Can you rent Nintendo Switch in Japan?

I really only want my son to have it for his birthday.

Outside of very specialized services, renting game consoles is not really a thing here, no.

Even if you could find a way, I would strongly consider you to reconsider this plan. You're free to parent as you see fit, of course, but giving a child a birthday "present" that will then immediately be confiscated / taken away from him forever the very next day does not sound like a way to make a child happy, nor does it seem particularly effective for teaching some kind of lesson.

Maybe just take the simpler route of giving him a different present that you would be happy for him to keep, and/or taking him somewhere special (where unlike a present, the expectation from the beginning would not be that he could go there every single day).

I was taken to Timezone for my birthday. He already has a Famicon modern version and Pokemon computer whose use is so tightly controlled so he basically doesn't own them. You might say non-provision of rentals is part of why Japan has a problem with excessive computer use in children. About the Nintendo Switch it was made clear he could earn to buy on but he has not done much to earn it.

I still think it isn't a good idea. If he hasn't earned one, then give him something you think he has earned, or take him someplace you think he'd enjoy.

What is the point of giving him something he hasn't earned and then immediately taking it away? You think that if he plays a couple levels of Mario or a few hours of Zelda he's going to see the light, find enlightenment and reevaluate his relationship with video games and electronic media in exactly the way you want him to?

You might say non-provision of rentals is part of why Japan has a problem with excessive computer use in children.

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You might say that, but I'm going to need some sort of evidence for this assertion that Japan has a more significant problem with "computer (or smartphone, video game, etc.) use in children" than literally almost any other first-world country.

Hasn't "kids are too addicted to computers/video games/etc." been something that parents literally everywhere have been complaining about for years now?