The Permian volcano-sedimentary strata of the Hida Gaien belt of SW Japan are characterized by Lower Permian felsic tuffs and tuffaceous clastic rocks, Middle Permian andesites and sandstones rich in volcanic detritus, and upper Middle to Upper Permian feldspathic sandstones and mudstones. A combination of petrographic and geochemical analyses together with zircon U–Pb dating for the sandstones reveals a provenance change from an immature undissected arc with active felsic and intermediate volcanism during the Early–Middle Permian to a mature arc with basement uplift during the Late Permian. The Upper Permian sandstone yields syn-depositional zircons with 500–400 Ma zircons. This age distribution suggests that sediment was derived from the Permian arc and early Paleozoic basement. Similar characteristics to Permian strata in the Hida Gaien belt are recognized in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt in terms of detrital zircon ages and the change in dominant lithology from volcanic to clastic rocks. In particular, Permian strata of the Jilin area (NE China) are lithostratigraphically similar to those of the Hida Gaien belt and have similar detrital zircon U–Pb ages. As such, Permian strata in both areas would have been deposited proximal to each other in the same tectonic setting along a single subduction zone in the western Paleo-Pacific Ocean.