In the US, I used to rent kayaks often. Whether it was Michigan, North Carolina or Texas, there were places where I could walk up, shell out twenty to twenty five bucks and head out in a kayak for two or three hours on my own, oar and lifejacket included. Some were on a lake with small tributaries where you leave and return at the same place, and some were on a river where you leave in the kayak and some three hours down river, there is a van waiting to take you back to your car.
I have been searching for such a place here in Japan (in the Tokyo area) but so far have only found guided tours. I took a three-hour night kayaking tour in Edogawa which lead to a great view of Tokyo Skytree. It was a really nice tour, but I don’t want to have to shell out seven thousand each time and I don’t want to have to be lead around by a guide or tethered to a group of people I don’t know. I wasn’t trying to race or anything, but the pace was excruciatingly slow.
I know that Japan, in general, don’t trust adults to be adults and they want to hold your hand for everything; either that, or they want you to take lessons and get certified in whatever it is you want to do. I remember back in the day when you weren’t even allowed to pump your own gas. But I just want to rent a damn kayak.
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Oh, before we get started, I remember when I was here back in the 1990s there were some parks in Tokyo that had little canoes or swan-shaped pedal boats where you could float around in a tiny little pond, but I am hoping for something a bit more adventurous, perhaps on the Tama River or a bigger lake.
Just buy a kayak, bro. You seem to have been around long enough to understand: there just isn’t a large enough population of Japanese who would rent a kayak for a day, the ones that are into it buy one outright and the general public is too scared to do it without a guide.
It’s not the government forcing people to be licensed kayak operators, it’s the market segment for unsupervised rental kayaks not being big enough.
https://old.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/16lv0rr/where_can_i_rent_a_canoe_or_kayak/
DM’d you!
Yes, you can kayak in Japan without any sort of license or certificate. I’ve gone down the Katsura river into Arashiyama Kyoto several times with friends. I’ve also done a river up in Hokkaido. If anyone is interested in kayaking around the Kansai area, let me know.
Not sure about Tokyo but there are unguided rentals around Saiko lake (near Kawaguchiko)
If you don’t mind going really far, I’ve seen them in Shimanto and a few other places in Shikoku. They’re amazing.
Have you thought about joining a club, that might give you access and a bit unsupervised ” me time “.