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Van Life in Japan

369 points by ym705 4y ago

oriettaxx 4y ago
uh, super! but this is the kind of link you want to be the only one reading :(
- bubba_sparks 4y ago
  Agreed. You probably just ruined it for yourself and every other serendipitous explorer. This is why we can't have nice things.
dusted 4y ago
Site seems down due to database error at the moment. https://web.archive.org/web/20230207112109/https://kumazen.com/a-guide-for-van-life-in-japan/ https://web.archive.org/web/20230207112109/https://kumazen.c...
- padraic7a 4y ago
  I was just about to post that. Well done.
- ym705 4y ago
  Thanks, just enabled cache and rebooted server
  - yreg 4y ago
    Thank you for the article, it is fascinating.
TurboHaskal 4y ago
> We usually don’t bathe every day and listen to our body’s needs. If I did this I'd need to shower every 4h :)
- petodo 4y ago
  I'm living in apartment and shower twice a week (at least in winter). Never understood obsession with daily shower as seen is American movies, no wonder Americans have extreme water consumption, I wonder how common is eczema and skin diseases over there compared to countries which shower less. EDIT: instead of downvoting rather prove me wrong, do you think Americans don't have extreme water consumption? US water consumption per capita is in top 10 in whole world and it's 4 times higher than Germany for instance. Everything else in comment are just observations, but I guess too many Americans here don't like the facts and observations. https://www.worldometers.info/water/ https://www.worldometers.info/water/
  - samwestdev 4y ago
    Japanese people are also obsessed with bath/shower every day before sleeping.
    - skhr0680 4y ago
      In summer: you need a shower to wash the sweat off In winter: you need a bath to get as warm as possible before going to bed. Until recently (~1980s-90s) houses were expected to be ephemeral, whether they were knocked over by an earthquake or the new owner, so people skipped "luxuries" like insulation.
      - hermitcrab 4y ago
        >In winter: you need a bath to get as warm as possible before going to bed Have you tried an electric blanket?
  - saiya-jin 4y ago
    You don't need to use any chemistry for shower unless you are greasy, thus no pollution and washing your skin with just water is good for it if not outright neutral. You do you, some people sweat and/or smell more, some people less, some have very social lives and some go out of their home just for shopping or not even that. And some simply don't care if they disgust others. World is big, no need to bash Americans or any other nation.
karaokeyoga 4y ago
https://archive.md/pLCVD https://archive.md/pLCVD
EngCanMan 4y ago
"An empty water bottle/adult diaper can become a luxury in the middle of the night to avoid putting on your clothes/shoes and exiting the van in the coldness" You lost me when adult diapers became a luxury.
- ietktnz 4y ago
  I came here to quote this with virtually the same response. I will go so far as to say this is gross.
  - rgrieselhuber 4y ago
    Gross. Anyone who has camped knows that feeling of sadness when it’s cold outside but you have to go to the bathroom at 3am. But some of the best moments I’ve had outside are during that time. The air is cleaner, you can see the stars if it’s clear, you might hear coyotes or other animals yipping not too far off...well worth the momentary annoyance.
    - nicbou 4y ago
      It's a rare opportunity to see the stars. It's always worth it.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      Camping in a remote environment is way different than parked in a parking lot on some highway exit - and now that Walmart isn't 24 hrs in the US you can't even just park there and walk in. Temperature also changes things - if it's above zero outside it's not so bad for a quick jaunt, but if it is -40º it's a whole different ballgame.
      - rgrieselhuber 4y ago
        Sure, but I don't know a lot of places in Japan that get to those temperatures, especially on the map indicated.
BryantD 4y ago
Lovely piece! Any thoughts on whether or not speaking Japanese would be a requirement? It would of course be the polite thing to do.
- yreg 4y ago
  Not OP, but I traveled through Japan with a few friends before the pandemic and none of us speak Japanese. It's true that almost no one there speaks english. However, everyone we've encountered (especially the people working in the service industry) was super friendly and tried their best to be helpful. The public transport system is thought out and labeled very well, even in english + it plays well with Google Maps, so navigation was never an issue. One thing that I didn't expect (although it makes perfect sense) is that OCR of Japanese writing is very bad compared to what we've got used to. Aiming a phone with Google Translate at some sign will often produce total garbage. You can attempt to transcribe the kanji with your finger and that usually gives better results, but is tedious and difficult (since the order of strokes matters and you have no clue about it). We've quickly learned a few crucial kanjis, e.g. 出口 for `exit`. A tip for the restaurants that only offer japanese menu with no pictures: open the listing in Maps, browse through the photos and show the waiter a photo of the meal you would like.
  - randomopining 4y ago
    I found it kind of boring/isolating though. Did you? It's unbelievably easy to move through their society, eat well, etc etc. But not truly interacting with anybody for weeks at a time besides tourists is kind of annoying.
    - yreg 4y ago
      I was there only for a bit more than two weeks, so I crave to go back. We are rather introverted so we socialized (for more than a short dialogue) only two times IIRC. Once was with other foreigners at a hostel. But the other time it was at some tiny pub in Hiroshima. They had like 3 tables and there were only the owners (a couple) and 2-3 regulars. All of them wanted to drink and hang out with us and they were very loud and enthusiastic even though we didn't understand each other almost at all. We loved it, I will never forget it.
Lio 4y ago
I love this or at least the idea of it. The only thing that really would bother me is, not sure how to put this, but the lack of privacy with regard to sleeping arrangements. I guess some people are more comfortable being intimate with their partner in close proximity to their children but that's not for me. Anyway everything else looks like an amazing adventure so I wish them good luck.
- true_religion 4y ago
  When I was little, I briefly lived in a house with 3 generations and 10+ people in a single room. From what I remember, parents would just pick a time to be alone, and grandma would sit on the porch and shoo any curious children away from the house.
  - ProllyInfamous 4y ago
    Gramms always knew best — in my teenaged years, I briefly lived with my maternal great grandmother; she would always suggest we "go neckin'," which to her was the polite way of her proclaiming: sire her great-great grand-children.
- calsy 4y ago
  Humans have always slept in family groups. It seems like the more natural thing to do. Likewise with nudity. Westerner's are hung up on covering themselves up in front of family members at a certain age. Many Asian cultures don't have that baggage. Bathing with family or going to a bathhouse is normal, and why wouldn't it be?
  - adventured 4y ago
    So called "natural" doesn't always mean better. Fortunately we get to choose what we like or don't like, preferences. Our distant ancestors had to put up with a lot of negatives that we do not necessarily need to. Just because they did it, doesn't mean they wanted to, it may mean they had mediocre alternatives (or no alternatives at all).
orliesaurus 4y ago
I wish there was a way to experience this as a foreign tourist
- blamazon 4y ago
  It's not that hard really, I recommend it. RV rentals are a thing in Japan. I am from USA, so I went to a local shop here that offers International Driver's Permits. All they do is look at your driver's license to ensure it's valid, and then stamp a little paper brochure that has a bunch of translations of what your country permits with a driver's license. You can get as many of these as you want, it's not an actual license but just a certified translation, so you still need to carry your regular license. I got pulled over once at 3am in the middle of nowhere and the officer didn't speak any English and was so confused when I handed him my documents but once I pointed to the Japanese section of the IDP he studied it for a bit and then made the sounds of "ohhhh, I get it now" and let me go. (Aside: If you're traveling to a country where casual roadside police bribes are a fact of life, (NOT Japan, more like Turkmenistan) multiple IDPs can be really handy, since the mechanism of the bribe is often 'I will hold your important document for you until you are ready to give the money' and they may not realize the IDP isn't actually your license, so you can just drive away.) Also, language barrier isn't really an issue day to day. Most people in the huge urban centers (such as where you'd pick up the RV) speak English well. Once you get off the beaten track, English is a lot less common but translation apps work well (i enabled the Japanese keyboard on my iPhone and often we'd just pass the phone back and forth, typing messages) locals off the beaten path tend to be interested in foreign travelers, happy to take time to help, learn more about you, etc. Small regions in Japan tend to have strong local identity and there is generally an interest in sharing that with travelers. I only did it for 2 weeks but Japan would have let me stay for 90 days without a visa.
  - SECProto 4y ago
    > language barrier isn't really an issue day to day. Most people in the huge urban centers (such as where you'd pick up the RV) speak English well. This is not the general experience in Japan, and advising people to expect English speakers is misleading :) That said, you will certainly still get by, and if you're nervous about it there are definitely other (more expensive) rental options with strong English language support - one of them is linked from the blog.
entaloneralie 4y ago
We've lived in a sailboat in Japan for a while and wrote a little provisioning guide that might also be of interest for van folks in Japan. http://100r.co/site/provisioning_in_japan.html http://100r.co/site/provisioning_in_japan.html
- p_j_w 4y ago
  I'd just like to say I really loved watching your sailing videos. I was watching a lot of videos from sailboat cruisers around the start of the pandemic, and your videos were such a breath of fresh air in that space, as I relate to you two much more strongly than the stereotypical cruiser hanging out in the Caribbean for years on end.
- de_nied 4y ago
  I remember I stumbled onto your website through people's neocities links, and just spent hours reading about sailing, UXN, Japan, and your travels in general. Fantastic and high-quality material. I wish there were more collectives and groups like this that keep the maker/hacker culture alive.
- lippihom 4y ago
  Amazing site, and life!
- yreg 4y ago
  Woo, you have redesigned the site since the last time I visited. It's so nice
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- codazoda 4y ago
  I love your site and your work. It inspired my own little CSS framework. Thanks for sharing your stuff.
mailman11 4y ago
What a great article because, unlike nonsense IG hippies, this seems like a normal person doing something they think is fun, but knows they can't do it forever and that it isn't for everyone. I heartily appreciate their attitude, lack of paid sponsorship (#ad), and realism ("I have a kid. I am a freelance SWE. I would honestly not recommend living in a van with family if you can’t arrange your work schedule completely to what you want.")
varelse 4y ago
[dead]
mayormcmatt 4y ago
Used to live in Oita and totally agree that prefecture, Miyazaki, and I'd throw in Kagoshima, are all great for seaside (or otherwise) free camping. Used to putter around on my bicycle or in my tiny car to sleep at beaches, out-of-the-way parks, Michi No Eki: wherever I could find privacy and not bother anyone. Frequent onsen make cleanliness a breeze and a joy. Great times, those!
r0m4n0 4y ago
Not sure if the OP is here but I’d recommend a cassette toilet, if you can find one in Japan. Having lived in a van it was the ideal setup for what you are describing. If there are plenty of public restrooms, you empty the cassette toilet there (they wheel in like suitcases) and you can give up the adult diapers :)
chaostheory 4y ago
Given Japan’s problem with depopulation, is this better than just renovating a free house? For context, in many prefectures there are houses that are either free or cost $15,000 or less.
- pancrufty 4y ago
  Nobody renovates houses in Japan. You're supposed to destroy it and build anew. For 15k you're buying the lot and the right to spend a lot more than that.
  - gusgus01 4y ago
    Well there's at least one person who has: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwRjO3kHxU4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwRjO3kHxU4 He mentions renovation companies as well as builders who will undertake renovations. He has many more videos detailing the process. However, being a youtuber does open up possibilities that aren't common.
  - zzzbra 4y ago
    this is changing.
  - justusthane 4y ago
    How come? Is it just cultural? Are there laws against it?
    - michaelt 4y ago
      > Unlike in other countries, Japanese homes gradually depreciate over time, becoming completely valueless within 20 or 30 years. When someone moves out of a home or dies, the house, unlike the land it sits on, has no resale value and is typically demolished. This scrap-and-build approach is a quirk of the Japanese housing market that can be explained variously by low-quality construction to quickly meet demand after the second world war, repeated building code revisions to improve earthquake resilience and a cycle of poor maintenance due to the lack of any incentive to make homes marketable for resale. -- https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusable-housing-revolution https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusabl... Of course, houses can be renovated - as the article explains. But going along with a country's traditional building methods is often cheaper than bucking the trends.
Justsignedup 4y ago
Every damn time I hear about van life, including the main image in the article........ "I live in a VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!"
poorman 4y ago
As someone who's been doing van life for the past year, things like finding water, and places to camp are usually top of mind. Especially if you try to stay on the East Coast of the United States for a while. Might have to try Japan!
- shortcake27 4y ago
  You could also try New Zealand. You’re probably never more than 30 minutes drive away from a campsite. And if you get a self-contained vehicle it’s even better as you can park up virtually anywhere.
  - fennecfoxy 4y ago
    As a Kiwi, free-camping is restricted in NZ and for good reason, people need to make sure they're allowed to be there. But also tourists make an absolute mess of the place a lot of the time. Other countries don't have the "tidy kiwi" mentality that we get growing up. I live in the UK now and the percentage of people that will just throw rubbish on the ground is extraordinarily high; I'll hold onto my rubbish until I find a bin, I have never once in my life thrown something on the ground.
    - shortcake27 4y ago
      Yeah, that’s why I mentioned getting a self-contained vehicle for freedom camping. The laws around self-contained vehicles are designed to solve the problems you discussed. I want to be clear that I’m not suggesting freedom camping in a non self-contained vehicle, nor littering or other anti-environmental or illegal behaviour. But anyone with a self-contained vehicle is well within their rights to freedom camp on council or public conservation land except where camping is explicitly prohibited. Alternatively, if you have a non self-contained vehicle, you’re never far from a legit campsite anyway. I agree about the UK though, it’s next level. I was up in the lakes one time, can’t remember exactly where, but on the path from the carpark to the lake (maybe 500m) I noticed an insane amount of rubbish (some of it very old), so I grabbed every plastic bag I had and started collecting it. I received extremely dirty looks, people started handing me their rubbish (???), and an old man asked me what crime I had committed to be forced to do community service. I struggle to understand the mentality of people who visit national parks for their beauty then ruin them by littering.
rr888 4y ago
Japanese people are usually very organized and neat, I can't imagine they'd appreciate backpackers coming through like this. Where I come from there are ever increasing number of people living in vans and its a real problem. They usually just cause problems, dont pay hotel or property taxes and ruin the area for everyone else. Some towns have banned them which is worse for the few locals that used to do it on a short trip.
- pwim 4y ago
  As someone living in Japan, this doesn’t strike me as something locals would complain about. Heck, my Japanese in-laws did a week long van camping trip last year, and I think they’d be impressed with this person’s setup.
  - blackcat30 4y ago
    As someone who has been living in Japan for more than 2 decades, don't be surprised if you get a knock on your window in the middle of the night from your friendly neigborhood police officer.
- themodelplumber 4y ago
  Organized and neat really varies even depending on the local culture and there's quite a bit of variety in normalish neighborhoods...I have cleaned out some serious Japanese hoarder houses / elderly houses in my time, and sometimes circumstances or life can change people, too, like from organized to more like a hoarder. Phew all those roaches man xD
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  What problems do they cause? Why would they pay hotel or property taxes when they do not reside there, and have none of the rights of residents (e.g. school system access)? Also, isn't blaming "an increasing number of people living in vans" a perfect example of shooting the messenger and ignoring the message?
  - freetime2 4y ago
xavdid 4y ago
I wasn't in Japan, but I did something similar in the US for about 6 months before the pandemic cut our (planned 12 month) trip short. It was far from perfect, but it was super rewarding! Your experience will vary wildly based on what's available in your van, but you can make just about anything work.
testermelon 4y ago
I wonder how do they handle address and municipal paperworks. Do you legally “stay” at a friend’s house/apartment?
- lmm 4y ago
  Yeah that was my first thought. It's illegal not to have a fixed address AIUI.
- hybrid_cluster 4y ago
  It says in the post that they're registered at a family member's address
jack_pp 4y ago
While I'm happy for OP I'm afraid finding a "paradise" and telling the internet about it has the risk of ruining it. If 10k people read the article and 1% go to the same place and blog about it and bring even more people, then sooner or later it will be ruined and chances are localities will ban such adventures. I've done something similar.. some years ago there was a casino I would go to where you would pay 10$ entry fee and have access to a buffet, for the whole day. They had great food too. So I told an uber driver this "hack" and less than 6 months later they started checking whether you were playing or not, you needed a special ticket to access the buffet. Now I have no idea if me not shutting up about it has caused it to be closed off but there's certainly a chance.
- killingtime74 4y ago
  If not you someone else would have talked. Same for this post. Japan has a population of over 125 million (4x US?). Over 2000 children are born there per day. We are not movie protagonists, don't worry about it
  - TylerE 4y ago
    Closer to 1/4th not 4x. US pop is over 400M.
    - yan 4y ago
      331M
      - TylerE 4y ago
        Citizens. Not all who live here are.
        anigbrowl 4y ago
        This is wrong. The census counts everyone, and while it's not perfectly accurate they also have methods for mitigating that, combining in-person surveys and sampling methods.
freetime2 4y ago
Somewhat unrelated, but for folks who might enjoy living like a vagrant in Japan, it is also worth checking their extensive network of mountain huts [1]. They are a little pricey (JPY 8,000+ per night, meals included), fairly strict in terms of lights out, wake up time, etc, and can get pretty cozy when you're sharing a room with upwards of 20 other people. But also some of the best, most memorable experiences of my life for being able to climb up to 3,000m elevation and just relax and take in the stunning views while offering the convenience of warm meals, toilets, bedding, and a often times a vending machine full of beer. [1] https://thejapanalps.com/en/cottage-hotel/cottage-camping/ https://thejapanalps.com/en/cottage-hotel/cottage-camping/
tomcam 4y ago
> Japan has a lot of bears, monkeys Monkeys? Wtf? I had no idea. Given its geographic location I should have guessed that was the case but for some reason I am still a little bit shocked.
- freetime2 4y ago
  Feel like I've seen about a million photos on instagram of snow monkeys chilling in hot springs. I've never been, but I think it's a pretty world-famous tourist attraction (can't comment on whether it's actually worth a visit, though): https://en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/ https://en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/ I've also run into wild monkeys hiking around Kamikochi in Nagano, and cycling around Lake Tagokura Fukushima. They're small, but not particularly shy, and like any wild animal bigger than a cat I find them somewhat scary.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Well-founded caution. Monkeys are very strong and fast. Hung around with a spider monkey for years at my friend’s house. The monkey was “domesticated”, but sometimes it would just… go off.
- diceduckmonk 4y ago
  There’s only one species. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_macaque https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_macaque Pretty much all the big island nations in Asia have monkeys. Our house just a few kilometers from the center of Taipei has monkeys in the backyard.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    TIL! Are they aggressive?
gwbas1c 4y ago
Uhm, do you have sex in front of your kid? Maybe I'm a spoiled westerner, but (save for that one time that my kid barged in because I forgot to lock the door,) I've never had sex in front of my kids.

Van Life in Japan

369 points by ym705 4y ago

oriettaxx 4y ago

uh, super! but this is the kind of link you want to be the only one reading :(

bubba_sparks 4y ago
Agreed. You probably just ruined it for yourself and every other serendipitous explorer. This is why we can't have nice things.

dusted 4y ago

Site seems down due to database error at the moment. https://web.archive.org/web/20230207112109/https://kumazen.com/a-guide-for-van-life-in-japan/ https://web.archive.org/web/20230207112109/https://kumazen.c...

padraic7a 4y ago
I was just about to post that. Well done.
ym705 4y ago
Thanks, just enabled cache and rebooted server
- yreg 4y ago
  Thank you for the article, it is fascinating.

TurboHaskal 4y ago

> We usually don’t bathe every day and listen to our body’s needs. If I did this I'd need to shower every 4h :)

petodo 4y ago
I'm living in apartment and shower twice a week (at least in winter). Never understood obsession with daily shower as seen is American movies, no wonder Americans have extreme water consumption, I wonder how common is eczema and skin diseases over there compared to countries which shower less. EDIT: instead of downvoting rather prove me wrong, do you think Americans don't have extreme water consumption? US water consumption per capita is in top 10 in whole world and it's 4 times higher than Germany for instance. Everything else in comment are just observations, but I guess too many Americans here don't like the facts and observations. https://www.worldometers.info/water/ https://www.worldometers.info/water/
- samwestdev 4y ago
  Japanese people are also obsessed with bath/shower every day before sleeping.
  - skhr0680 4y ago
    In summer: you need a shower to wash the sweat off In winter: you need a bath to get as warm as possible before going to bed. Until recently (~1980s-90s) houses were expected to be ephemeral, whether they were knocked over by an earthquake or the new owner, so people skipped "luxuries" like insulation.
    - hermitcrab 4y ago
      >In winter: you need a bath to get as warm as possible before going to bed Have you tried an electric blanket?
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  You don't need to use any chemistry for shower unless you are greasy, thus no pollution and washing your skin with just water is good for it if not outright neutral. You do you, some people sweat and/or smell more, some people less, some have very social lives and some go out of their home just for shopping or not even that. And some simply don't care if they disgust others. World is big, no need to bash Americans or any other nation.

karaokeyoga 4y ago

https://archive.md/pLCVD https://archive.md/pLCVD

EngCanMan 4y ago

"An empty water bottle/adult diaper can become a luxury in the middle of the night to avoid putting on your clothes/shoes and exiting the van in the coldness" You lost me when adult diapers became a luxury.

ietktnz 4y ago
I came here to quote this with virtually the same response. I will go so far as to say this is gross.
- rgrieselhuber 4y ago
  Gross. Anyone who has camped knows that feeling of sadness when it’s cold outside but you have to go to the bathroom at 3am. But some of the best moments I’ve had outside are during that time. The air is cleaner, you can see the stars if it’s clear, you might hear coyotes or other animals yipping not too far off...well worth the momentary annoyance.
  - nicbou 4y ago
    It's a rare opportunity to see the stars. It's always worth it.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Camping in a remote environment is way different than parked in a parking lot on some highway exit - and now that Walmart isn't 24 hrs in the US you can't even just park there and walk in. Temperature also changes things - if it's above zero outside it's not so bad for a quick jaunt, but if it is -40º it's a whole different ballgame.
    - rgrieselhuber 4y ago
      Sure, but I don't know a lot of places in Japan that get to those temperatures, especially on the map indicated.

BryantD 4y ago

Lovely piece! Any thoughts on whether or not speaking Japanese would be a requirement? It would of course be the polite thing to do.

yreg 4y ago
Not OP, but I traveled through Japan with a few friends before the pandemic and none of us speak Japanese. It's true that almost no one there speaks english. However, everyone we've encountered (especially the people working in the service industry) was super friendly and tried their best to be helpful. The public transport system is thought out and labeled very well, even in english + it plays well with Google Maps, so navigation was never an issue. One thing that I didn't expect (although it makes perfect sense) is that OCR of Japanese writing is very bad compared to what we've got used to. Aiming a phone with Google Translate at some sign will often produce total garbage. You can attempt to transcribe the kanji with your finger and that usually gives better results, but is tedious and difficult (since the order of strokes matters and you have no clue about it). We've quickly learned a few crucial kanjis, e.g. 出口 for `exit`. A tip for the restaurants that only offer japanese menu with no pictures: open the listing in Maps, browse through the photos and show the waiter a photo of the meal you would like.
- randomopining 4y ago
  I found it kind of boring/isolating though. Did you? It's unbelievably easy to move through their society, eat well, etc etc. But not truly interacting with anybody for weeks at a time besides tourists is kind of annoying.
  - yreg 4y ago
    I was there only for a bit more than two weeks, so I crave to go back. We are rather introverted so we socialized (for more than a short dialogue) only two times IIRC. Once was with other foreigners at a hostel. But the other time it was at some tiny pub in Hiroshima. They had like 3 tables and there were only the owners (a couple) and 2-3 regulars. All of them wanted to drink and hang out with us and they were very loud and enthusiastic even though we didn't understand each other almost at all. We loved it, I will never forget it.

Lio 4y ago

I love this or at least the idea of it. The only thing that really would bother me is, not sure how to put this, but the lack of privacy with regard to sleeping arrangements. I guess some people are more comfortable being intimate with their partner in close proximity to their children but that's not for me. Anyway everything else looks like an amazing adventure so I wish them good luck.

true_religion 4y ago
When I was little, I briefly lived in a house with 3 generations and 10+ people in a single room. From what I remember, parents would just pick a time to be alone, and grandma would sit on the porch and shoo any curious children away from the house.
- ProllyInfamous 4y ago
  Gramms always knew best — in my teenaged years, I briefly lived with my maternal great grandmother; she would always suggest we "go neckin'," which to her was the polite way of her proclaiming: sire her great-great grand-children.
calsy 4y ago
Humans have always slept in family groups. It seems like the more natural thing to do. Likewise with nudity. Westerner's are hung up on covering themselves up in front of family members at a certain age. Many Asian cultures don't have that baggage. Bathing with family or going to a bathhouse is normal, and why wouldn't it be?
- adventured 4y ago
  So called "natural" doesn't always mean better. Fortunately we get to choose what we like or don't like, preferences. Our distant ancestors had to put up with a lot of negatives that we do not necessarily need to. Just because they did it, doesn't mean they wanted to, it may mean they had mediocre alternatives (or no alternatives at all).

orliesaurus 4y ago

I wish there was a way to experience this as a foreign tourist

blamazon 4y ago
It's not that hard really, I recommend it. RV rentals are a thing in Japan. I am from USA, so I went to a local shop here that offers International Driver's Permits. All they do is look at your driver's license to ensure it's valid, and then stamp a little paper brochure that has a bunch of translations of what your country permits with a driver's license. You can get as many of these as you want, it's not an actual license but just a certified translation, so you still need to carry your regular license. I got pulled over once at 3am in the middle of nowhere and the officer didn't speak any English and was so confused when I handed him my documents but once I pointed to the Japanese section of the IDP he studied it for a bit and then made the sounds of "ohhhh, I get it now" and let me go. (Aside: If you're traveling to a country where casual roadside police bribes are a fact of life, (NOT Japan, more like Turkmenistan) multiple IDPs can be really handy, since the mechanism of the bribe is often 'I will hold your important document for you until you are ready to give the money' and they may not realize the IDP isn't actually your license, so you can just drive away.) Also, language barrier isn't really an issue day to day. Most people in the huge urban centers (such as where you'd pick up the RV) speak English well. Once you get off the beaten track, English is a lot less common but translation apps work well (i enabled the Japanese keyboard on my iPhone and often we'd just pass the phone back and forth, typing messages) locals off the beaten path tend to be interested in foreign travelers, happy to take time to help, learn more about you, etc. Small regions in Japan tend to have strong local identity and there is generally an interest in sharing that with travelers. I only did it for 2 weeks but Japan would have let me stay for 90 days without a visa.
- SECProto 4y ago
  > language barrier isn't really an issue day to day. Most people in the huge urban centers (such as where you'd pick up the RV) speak English well. This is not the general experience in Japan, and advising people to expect English speakers is misleading :) That said, you will certainly still get by, and if you're nervous about it there are definitely other (more expensive) rental options with strong English language support - one of them is linked from the blog.

entaloneralie 4y ago

We've lived in a sailboat in Japan for a while and wrote a little provisioning guide that might also be of interest for van folks in Japan. http://100r.co/site/provisioning_in_japan.html http://100r.co/site/provisioning_in_japan.html

p_j_w 4y ago
I'd just like to say I really loved watching your sailing videos. I was watching a lot of videos from sailboat cruisers around the start of the pandemic, and your videos were such a breath of fresh air in that space, as I relate to you two much more strongly than the stereotypical cruiser hanging out in the Caribbean for years on end.
de_nied 4y ago
I remember I stumbled onto your website through people's neocities links, and just spent hours reading about sailing, UXN, Japan, and your travels in general. Fantastic and high-quality material. I wish there were more collectives and groups like this that keep the maker/hacker culture alive.
lippihom 4y ago
Amazing site, and life!
yreg 4y ago
Woo, you have redesigned the site since the last time I visited. It's so nice
deleted 4y ago
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codazoda 4y ago
I love your site and your work. It inspired my own little CSS framework. Thanks for sharing your stuff.

mailman11 4y ago

What a great article because, unlike nonsense IG hippies, this seems like a normal person doing something they think is fun, but knows they can't do it forever and that it isn't for everyone. I heartily appreciate their attitude, lack of paid sponsorship (#ad), and realism ("I have a kid. I am a freelance SWE. I would honestly not recommend living in a van with family if you can’t arrange your work schedule completely to what you want.")

varelse 4y ago

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mayormcmatt 4y ago

Used to live in Oita and totally agree that prefecture, Miyazaki, and I'd throw in Kagoshima, are all great for seaside (or otherwise) free camping. Used to putter around on my bicycle or in my tiny car to sleep at beaches, out-of-the-way parks, Michi No Eki: wherever I could find privacy and not bother anyone. Frequent onsen make cleanliness a breeze and a joy. Great times, those!

r0m4n0 4y ago

Not sure if the OP is here but I’d recommend a cassette toilet, if you can find one in Japan. Having lived in a van it was the ideal setup for what you are describing. If there are plenty of public restrooms, you empty the cassette toilet there (they wheel in like suitcases) and you can give up the adult diapers :)

chaostheory 4y ago

Given Japan’s problem with depopulation, is this better than just renovating a free house? For context, in many prefectures there are houses that are either free or cost $15,000 or less.

pancrufty 4y ago
Nobody renovates houses in Japan. You're supposed to destroy it and build anew. For 15k you're buying the lot and the right to spend a lot more than that.
- gusgus01 4y ago
  Well there's at least one person who has: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwRjO3kHxU4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwRjO3kHxU4 He mentions renovation companies as well as builders who will undertake renovations. He has many more videos detailing the process. However, being a youtuber does open up possibilities that aren't common.
- zzzbra 4y ago
  this is changing.
- justusthane 4y ago
  How come? Is it just cultural? Are there laws against it?
  - michaelt 4y ago
    > Unlike in other countries, Japanese homes gradually depreciate over time, becoming completely valueless within 20 or 30 years. When someone moves out of a home or dies, the house, unlike the land it sits on, has no resale value and is typically demolished. This scrap-and-build approach is a quirk of the Japanese housing market that can be explained variously by low-quality construction to quickly meet demand after the second world war, repeated building code revisions to improve earthquake resilience and a cycle of poor maintenance due to the lack of any incentive to make homes marketable for resale. -- https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusable-housing-revolution https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusabl... Of course, houses can be renovated - as the article explains. But going along with a country's traditional building methods is often cheaper than bucking the trends.

Justsignedup 4y ago

Every damn time I hear about van life, including the main image in the article........ "I live in a VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!"

poorman 4y ago

As someone who's been doing van life for the past year, things like finding water, and places to camp are usually top of mind. Especially if you try to stay on the East Coast of the United States for a while. Might have to try Japan!

shortcake27 4y ago
You could also try New Zealand. You’re probably never more than 30 minutes drive away from a campsite. And if you get a self-contained vehicle it’s even better as you can park up virtually anywhere.
- fennecfoxy 4y ago
  As a Kiwi, free-camping is restricted in NZ and for good reason, people need to make sure they're allowed to be there. But also tourists make an absolute mess of the place a lot of the time. Other countries don't have the "tidy kiwi" mentality that we get growing up. I live in the UK now and the percentage of people that will just throw rubbish on the ground is extraordinarily high; I'll hold onto my rubbish until I find a bin, I have never once in my life thrown something on the ground.
  - shortcake27 4y ago
    Yeah, that’s why I mentioned getting a self-contained vehicle for freedom camping. The laws around self-contained vehicles are designed to solve the problems you discussed. I want to be clear that I’m not suggesting freedom camping in a non self-contained vehicle, nor littering or other anti-environmental or illegal behaviour. But anyone with a self-contained vehicle is well within their rights to freedom camp on council or public conservation land except where camping is explicitly prohibited. Alternatively, if you have a non self-contained vehicle, you’re never far from a legit campsite anyway. I agree about the UK though, it’s next level. I was up in the lakes one time, can’t remember exactly where, but on the path from the carpark to the lake (maybe 500m) I noticed an insane amount of rubbish (some of it very old), so I grabbed every plastic bag I had and started collecting it. I received extremely dirty looks, people started handing me their rubbish (???), and an old man asked me what crime I had committed to be forced to do community service. I struggle to understand the mentality of people who visit national parks for their beauty then ruin them by littering.

rr888 4y ago

Japanese people are usually very organized and neat, I can't imagine they'd appreciate backpackers coming through like this. Where I come from there are ever increasing number of people living in vans and its a real problem. They usually just cause problems, dont pay hotel or property taxes and ruin the area for everyone else. Some towns have banned them which is worse for the few locals that used to do it on a short trip.

pwim 4y ago
As someone living in Japan, this doesn’t strike me as something locals would complain about. Heck, my Japanese in-laws did a week long van camping trip last year, and I think they’d be impressed with this person’s setup.
- blackcat30 4y ago
  As someone who has been living in Japan for more than 2 decades, don't be surprised if you get a knock on your window in the middle of the night from your friendly neigborhood police officer.
themodelplumber 4y ago
Organized and neat really varies even depending on the local culture and there's quite a bit of variety in normalish neighborhoods...I have cleaned out some serious Japanese hoarder houses / elderly houses in my time, and sometimes circumstances or life can change people, too, like from organized to more like a hoarder. Phew all those roaches man xD
PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
What problems do they cause? Why would they pay hotel or property taxes when they do not reside there, and have none of the rights of residents (e.g. school system access)? Also, isn't blaming "an increasing number of people living in vans" a perfect example of shooting the messenger and ignoring the message?
- freetime2 4y ago

xavdid 4y ago

I wasn't in Japan, but I did something similar in the US for about 6 months before the pandemic cut our (planned 12 month) trip short. It was far from perfect, but it was super rewarding! Your experience will vary wildly based on what's available in your van, but you can make just about anything work.

testermelon 4y ago

I wonder how do they handle address and municipal paperworks. Do you legally “stay” at a friend’s house/apartment?

lmm 4y ago
Yeah that was my first thought. It's illegal not to have a fixed address AIUI.
hybrid_cluster 4y ago
It says in the post that they're registered at a family member's address

jack_pp 4y ago

While I'm happy for OP I'm afraid finding a "paradise" and telling the internet about it has the risk of ruining it. If 10k people read the article and 1% go to the same place and blog about it and bring even more people, then sooner or later it will be ruined and chances are localities will ban such adventures. I've done something similar.. some years ago there was a casino I would go to where you would pay 10$ entry fee and have access to a buffet, for the whole day. They had great food too. So I told an uber driver this "hack" and less than 6 months later they started checking whether you were playing or not, you needed a special ticket to access the buffet. Now I have no idea if me not shutting up about it has caused it to be closed off but there's certainly a chance.

killingtime74 4y ago
If not you someone else would have talked. Same for this post. Japan has a population of over 125 million (4x US?). Over 2000 children are born there per day. We are not movie protagonists, don't worry about it
- TylerE 4y ago
  Closer to 1/4th not 4x. US pop is over 400M.
  - yan 4y ago
    331M
    - TylerE 4y ago
      Citizens. Not all who live here are.
      - anigbrowl 4y ago
        This is wrong. The census counts everyone, and while it's not perfectly accurate they also have methods for mitigating that, combining in-person surveys and sampling methods.

freetime2 4y ago

Somewhat unrelated, but for folks who might enjoy living like a vagrant in Japan, it is also worth checking their extensive network of mountain huts [1]. They are a little pricey (JPY 8,000+ per night, meals included), fairly strict in terms of lights out, wake up time, etc, and can get pretty cozy when you're sharing a room with upwards of 20 other people. But also some of the best, most memorable experiences of my life for being able to climb up to 3,000m elevation and just relax and take in the stunning views while offering the convenience of warm meals, toilets, bedding, and a often times a vending machine full of beer. [1] https://thejapanalps.com/en/cottage-hotel/cottage-camping/ https://thejapanalps.com/en/cottage-hotel/cottage-camping/

tomcam 4y ago

> Japan has a lot of bears, monkeys Monkeys? Wtf? I had no idea. Given its geographic location I should have guessed that was the case but for some reason I am still a little bit shocked.

freetime2 4y ago
Feel like I've seen about a million photos on instagram of snow monkeys chilling in hot springs. I've never been, but I think it's a pretty world-famous tourist attraction (can't comment on whether it's actually worth a visit, though): https://en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/ https://en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/ I've also run into wild monkeys hiking around Kamikochi in Nagano, and cycling around Lake Tagokura Fukushima. They're small, but not particularly shy, and like any wild animal bigger than a cat I find them somewhat scary.
- tomcam 4y ago
  Well-founded caution. Monkeys are very strong and fast. Hung around with a spider monkey for years at my friend’s house. The monkey was “domesticated”, but sometimes it would just… go off.
diceduckmonk 4y ago
There’s only one species. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_macaque https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_macaque Pretty much all the big island nations in Asia have monkeys. Our house just a few kilometers from the center of Taipei has monkeys in the backyard.
- tomcam 4y ago
  TIL! Are they aggressive?

gwbas1c 4y ago

Uhm, do you have sex in front of your kid? Maybe I'm a spoiled westerner, but (save for that one time that my kid barged in because I forgot to lock the door,) I've never had sex in front of my kids.