Rising Sun, Hidden Depths: A Dive into Japan's Scuba Culture

INTRODUCTION - JAPAN AS A DIVING DESTINATION

The key word for Japanese diving is probably variety, as it is rare for a single country to offer so much underwater diversity.
Looking at maps of Japan offers insights into why this might be the case:  the Japanese islands have a unique profile and geographical position, spanning over 3,000 km across extreme latitudes, with conditions ranging from the subarctic in the north to the strongly subtropical in the far south.

Map of the Japanese islands and submarine contours – Image source: Ryuichi Shinjo researchgate.net

As an island nation made up of almost 7,000 islands, Japan has nearly 34,000 km of coastline exposed to key warm and cold-water currents and a wide seasonal temperature range, which contributes to giving Japanese waters their remarkable biodiversity.
Each area has its own unique underwater fauna, flora and coastal ecosystems, offering rich and varied diving environments and opportunities.

Japan’s diving highlights include coral reefs, wrecks, remote islands, volcanic topography, caves and lakes, and a few specialist activities such as chummed shark dives, ice diving, black-water diving, not to mention world-class macro subjects, schooling hammerheads, marine mammals and a remarkable overall biodiversity, endemism, and more…

School of hammerhead sharks in Mikoto, Izu Peninsula. Image source: Dive-in-japan.com / Mikomoto Hammers
 

No point in the country is more than 150 km from the sea, and over 2000 dive spots are listed across the archipelago. These include numerous shore-diving options - the most commonly found form of local diving on the rocky shores of the main islands - but also some good lake diving options as well as boat diving, ranging from comfortable, dedicated dive boats to very basic converted fishing vessels.

And yet Japan’s reputation as a diving destination has been, so far, largely restricted to a domestic clientele of Japanese divers and foreigners living in Japan.

This is first and foremost because of Japan’s many other strengths as a tourism destination – with so much to see and do on dry land, most visitors – even keen divers – tend to concentrate their efforts (at least on their first visits...) on Japan’s rich land-based culture and highlights.

Mount Fuji, as seen from Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture -  Image source: Wikipedia
 

Practically, Japanese is a temperate country, and diving activities are seasonal, with most if not all locations having a definite off-season in the winter months, and in season regular cyclonic storms (typhoons) sweep across some of the archipelago’s most popular southern diving areas, which can seriously disrupt plans for a few days...

Diving, while not extraordinarily expensive, is also not particularly cheap compared to major Asian diving destinations and some of Japan’s best diving spots are quite spread out across the country (including more distant areas and remote islands), access to which can be further complicated by the scarce availability of English-language information, especially for areas a little off the beaten track.

However, from the mid-2010s onwards, the Japanese government redefined its approach to international tourism, with a deliberate drive to expand the industry, reaching out to neighbouring Asian countries for more “regional” tourism and also well as promoting a broader range of tourism options, including sports and outdoors activities. 

Out of this drive, came the idea of “opening up” Japan to dive tourism  which – with the exception of the subtropical Okinawa region and the Japanese domestic diver circuit – was still very much off the radar.
 

Screenshot of the Japanese National Tourism Organization webpage on diving - Image source: Japan.travel

While initial efforts were aimed at promoting resort-based tourism and introductory level diving in Okinawa, the Japanese archipelago as a whole is now promoted as a solid, world-class diving destination, under a more inclusive and sustainable angle.
 

Scuba-diving is a surprisingly popular activity in Japan, where a thriving, distinct and somewhat self-sufficient dive-culture has evolved over the years, with its own codes, specific interests, publications, equipment brands, and so much more…
Indeed, things are often done a little differently in Japan, and dive culture is no exception. 

One of the most outstanding examples of Japanese diving culture can be found in the remarkable role of the dive-guide, who will normally be guiding in a way local professionals often refer to (not without a hint of pride) as Japanese-style, which we’ll now take a closer look at.

Shore diving on Miyako Island (Okinawa Prefecture). Image source: Japan-guide.com

DIVING "JAPANESE STYLE" ?

On the domestic market, you'll sometimes hear Japanese guides, operators and divers refer to a Japanese style of diving, supposedly distinct from diving experiences offered elsewhere. 
This concept has even made it into mainstream Japanese diving publications such as Marine Diving magazine, where articles discuss what is special about Japanese diving, and particularly the Japanese way of guiding divers underwater.

In Japan, picking out differences - whether real or imagined - is something of a national pastime, with books and TV shows dedicated to the subject. While this tendency can be traced back to the once popular theories of Japanese-ness (Nihonjin-ron) or even to earlier historical nativist schools of thought, it is true that Japanese culture often reshapes its objects into forms rarely encountered elsewhere...

Cover of Diver Magazine N.332 featuring actor/diver Taiyo Sugiura in full Japanese-branded dive gear
Image source: Fujisan / Diver Magazine
 

This process is often amplified by a relative linguistic isolation (a limited dialogue with and exposure to non-Japanese sources), and social aspects (such as hierarchical relationships) which can make things slightly more resistant to change, along with a general fondness for a Japanese way of doing things, often seen improved or a little more advanced than elsewhere...

When it comes to scuba-diving culture, this concerns the role of dive guides and services offered (which, as a non Japanese-speaking diver, you might not experience while diving in Japan, as service will most likely be adapted to your perceived preferences and needs) along with specific interests like endemic species and localism.

Guide lighting up a clownfish while showing his slate. Image source: hirasawa-mc

As a rule, Japanese tourism highly values “local highlights”. Underwater, while Japanese divers enjoy the big stuff or macro subjects as much as any other diver, this also translates to an enthusiasm for underwater species which might be more of a specialist interest elsewhere (such as smaller reef fish), and also in variations in colours, patterns or shapes of the local fauna and flora.

It’s also difficult to mention Japanese underwater interests without mentioning the highly popular gobies and blennies, as well as a fondness for “cute” species, ranging from charming, small-sized subjects and juveniles to critters with exaggerated features, ie slightly grotesque-looking fish.

Because of these commonly shared interests, Japanese dive guides will generally have a much deeper, specialist knowledge of all local and endemic species and provide solid information on juvenile forms and the growth/life cycle of the species, as well as behavioural tips on how to approach sometimes-elusive specimens.
 

Screenshot of a Bali-based Japanese dive center's blogpost on damselfish in Menjangan / Bali
Imge source: Facebook post - Actual blogpost: Oceanlifebali

And after diving, most Japanese dive centres will provide a time dedicated to working on logbooks and/or photo with one’s dive guide, which can range from quite formal to informal sessions, and is also where Japanese dive guides’ extensive knowledge of local marine life can really shine.

While this is not exclusive to Japanese diving (worldwide, logbooking/ fish and photo ID’íng expectations are usually quite high in macro-focused destinations for instance, resorts or liveaboards might offer the services of a live-in marine biologist), it is true that outside Japan the practice of collective logging is often linked to some form of dive training, whereas this is more of a standard and expected service in Japan.

As a side note, many Japanese divers are also very creative with their logbooks, with approaches ranging from cute cartoons to high-end naturalistic fish art - examples of such high level logging can be seen in this Oceana.co.jp post or a Google photo search on the subject.

Logbook page with drawings. Image source: Instagram / Diving logbook artist Nosekana

JAPANESE DIVE GUIDES AND GUIDED DIVING
 

Local ambassadors, naturalists and hosts

To make a broad generalisation, Japanese dive guides are often quite remarkable.
Not so much for diving or safety skills, but for the type service they strive to offer to divers, and also for the local naturalistic knowledge they are required to possess, in order to meet the expectations of the most demanding divers they might be guiding and act as representatives of their local area.

This does not mean that all Japanese dive guides are highly trained marine-biology experts, but they often do have more extensive knowledge about local species and their local environment than most of their non-Japanese counterparts (though there are notable exceptions), which is required and expected in a Japanese diving context.

Dive guides in action：“This snake eel’s head is protruding from the sand”

Highlighting differences between a Blackfin dartfish and a Fire goby – Image source: 4travel.jp
 

It's quite common for guides to do their professional training directly where they will be working, as a form of internship, and dive pros generally stay much longer in one area than their non-Japanese counterparts.

Dive-guide training emphasizes a naturalist approach, with a wealth of knowledge transmission on the local environment, species, marine life cycles and behavioural patterns for instance, aspects which are often lest at the discretion of the dive guide’s personal interests elsewhere.

There are exceptions, of course, but in the global diving industry, it’s common for diving instructors somehow “outrank” dive guides, and in some contexts instructors will mostly be foreigners with language skills while dive guides are experienced locals, with a varying degree of formal training.

This is less common in the Japanese dive industry, where almost all dive guides are instructors themselves, but choose to focus on guiding rather than teaching, as guiding is a highly valued, specialised activity.

In Japan, there is a high respect for what is known as veteran (= highly experienced) dive guides, as specialists of the local area, and also for dive shops who have established themselves as a local authority over time (such operations are called shinise , an important concept extending way beyond the diving industry).
It is a form of official recognition for guides to be employed by well-established dive centres, as is working under / training with / learning from famous dive guides.
 

WTP's SORA magazine, Dive Guide Special Issue  features interview-profiles of renowned dive guides
Image source: WTP Official blog / personal archives

In a Japanese diving context as elsewhere, dive guides are expected to offer a good tour of local highlights, actively spotting marine life for the divers (often less inclined to try to find stuff on their own) but also to ID marine life in real time, as we will see, engaging in active, entertaining underwater communication by writing on a slate, and also to lead comprehensive log-book sessions after diving.

Dive professionals’ passion for diving also blends nicely with a sense of local pride, which is something that you’ll encounter quite frequently in Japan – people are proud of local specificities, whether natural or man-made, and keen to share them with visitors.

In this sense, we could say that Japanese dive centres and guides act as true ambassadors of the environment they operate in, and do their best to help visiting divers experience its uniqueness, often with a heart-warming passion and dedication rarely found elsewhere.

Customer service expectations are also generally quite high in the Japanese dive-industry.
Most dive operations will have some kind of dive blog, usually quite thorough and updated daily. And on the social side, operators and guides are generally excellent hosts, and customers are usually offered the chance to socialise later in the day or in the evening, over drinks and/dinner. 

A somewhat formalised “closing celebration”, known are uchi-age in Japanese, is also quite commonly offered to guests at the end of a diving session -especially multiple-day ones, and can be expected as a service from most dive operations.

One thing is certain: Japan has a great after-dive culture and despite minor challenges, the shared experience of diving in a Japanese context can serve as a gateway to a more intimate Japan than what most non-diving tourists typically encounter...
 

Charisma-guides

Ad for a trip led by Kaorita-san, famous "charisma guide", primarily based in the Maldives
Screenshot source: Divenavi Facebook post

In the Japanese context, experienced guides, who have been around for a long time or pioneered a diving area, are highly regarded and sought-after by guests, and sometimes referred to, in publications, as “charisma-guides”, in other words, acknowledged as charismatic figures of the diving industry.

This is somewhat unique. It’s not so much that there are no examples of charismatic dive guides in non-Japanese contexts – dive-guide legends such as Larry Smith immediately come to mind, as do other explorers turned trip leader or operator, divers who pioneered diving in new areas such as Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock or Edi Frommenwiler, Max Ammer and many others, as do specialists/researchers offering trips or cruises dedicated to specific marine life (such as sharks, whales or manta rays…) 

Yet there’s something a little different about the Japanese concept, which is often blended with a strong sense of localism, and good-natured pride in being experts and ambassadors of a given area.

Another interesting aspect is the existence of an official Japanese dive guides’ association, the Guide-Kai or Japanese Scuba Diving Guide Association, which includes many of Japan’s charismatic and respected guides (most of them dive-shop owners themselves), which is not something common elsewhere.

Screenshot of the Dive Kai's English-language homepage - Screenshot source: Guide-kai.com

As an example of such cultural specificities, in Japan, you might encounter a Marine Diving magazine article where active dive guides are asked to recommend… other dive guides, while duly mentioning each guide’s “lineage” or filiation, i.e. who they worked for in the past.

Another curiosity would the existence of actual rankings of dive professionals.
Hierarchy does play an important role in Japanese society, and with it comes a certain fascination for rankings (Edo-period visitor guidebooks already ranked local highlights such as soba noodle shops and more..)

While this is something of a commercial gimmick (also found in non-Japanese publications such as PADI’s Undersea Journal’s, or Scuba Diving Magazine's survey-based rankings of diving areas and operators), in Japanese diving publications, rankings extend to slightly more unusual categories, such as:
most popular dive guides in Japan
most popular Japanese dive guides working abroad
most popular diving instructors

Screenshot of the Marine Diving 2021 Awards page, Dive Guide category winner for the Okinawa area
Screenshot source: Marine Diving 2021 Awards
 

Photography specialists

Another important aspect of Japanese-style guiding is underwater photography. 
Japan is still one of the world’s photography hotspot for both topside and underwater images, and the vast majority of cameras to this day - including the world-leading brands such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic or Olympus / OM Digital Solutions - are still produced by Japanese makers.

Underwater, Japan is also well placed on the light and strobe market, with brands like Inon, Sea&Sea as well as RGBlue or Fix, and the ubiquitous Olympus TG series has successfully led a small revolution in making macro photography much more accessible.
 

Underwater photo guide services offered by Okunoerabujima's MugaMuga dive center 
Screenshot source: Mugamuga.com

Many Japanese dive guides are also underwater photography specialists.
Some are photographers themselves, and guide photographers according to their specific interests and local highlights, while providing technical tips in informal to informal master-classes.

Others guides are simply highly experienced with working with photographers, and can of course efficiently spot subjects, but also offer high-level tips for shooting specific animals, covering behavioural aspects and positioning, timing, water conditions and ambient light, and more...

The level of photography-specific service offered by guides is rarely found outside specialist macro destinations, where dedicated macro spotter  / photographer guides can spot critters but also assist with shooting (snooting for instance), or are actual acclaimed photographers themselves.

Underwater slate use in guiding

Dive guide, ready to dive -  Image source: Diver-online

Underwater writing slates are nothing new, yet if there’s one aspect that really stands out and symbolizes the so-called Japanese-style of guiding, it would be the rather systematic use of underwater slates by dive guides, which has developed into what could now be called a distinct cultural tradition.

Since the beginning of scuba diving, while the main underwater communication method remains basic and conventional diving hand-signals, slates / written communication has been around as an alternative means of communication, as an easy and rather fool-proof way of efficiently conveying more complex information underwater (with the notable exception of audio coms systems used in commercial diving).

Diving instructors will often have agency-provided / self-designed training slates, used as memory backups and to keep track of progress for courses, and underwater slates are also commonly used while conducting research in scientific diving.

Guides and fun-divers will often have a small pencil or magnetic slate tucked inside a pocket somewhere, just in case something happens that calls for clear and rapid communication of more complex and unplanned-for ideas.

Technical divers, while making use of an extended range of signals (including touch codes for instance) often rely on some form of written medium as a complement to advanced signalling and also as personal memos – having clear, visual check-lists, dive plans, run-times, gas switches is a basic requirement, which makes sense, given the level of exposure, conditions and complexity of the dives undertaken.
 

Underwater slate use in action -  Image source: Marineartcenter
 

Something else… the big slate

Japanese dive guides almost exclusively use magnetic slates, which can be erased in one swipe, and allowing for more fluid communication, and outside areas with strong currents or rougher conditions, the slates used are generally quite large, since the guide will be showing his writing to all of the divers she or he is guiding.

The most commonly used slates are large plastic contraptions, designed for children use, the most commonly used model being a large magnetic slate called Sensei by the toy-brand Toby, very sturdy and with an easily recognisable design. Recently smaller magnetic slate models, including purposely designed slates, are also gaining in popularity.
 

The Toby Sensei slate, very commonly used by guides underwater
Image sources: diveoneroad.com  / oceana.ne.jp / facebook.com/sora-iro / sotoasobi.net / oceana.ne.jp
 

In the average recreational diving context, outside of teaching scenarios, slate use will usually be limited to “emergency” communications, as a back-up or extension of hand signals, which are accepted as the primary mode of underwater communication.

However, this is often a little different in Japanese guided diving, where underwater slate mirrors a specific approach to guiding and underwater interactions.

Broadly speaking, the dive-guide is expected to communicate actively during the dive, in writing, with the divers she or he is guiding.

From personal discussions with operators and guides themselves, this is justified by safety considerations (which is debatable), but also primarily as a form of underwater customer service.

Active underwater slate use / communication by the dive guide is perceived as offering guided divers a superior - and now standard and expected - experience during the dive.

In a guided situation, hand-signal use seems somewhat less common in Japan than elsewhere, where written communication is now becoming the norm.

All divers learn fundamental diving hand signals during their training, but Japanese guides will often – if conditions allow - write things down, including full sentences covering basic dive leading indications in situations where non-Japanese guides would use scuba diving’s universal hand signals.

It is not rare to see a guide write indications that would normally be conveyed by a couple of hands signals, sometimes complete sentences such as “Let’s end the dive now, and go to the safety stop”, which will be written on the slate, and shown to all the divers in the group.

Leading the dive... in writing

The other main purpose of the big slate use is (Japanese-style) fish identification.

This is not only found in Japan – Indonesian guides in Lembeh and elsewhere also carry slates, and can write, for reference, both the common and Latin scientific name of the rare critters have spotted while photographers shoot away – an approach this Lembeh Resort post explains quite well.

And let’s face it, slates are indeed great for fish ID, as there’s only so much you can do with fish hand-signals, which are not standardized and mostly suitable for basic fish ID’ing / communication purposes, and slates allow guides to share a lot more information.

Systematic underwater slate use is not only the norm when guiding in Japan, it is also a necessity, because Japanese divers, on the other hand, rarely learn fish ID sign – and why should they, since guides use magnetic slates to give the Japanese name (which, by convention, is always written in katakana script) of species encountered.

“It’s going to lay its eggs in the cracks of the rock...“ - Image source: personal archives

And beyond actual dive leading indications and fish ID, there’s all the rest…
It’s undeniable, having a slate underwater opens up a whole world of underwater possibilities…
Small jokes, comments or even anecdotes, and everything a guide is now able to tell guests underwater but couldn’t be without a slate (which does beg the question, should you?)…

Over the years, we’ve seen pretty amazing things written on our Japanese colleagues’ slates, ranging from comment such as “this fish looks delicious!” , “the current is a little tiring, don’t you think?” “I’ve never seen so many here!” ,  "It’s super cute” or even “Manta poop. (Pink)” (which does make you smile when you happen upon this at 6 am, on a slate your boss left lying around…), along with riddles, advice on camera angles, comments... Some guides will even draw underwater!
 

As an example of underwater slate communication, the three slates above read:
"Super cute! Bluestriped fangblennies always have a smile on their face ^o^" - Source: oceana.ne.jp
"Divers are being swept away by the current" - Image source: personal archives
"It’s super warm – it’s like being in a bath!" - Image source: sunslog.blog42.fc2.com

Thanks to the magnetic slate, Japanese dive guides can communicate (even politely) and share knowledge directly underwater rather than after surfacing, and also generally entertain guests underwater.
This type underwater customer service is becoming part of the job, along with safety and orientation.

On a slightly critical note, one could say that this type of approach, when pushed to the extreme, profoundly changes the approach to a dive, which tends to become a more passive experience, and reinforces reliance on the dive guide, which is not ideal for safety.

Overall, underwater slate-use is all about communication, and in Japan, this takes place at different level from what is encountered and expected in guided diving elsewhere in the world.

This decision to favour the use of underwater slates (which mostly came from Honshu’s Izu Peninsula, an area combining forgiving diving conditions and a wide range of endemic or rare critters) and the type of extended verbal underwater communication they allow is probably the key factors behind the development of a so-called Japanese-style of guiding and, ultimately, of diving.

Unfortunately, non-Japanese-speaking guests will rarely get to experience the big slate use as such, unless diving in a mixed Japanese/non-Japanese group led by a Japanese guide.

This is not seen as useful or necessary for non-Japanese style divers (which are happy with seeing octopus and moray eels, as a slightly contemptuous - yet often repeated and sometimes printed - comment goes...).

And interestingly enough, many Japanese guides seem quite happy to do away with the big slate whenever they’re not guiding Japanese divers…
 

“Manta poop (pink)“ - Image source: personal archives