Fishing Spot Japan

Data & sources

Every claim on this site is graded by how we know it. This page is the ledger: what is verified, what is merely sourced, and what we have not checked.

What we know, and how well we know it

Nothing here is hidden behind a blanket disclaimer. Every dataset below says where it came from and how far it has been checked, so you can weigh it yourself. Fishing rules carry real penalties — confirm anything you intend to rely on with the prefecture, the cooperative, or your guide.

Whose work this is

The figures

Every figure comes from a Japanese government publication — an Act, a prefectural regulation, or a fisheries committee notice. Those are public documents and are not ours.

Our part

What we made is the English rendering, the selection and arrangement, the cross-referencing of waters to the cooperatives that govern them, and the date on which each was checked.

Why we name every source

We name the source for every row so you can go and read it yourself. That is the point: a rule you cannot verify is worth less than one you can.

How far each thing has been checked

VERIFIEDChecked line by line against the primary source.
SOURCEDTaken straight from a named source, but not re-checked item by item.
COMPILEDAssembled from general knowledge. No primary source. Treat as a starting point.
ConfidenceWhat it isWhere it came fromWhat to watch for
VERIFIEDNational rules12 rules that apply everywhere in Japan, four of them carrying criminal penaltieshttps://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/yugyo/y_kisei/ and other Japan Fisheries Agenchecked 2026-08-27Bluefin quotas and closed periods change every fiscal year, so this needs rechecking annually. The penalty under the Foreign Fisheries Regulation Act (up to 3 years, up to ¥30m) was added on 2026-08-27 from the official English leaflet.
VERIFIEDLegal gear by prefectureWhich gear a non-professional may use in each prefecture's sea areashttps://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/yugyo/y_kisei/kisoku/todo_huken/as of 2026-03-31 · checked 2026-08-26The PDF's URL carries a revision number (index-N.pdf) that changes with each revision — always re-fetch from the index page.
SOURCEDCooperatives selling permits onlineWhich cooperatives sell a day ticket you can buy before you travelhttps://www.tsuritickets.com/api/v1/organizationschecked 2026-08-26The lure / catch-and-release / winter flags are the booking service's own metadata. We have not reconciled them against each cooperative's permit rules.
VERIFIEDSize limits and closed seasonsMinimum sizes and closed periods set by prefectural fisheries ruleshttp://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/af05/suisan/gyochou/kisoku.htmlchecked 2026-08-2812 of the 14 prefectures are fully transcribed and verified. Shizuoka and Kochi arrived with their table structure broken, so pairing species to dates involved judgement. Hokkaido's list of river-mouth closure points is the one part still untranscribed.
COMPILEDSpeciesNames, sizes and identifying notes for the fish we list—Japanese names, scientific names and identifying features are general knowledge, not sourced from a single authority. Scientific names are revised from time to time.
COMPILEDPlacesThe waters we list, with access and whether a permit is requiredKumejima Tourism Association https://www.kanko-kumejima.com/ and Japanese angling media, for the Kumejima entrychecked 2026-09-25Only the three areas marked as needing no permit (Lake Biwa, Kasumigaura, Lake Hamana) rest on a primary source — the 12 lakes treated as sea areas under the Fisheries Act. The rest of the permit statuses are inferred from the general rule. Kumejima was added on 2026-09-25: that the payao are open to recreational anglers, that boats are charter-only, the access times, and the April–June bluefin run all come from the tourism association and angling media, not from a government source. Confirm them with the boat and replace.
COMPILEDSpecies by place and monthWhich fish are worth targeting where, and when—The 0–3 season scores are editorial judgement with no source behind them. The site says so wherever they appear.
COMPILEDMap outlineThe schematic coastline the map is drawn from—A hand-drawn approximate coastline. Not survey accurate, and not for navigation.
SOURCEDSpecies illustrationsDrawings used to identify each fish—Only 5 of the 30 plates have been reviewed. The remaining 25 are unchecked — site/review.html exists to review them.
VERIFIEDRecorded requestsReal questions from overseas anglers planning a Japan triphttps://fishingbooker.com/blog/fishing-in-japan/checked 2026-08-26The article claims 48 comments but only 8 are present in the initial HTML, of which 3 show real demand. The rest were not retrieved.
SOURCEDExisting operatorsGuides and outfitters already serving overseas anglers in Japaneach operator's own websitechecked 2026-08-26Scale and pricing are still unconfirmed for Hokkaido Angler and Tokyo Japan Fishing Guide.
VERIFIEDHow far our answer goesFor each place, which layers of regulation we hold and which we do notOur own places list, cross-referenced against the cooperatives that sell permits online and against each prefecture's published fishery rightschecked 2026-08-28All 14 freshwater areas now name the cooperative that holds the fishing right; the 26 saltwater areas are marked as outside the fifth-class right entirely. The point of this file is to say how far our answer goes, rather than to imply we know everything.
VERIFIEDCooperatives holding fishing rightsWho holds the fifth-class fishery right on each water, and over which specieshttps://www.sangyo-rodo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/nourin/suisan/yuugyorec/checked 2026-08-28176 cooperatives across 9 prefectures. Hokkaido came from a single prefecture-wide notice that also names the species each right covers — which is why we can say a permit is not needed for trout on some of its rivers.
VERIFIEDPrefectural inland federationsWho to ask when no cooperative can be identifiedhttps://www.naisuimen.or.jp/info/membar.htmlchecked 2026-08-2839 prefectures. These are prefecture-level federations rather than the cooperatives themselves, used as the place to ask when no cooperative can be identified.

Known gaps

Port and local rules (layer 5)

Harbour and municipal restrictions are posted on signs at the water, in Japanese, and are not published centrally anywhere. No dataset exists to transcribe.

  • Read the signs on site — the two that matter most, (keep out) and (no fishing), are explained on the rules page.
  • Ask the cooperative that holds the fishing right; they know the local closures.
  • A local guide is the reliable way to close this gap, which is the honest case for using one.