Photo Trip Report: Japan in a Van

[Nereus]

We certainly felt our age on this trip and were physically tired a lot quicker after hiking as much as 10km per day, hence we didn't have the energy to discover any of Japan's nightlife!

I'm already planning the next road trip since I know the clock is ticking and we won't have the energy to do such things in a decade or so.

Those stairs alone would have stopped me!

[buksida]

Then it was on to a cable car for the third leg of the journey before we took a trolley bus for the fourth stage to the peak at Murodo Station, 2,450 meters above sea level. What I didn’t expect here was a massive snow field with fresh falls, but we were in the middle of the Alps in late autumn.

The Mrs. was like a kid in a candy store seeing real snow for the first time, and a lot of it. There were various trails leading away from Murodo so we set off in search of adventure and a bit of solitude. We found both on a trail leading up to a viewpoint overlooking the Alps.

We’d dressed for winter but it wasn’t that cold up on the mountain as the skies were clear and the sun beat down reflecting off the snow fields (I actually got sunburnt). However, the hike we’d undertaken was a little more challenging than we’d expected since we were not properly equipped with snow shows and hiking sticks – two essential items for this terrain. Breathing was also a little laboured due to the elevation and neither of us being that young anymore.

Nevertheless, we made it to the lookout several kilometers later at 2,700 meters elevation with its spectacular views where we met a few other hikers with all the correct gear. Getting back down was a little hairy, to say the least.

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To follow: More from Murodo

[Big Boy]

5998 - is that some sort of shopping mall inside the mountain?

Wow! What an adventure walking into a white wilderness without proper equipment. I'm not sure I'd have attempted that, even when I was young. Weren't even a little concerned? I bet you felt great at the end of it

[buksida]

Its Murodo station, inside the building in 6065. The Japanese are very good at engineering ... even at the extremities.

We didn't really think much about the hike, you could see the summit (but distances were very deceptive), there were a few other people about, and once we got over halfway we thought, "What the hell, get it done."

[STEVE G]

That's pretty amazing, does that trolley bus thing run up through the mountain in a tunnel?

[buksida]

Yep, it was all through tunnels aside from the cable car. Japan is full of tunnels being mostly mountainous, there are hundreds of them. I don't think I've seen one in Thailand though there are a handful of railway tunnels according to Wikipedia.

[buksida]

The trails around Murodo had become quite busy by then and you could hear the Chinese hollering at each other from halfway up the mountain. They are a complete contrast to the polite and respectful Japanese people. We explored the lakes offering some marvelous photo opportunities before seeking out something to eat.

The Mrs really wanted to see the famous snow road or snow wall but that had melted and was only accessible in April and May. It was time to get off the peak and back down the way we came up via the various modes of transport, however, unlike this morning when a handful of people were coming up, there were hoards of Chinese tour groups making their way back down so we had to keep ahead of them in the queues at the stations.

The entire trip was extremely well organized with hundreds of staff, multi-modal transport leaving bang on time, and complete Japanese efficiency in managing the crowds. I couldn’t imagine another country achieving this.

We got back to Ogisawa at around 16.00 an hour before dark, folded ourselves back into the van, and drove down back into the valley to get another ridiculously cheap meal of sushi and sashimi and find a road station for the night, thoroughly exhausted.

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To follow: The Road to Chichibu

[buksida]

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This map shows the stages of the trip, we went from right to left, Ogisawa to Murodo and back. Since we'd left the van at the base, we couldn't go across to Tateyama.

[buksida]

Day seven
Today would be our last full day with the van so we had to start heading back towards Tokyo. We woke to a cold ‘pea souper’ which for the non-Brits is a thick fog. A couple of coffees later and it had started to clear so we set off ignoring Google Maps to cross the mountains heading southeast.

Google Maps usually decides to do its own thing, taking us through a housing estate or industrial park or over a mountain or down an alley not suited to a motorhome to cut a corner and shave off 3 minutes, burning twice as much fuel, rather than using the perfectly flat road we were already on. We decided to manually navigate using the maps rather than trusting what they suggested.

It also wanted to force us back onto the toll roads at every opportunity so we ignored it and took the back roads which offered fantastic views of Japanese villages and an explosion of colour from the autumn foliage.

We stopped at a sky bridge attraction on the way which was out of the way and only had a couple of visitors. It was then back on to some seriously twisty single-lane mountain roads that tested the RV and my driving abilities.

We’d hoped to arrive at our road station destination in time for the restaurant to be open but were disappointed yet again. Japanese opening times are bizarre, eateries will open for a couple of hours in the morning, then for a bit in the afternoon or evening … maybe. More often than not, places were closed but were out in the boonies with very few tourists or people about.

After almost a week in the van and four days without a shower, an Onsen (hot spring) was more than welcome at this road station. However, it was also closed but fortunately, there was another one attached to a hotel just up the road.

Japanese Onsens offer full bathing and pampering facilities in addition to a hot spring pool. Men and women are separated and you have to enter naked. The shower facilities at this particular Onsen were superb with many different shampoos, gels, balms, and lotions to apply before and after bathing in the hot spring. I could have stayed in there for much longer and felt totally relaxed after the challenging drive.

By 8pm the road station was a ghost town making for a quiet time to relax, drink some ridiculously cheap Argentinian wine, and write this trip report entry.

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To follow: Tokyo

[Dannie Boy]

You might have mentioned it previously but how many of you were travelling in the RV?

Great photos as usual - including pretty tunnel lights!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[buksida]

You might have mentioned it previously but how many of you were travelling in the RV?

Just the Mrs and myself. Technically, it could sleep four or five (dwarves) but was comfortable with two.

[Dannie Boy]

You might have mentioned it previously but how many of you were travelling in the RV?

Just the Mrs and myself. Technically, it could sleep four or five (dwarves) but was comfortable with two.

An updated version of my VW camper days - great for two people although I managed to squeeze in 3 children and two adults in mine (the youngest was less than a year old) - fantastic in their day, but I’d have preferred something like you had!!

[buksida]

I'd love to have one here, but like most things in Thailand, they're hideously expensive. A half-decent RV or pickup conversion here costs more than a house .

[STEVE G]

^ My partners cousins future husband rented an RV from Bangkok some years ago to visit their Issan village.
He wanted a bit of privacy but it didn't quite work out that way as the whole village wanted to have a look inside!
It was based on a Hilux and was nice but in Thailand it only really worked if you could hook it up to the mains to run AC, otherwise it was too hot.

[buksida]

Day eight
Our week with the RV was up and it was time to return it to Tokyo. The quickest route was on the expensive toll roads, but going over the mountains would consume more fuel and take longer so we followed Google’s instructions this time.

Navigating through the city and its monumental urban sprawl that is home to 37 million people was relatively easy since traffic is nowhere near Bangkok’s manic levels. This could be because Japan’s public transport and rail network is one of the best in the world and very cheap to use. Traffic lights are also sequenced to keep everything flowing as is the overall road network design.

Van life for a week had its ups and downs, trash disposal was a challenge until we found out how to do it in stages, there were no showers at road stations, and it was cold inside up in the mountains. On the upside, driving the beast was relatively easy, Japanese drivers are very courteous and predictable (the total opposite of driving in Thailand), it was great to be able to park anywhere and take photos or put on a coffee, though the vending machines all over the country dispensed plenty of that, and we got to see parts of Japan that most visitors wouldn’t.

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The rest of the road trip would be on foot and public transport.

To follow: Tokyo