Camping in Kansai?

6 comments

1. You might want to crosspost this to /r/osaka

2. I’ve checked rentals, but they are quite expensive. The only advantage is that you’ll have the full set without worrying about something missing. I recommend looking at second hand tent and sleeping bag. I found a perfect condition tent and sleeping bag for JPY 3400 at Treasure Factory. It was about the same price for a single day rental.

3. [This site](https://www.nap-camp.com/) seems to be the best for searching for campgrounds (all in Japanese though). Look for campgrounds that list 手ぶら plans, where you can rent everything you need directly from them.

4. An alternative to (perhaps better than) finding campgrounds, would be to do some mountain hikes. So, hike for a while, get to a mtn hut, camp around that. The huts have some services–food and drinks–so while you’d be camping, you wouldn’t have to be 100% on your own.

   Also camping around the huts (山小屋) is free. If the weather is bad and they’re not full, you can pay and stay indoors. Some mtns, instead of huts, there are just shelters, which are pretty much just an empty room (which may or may not get full, depending on season), but it’s shelter.

   Hiking stores have excellent USGS-like maps, so look around. You’ll have to leave the osaka area, so think Haku-san, or north of nagoya to takayama/toyama, and into the Tateyama/Hida alps there (up to ~3000m).

5. Japanese camp grounds tend to have lots of silly rules (no fires etc. WTF?!) so just be aware of that.

6. I’m in Tokyo and I also like camping, mostly in the summer. I usually go to Izu to camp which is 3-4 hours drive from Tokyo. If you are willing to drive that far from Osaka, Mie is beautiful. I’ve camped at Mikisato beach a few years ago.