Hi Everyone!
My sister and I will be in Japan in November, and since it’s our second time we’ve decided to rent out a little Jimny with a rooftop tent and all the camping bells and whistles to do a bit of camping for something different.
I was wondering if anyone here has been camping in Japan before and has any advice or recommendations for us? Or if anyone has advice or tips for driving in Japan in general?
We will have the campervan for 7 days leaving from Tokyo and this is what I have so far:
Day 1: wanting to drive toward Mt Fuji via Mt Takao but not sure where to set up camp for this day yet after we leave Mt Takao
Day 2: Mt Fuji – looking at camping at Koan Camping Ground at Lake Motosuko
Day 3: Izu – looking at staying at Yuuhi Shiosai
Day 4: Hakone – not too sure where to camp around here (one place I’ve seen is a bit pricey and a couple of other places didn’t have super good reviews)
Day 5: not too sure what to do with this day yet
Day 6: Drive back to near Tokyo but not entirely sure where a good place to camp might be – I was just hoping to be near Tokyo as I believe the Tori-no-ichi festival is supposed to be this day (23rd Nov) and I would like to see it
Day 7: we have to drop the camper back at 5pm so I was thinking of just driving and going for a bit of a hike at Akigawa Valley
Thanks is advance for all your thoughts and opinions 🙂
8 comments
I think Hokkaido has some of the best camping grounds …… some a free
CurrentlyHannah has some camper van videos on YouTube to check out. She does lots of hiking in japan videos in general, you should check ’em out!
Japanese YouTube car camping videos are a fun and weird rabbit hole.
Auto camp grounds can sometimes cost more than hotels. That said, did you know there are free campsite across Japan. Most are for tent camping, but all will have some kind of parking for vehicles. Also some free campsite is first come first served, and some require a reservation, some may require to check-in before use.
Here are some resources on finding free campsites across Japan.
[https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1ZBVjXbJKXFgt7AFBFQlSn5Zx3to&hl=en_US&ll=33.11205570594433%2C133.9250172806771&z=7&fbclid=IwAR0GfiKPFYE6J_c7IRxwHbKpC46oBKqMWv1iSUvwXLcCfg-h1FOFw6LhlaM](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1ZBVjXbJKXFgt7AFBFQlSn5Zx3to&hl=en_US&ll=33.11205570594433%2C133.9250172806771&z=7&fbclid=IwAR0GfiKPFYE6J_c7IRxwHbKpC46oBKqMWv1iSUvwXLcCfg-h1FOFw6LhlaM)
[https://camp.tabinchuya.com/en.html](https://camp.tabinchuya.com/en.html)
Might seem silly but there is an anime called Laid Back Camping that was actually super informative. 😁
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.google.com/mymaps/viewer%3Fmid%3D1ZBVjXbJKXFgt7AFBFQlSn5Zx3to%26hl%3Den_US&ved=2ahUKEwi0h4GMkpGBAxWMq6QKHa5LAJ8QFnoECBIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3v6tHWsp0XYmpPfsoQGeEa
And we’ve camped, but not where you want to go
Sounds very fun! I don’t have any advice or tips on camping in Japan, but this couple of vanlifers have camped in Japan a few times. I think they have a website where you find out their routes and recommendations:
https://youtube.com/@kingingit?si=__65fy2DhratYaaM
Sounds like you’ll have a lot of fun! Please just make sure to take the proper precautions – there have been incidents of harassment toward women camping alone. Japan is safe for the most part, but we do have our fair share of creeps too.