Renting a pack and a tent by the month, not the day
There are good gear-rental shops in Tokyo. Yamarent has been outfitting Mt Fuji climbers since 2010, ten minutes from Shibuya. If you need boots and a jacket for one weekend, that’s the answer.
For a longer, looser trip it gets awkward, and it’s worth understanding why.
Day rates assume you have an address
The smooth way to use a rental shop is: book online, have the kit delivered to where you’re staying, use it, send it back by courier. That depends on a delivery address and on being there to receive a parcel. A traveller moving between hotels usually can’t do either, so you’re left collecting everything in person on your first morning and carrying a full pack across the city before you’ve even started.
And the price is built for short hires. A pack and tent for a whole month at a day rate adds up to more than the gear is worth.
A base is an address
Stay somewhere for a month and both problems go away. There’s a room to keep things in and a door for a courier. The kit can simply be there when you arrive.
That’s how we do it. We keep a pack, boots, a tent and a few other pieces that stay in your room for the length of your stay:
- No pickup on day one, no return slot to plan around
- It’s there for the whole month, so you can go out three times, not once
- You fly in with a normal suitcase — the tent isn’t coming out of your baggage allowance
The exact list, sizes and terms are on the Gear page.
When to actually go
Having the kit ready means you can wait for weather rather than book a date and hope. That matters most for the high routes: the Japan Alps have a short season and the huts fill up, and Fuji is only sensible in July and August. With a base nearby and time to spare, you pick the clear window.