Thanks for the contact we will give him a try. As for the blog we already have one. you can find it at the above address, once we get going we will post as much info as we can and pics of course.

We do have one question for you if you dont mind. Can you tell us who you got car insurance through? we have been looking into Hiaces/Caravan Vans but all the insurance quotes are around 100,000 Yen. We like the big vans because we can put in a shelf to sleep on and put all our stuff underneath. we also can leave 1 row of seats so we can sit in the back and eat or have friends/family ride with us. Other options we have looked at are Estimas/Largos/Nomad/Vanette etc although these are smaller. I’m 6′1 so i need all the room possible to be comfortable.

We have heard that the 10 seaters are expensive on tax/insurance but apparently a “camper van” with sink etc are cheaper. do you know anything about this??

We would love any help you can offer us.

Thanks again

Jay and Simone

Welcome to the blog, and I’m glad you found some useful tips in here. I’ve actually got a lot more tips and adventures to write up, as soon as I get around to it.

Shikoku is one of the places I didn’t manage to make it to. My visa was running out, and I decided that I needed to head to Tokyo and look for a job in order to stay here in Japan a little longer (all taken care of now!). I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t get down to see Shikoki, but I guess it leaves a couple of adventures for me a little later on down the track.

Hakuba hey? Coincidentally I went there for the first time this week, Wednesday, for some of the best skiing weather I’ve ever experienced!

Have you decided what you want to do with regards to a van? I can definitely recommend the Mazda Bongo Friendee. It’ll be “cozy” with two of you in there, but not unbearably so. I probably had a bit more luggage than you will – I had to pack up my entire life in Japan into the Bongo!

I mentioned in the comments on the Selling the Van page that I have a friend Tony at the Nagoya car auctions – you’re welcome to contact him and find out what exactly would be involved in getting a van through auction. Feel free to drop my name, too (he knows who “randomcow” is!)

Good luck with your preparations! I check back here often so please feel free to come back with comments or your own ideas. If you like, you are welcome to post some of your own adventure stories here! I could set you up so that you could create topics and edit posts, etc. Let me know!

RC

just wanted to say thanks for all your information – my partner and I are currently based in Hakuba, Nagano-ken. we are looking into exactly what you have done by buying a van, sleeping/eating in it, showering at onsens, taking back roads to avoid tolls/meet local/see the real japan etc etc, park for free and do it as cheap as possible. we could have up to 8 weeks!

we came across your site on JREF after seeing your Van – would have been PERFECT! unfortunalty its sold but we have had a good read of your site and jotted down some tips and places. Thank you.

we are looking to head south to Shinjuku and back. Thanks again for all your tips.

Jay and Simone

The simple answer is to learn and take the back roads (shita michi). Unfortunately these are permanently clogged up in Tokyo. And even if you take the expressways and toll roads there is no guarantee that these also aren’t busy. In fact, more often than not the traffic is banked up there as well.

A big part of your travel time is going to be getting from one side of Tokyo to the other, so I hope you live on the coast-side of the city.

There are some toll roads which aren’t expressways. These are in my opinion good value. I’m pretty sure that there are a couple on the way out to the Izu Hanto Penninsular, if that’s where you were headed. Not so sure about Chiba.

RC

Congratulations to the proud new owner! As sad as I am to say goodbye I’m sure that the Bongo has a lot of adventures left in her yet.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way. In no particular order….

Dachi and Hound – you guys made me realise that is was actually possible to do. You gave me hard figures of how much it would cost, which let me determine that yes, indeed living in a van in Japan is completely viable.

The cheering squad – I’ve had people cheering and supporting me along the entire journey. I’ve got so many “omamori”s hanging up in the van that at times it was hard to see the road in front of me. All the people cheering me on, especially from YD (in particular KV), and a certain “RT” from Takayama, made it so that I felt that I wasn’t allowed to fail. I’d be letting too many people down. This was a good thing!

The YDs and everyone who showed me a good time when I came to visit, or put me up. The list is huge, but (and this is limiting it to since I started the journey in Japan – there were many more people whose couches and spare rooms I have taken advantage of over the last 18 months) off the top of my head: Dachi, 503, Theo, the Fuji Shithawks, Twist, Pint, Tokyobloke, Orgasmo, everyone in osaka who made the effort to meet me (don’t make me list you all – I’ll start to cry), plus many more people who offered a place but I didn’t manage to make it to their place for some reason.

Big thanks to Zeph, for emergency car parking space, plus advertising space on his website (http://www.japanichiban.com/ – check out the Friend Finder! Very good… erm… “strike rate” from what I hear).

Big thanks to Tony from Central Motors Nagoya (http://www.centralmotor.net/). Tony and the gang at Central helped me through the entire process of buying through auction. This guy knows the Japanese second-hand car inside out, so if you’re thinking of buying a second hand car and getting registered here in Japan, or you want to find something and get it sent to you back home, Tony is your man. I’ll be enlisting his help when I get back home and am looking to kick off my midlife-crisis or post-divorce-crisis with a Japanese performance sports car. tony@centralmotor.net

Also, thanks to the gentleman who bought the Bongo for being the kind of guy I actually *wanted* to sell to. I sincerely hope you have a fantastic adventure

I’m getting all teary so I’d better end it here.

RC