Like many corporate samurai, Ken Aihara spends much of his life stuck behind a desk in an air-conditioned concrete bunker. So when his brother Masaomi suggested taking a break, he jumped at the chance. But instead of visiting a hot spring resort or driving to Japan's shrinking countryside - typical weekend pursuits for the burned-out Tokyo salaryman - the Aiharas opted to go fishing on a boat, with Masaomi wearing the captain's hat.
'I found I wasn't seeing my family enough so this gave us a chance to be together and talk,' explains Masaomi, 34, a care worker with the elderly. He persuaded brothers Ken, a 28-year-old insurance assessor, and Yoshitaka, 31, to come along on his third fishing trip after earning his boating licence last spring. 'The atmosphere is different out there,' he says, looking out over Tokyo Bay from a club on the Edogawa River. 'And the conversation is longer and better.'
Once seen as a rich man's hobby, leisure boating is slowly filtering down the ranks to ordinary Japanese, thanks partly to falling docking prices, cheaper boats and custom-made rental deals.
'We see a steady increase in average customers, even salarymen,' says Akinori Ueda, spokesman for the Yokohama Bayside Marina, one of the largest of Japan's 40 leisure harbours, with enough capacity to hold more than 1,500 vessels. 'You couldn't imagine it a few years back.'
Japan's salarymen have also been drawn to the sea by the efforts of companies like Yamaha Motor, the country's largest provider of marine leisure services. Yamaha runs dozens of 'Sea Style' rental clubs like this one, where membership costs about 3,500 yen (HK$221) and a boat for the day can be had for 15,000 yen. Throw in a tank of fuel and the price tag for the three Aiharas today comes to about 6,000 yen each - the cost of a decent sushi meal.
'It's pretty reasonable for a day on the ocean,' says Masaomi, who lives in landlocked Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. 'I get to talk to my brothers and relax and fish at the same time.' For an extra 20,000 yen, the company will provide a pilot, leaving all hands free for fishing rods and bottles of cold beer. 'The advantage of that system is that the passengers can drink,' explains Yamaha spokeswoman Satoko Ogawa. 'Though, hopefully, not too much,' she says, smiling.
Even the largest of seven boats at this club - a 25-footer that fits 10 people - can be navigated out of Tokyo Bay for about US$250. 'Many people have this image that marine leisure is for rich people,' says Teruyuki Ando, Yamaha's senior public relations manager. 'But we'd like to get the message out that ordinary people can join in. We want to make this hobby available to as many people as we can.'
