some picks of the big Sika stag he shot on Hokkaido last year. He's shot others over there on Honshu, but they weren't as big as the guy he got on Hokkaido.

I'd love to post them, but I only know how to post pics I can link to. If you know how to post them, I'll send them to you and you can do it.

But he says that if you go through the hassles of getting a license, and it is a hassle but it can be done, he says the hunting is great. The locals who do hunt are mostly road hunters. They wait for big snow, then pop the deer when they come down from the mountains. This is the case throughout Japan.

He gets up into the hills and has the whole place to himself. He and the half dozen or so other Americans stationed over there that he knows who've managed to get their licenses. They just get away from the roads.

He's from Alaska. If you have someone from Alaska telling you how good the hunting is somewhere, I figure you can take it to the bank.

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:
CFS, again, thanks for the links and info. Situation grim, but not hopeless!

It's not nearly as hopeless as you think. A buddy of mine stationed in Japan sent me some picks of the big Sika stag he shot on Hokkaido last year. He's shot others over there on Honshu, but they weren't as big as the guy he got on Hokkaido.

I'd love to post them, but I only know how to post pics I can link to. If you know how to post them, I'll send them to you and you can do it.

But he says that if you go through the hassles of getting a license, and it is a hassle but it can be done, he says the hunting is great. The locals who do hunt are mostly road hunters. They wait for big snow, then pop the deer when they come down from the mountains. This is the case throughout Japan.

He gets up into the hills and has the whole place to himself. He and the half dozen or so other Americans stationed over there that he knows who've managed to get their licenses. They just get away from the roads.

He's from Alaska. If you have someone from Alaska telling you how good the hunting is somewhere, I figure you can take it to the bank.

By all means, I'll be happy to post them for you. lhondaAT suffolk.edu is my email. I'll upload and post for you if you send them to me. As I think I mentioned earlier, I go to Japan (Honshu, but traveling is no biggie) twice or better a year, as my wife is a Japanese national and her fam' is there. I lived there as a kid for several years as well, and am ethnicallly 50% Nihon-jin.

As to the critters and the numbers, I've heard many stories of game everywhere. There are even bounties paid on certain critters, I understand. On local news we have heard on many occasions about wildlife issues/encouters with villagers, deer and wild boar, and more frequently, bear interactions. My hand's up to help rescue the people!

Between chasing those three as well as waterfowl, I'd be set for life when over there if I can make thuis happen. Thing is, as I understand it, only after 10 years of obtaining a licence to hunt with a shotgun can you even apply for a rifle. I have other concerns abou importing firearms, as well as the legality of leaving them with relatives when I'd be back stateside. Certainly want to play by the rules.

I'd dearly love to have you put me in contact with one of your friends to pick their brain about how I'd get started getting the ball rolling on this. That said, I have been told the distinction that matters is that they are in country as military and I am a civvie. Hopefully, it can be done anyway. I'd be willing to jump through all manner of flaming hoops to get this done.

Hontouni arigato gozaimsashita.

KG

Situation for kamogari: Absolutely frickin hopeless! I went through this with you before bonehead! You will never legally hunt in Japan.
Period. Case closed. The reasons are the same as I told you before. Mailing you is a waste of time. You're only hope is to buddy up with somebody and hope they take you hunting and then hope they let you take a shot, risking their license and HUGE amounts in fines and jailtime just to let you pull the trigger. My advice to you is to wait for me to produce a video, watch it, stroke yourself, go to bed and dream of tagging along with me, which to reiterate myself, will never frickin happen!

quote:

Originally posted by Hokkaido:
Situation for kamogari: Absolutely frickin hopeless! I went through this with you before bonehead! You will never legally hunt in Japan.
Period. Case closed. The reasons are the same as I told you before. Mailing you is a waste of time. You're only hope is to buddy up with somebody and hope they take you hunting and then hope they let you take a shot, risking their license and HUGE amounts in fines and jailtime just to let you pull the trigger. My advice to you is to wait for me to produce a video, watch it, stroke yourself, go to bed and dream of tagging along with me, which to reiterate myself, will never frickin happen!

Oh, I get it. Only geniuses like yourself have the ability to figure it out, is that it, Eric?

While you're running your mouth, why don't you try to explain to folks here again why you went out of your way to lie and misrepresent yourself on a number of other forums, as well as here, taking credit for animals you never killed?

I can only hope I run into you in Japan one of these days, then we'll see who walks away with the smiley face. You wouldn't be hard to find:
really stupid looking gaijin named Eric from Oregon, who lies a lot and thinks he's the shit because he works as a peon in some dime a dozen JET program (probably WinBe or some other Mickey Mouse 'school'), since he can't hack being around other Western folks, since they immediately recognize him for what he is: a useless schmuck.

How'd I do, teach? Yeah. Thought so.