Rent your entire holiday wardrobe! Tourists can now travel to Japan luggage-free – with rented clothing ready upon arrival. Our writer tests it out… and has a few pants problems

What’s wrong with your pants?’ I’m sitting in a small, six-seat microbar in Tokyo. A trendy young woman with bleached hair stops pouring me a drink and instead stares at my ankles, which are exposed to the elements.

“It’s for the environment,” I explain.

‘Area?’

“Yes,” I say. “To save it.”

She looks back down at my feet and all I can do is smile and outline how and why wearing pants that are too short is somehow good for the planet.

It goes something like this: Japan Airlines just launched a smart new service. Instead of bringing a suitcase full of clothes with you when you visit the country, the country rents you a full set of tops and pants/skirts purchased second-hand or from fashion stores. You only need to bring underwear and shoes.

A package containing the items will be waiting for you at your hotel and you will leave them to be picked up when you leave. The cost is a very reasonable £34 for ten days.

There is choice. You can select male or female sets, small, medium, large or XL; how many items you want; and whether they come from the spring/summer or autumn/winter collection. There is also children’s clothing.

Gareth says Japan Airlines’ new service ‘benefits the traveler who doesn’t have to carry as much stuff’

Wrong pants? Gareth wears his rented clothes in Tokyo

The service, branded as Any Wear Anywhere (anywearanywhere.store), benefits the traveler who does not have to carry so much stuff. The airline also saves significantly on the fuel it would otherwise use if it carried one extra suitcase per person. And the environment is also better off, because the unused fuel is no longer converted into CO2.

At least that’s the theory. The practice seems to be that trousers do not reach all the way down.

I’m 6ft tall and of medium build, so I picked a ‘large’ set, and it’s October, so I’m going for fall/winter. Of my three pairs of pants, the first to come out of the bag was the felty powder blue one that I wear but doesn’t reach my ankles.

I also have a pair of shiny, tight, silver disco-style trousers that would probably split if I danced in them, and a pair of copper brown trousers with a peasant tie at the waist that at least fit me.

I can pair this with a long-sleeved lumberjack shirt, the only top that isn’t so bulky that I’m cooking in the 70-degree Celsius “autumn” weather. The result is that I only have one full set of clothes that I can wear without exposing my shins, splitting my chair, or passing out from the heat.

It must be said that this is not optimal, even though according to Any Wear Anywhere calculations I have saved 4.23 kg of CO2 emissions on my flights.

Adding to my mild embarrassment is the fact that I’m staying in Tokyo’s newest, hippest four-star hotel, the Groove. As the name suggests, it is a fashionable hotel (before I check in, I am sent an information pack about the artist who individually designed my room). And I can’t help but feel a little self-conscious in my peasant couture as I sit down to dinner.

Gareth travels from Tokyo to Hakone, a ‘beautiful town with a lake (above) full of boat trips, views of nearby Mount Fuji and hiking trails galore’

But then, for the sake of research, I bite the bullet, put on the 3/4-length pants and head to the super-trendy bars of Golden Gai, a district of winding streets in central Tokyo, where I finally try to explain it all to the bleached blonde barmaid rolling her eyes and pouring more imported whiskey.

The next day I escape the heat of the city and head to nearby Hakone, a beautiful town with a lake full of boat trips, views of nearby Mount Fuji and hiking trails galore. I’m going out, partly because I feel like getting some cool, fresh air; but also because it means I won’t meet another stranger who will stare at what I’m wearing.

It’s strange how my strange clothes make me want to hide. In any case, the ryokan – a traditional Japanese inn – where I am staying is designed to keep the guests apart.

In Hakone, Gareth stays at Kinnotake Sengokuhara (photo), a traditional Japanese inn

Kinnotake Sengokuhara actually feels like a Bond villain’s lair – all tight, quiet, dark corridors and you actually have to call reception if you want to leave your room so they can make sure you don’t see another guest. I take the opportunity to try on some of the other clothes in solitude – there’s the slightly hairy green top from Ralph Lauren, the too-tight unbranded black polo shirt or the brown velvet button-up shirt from the 1970s with strange details on the shoulders. I’m actually spoiled for choice. But they all look bad. Not just bad, in fact. Horrible.

So back to the lumberjack shirt and farmer’s pants.

And as the sun sets behind the plumes of steam rising from the nearby volcano, I assess the new crockery and wardrobe it has given me. It’s a great idea, it’s a crappy result.