RV Rental Japan

[jscottt]

Looking to take a camper van trip (2023) with 4 blokes through Nagano and Tohoku predominantly, for 3 weeks and chase the snow. Has anyone got any campervan hire company advice? We would most likely hire the van in Tokyo but have considered getting the train to Nagano and hiring from there instead to ensure we get snow tires/not have to pay extra for them. Japanrv, Japan campers, Fuji rentals and el monde are all companies we're considering. Toyota camrod size campers Has anyone done a similar trip and can share advice on what worked, what was harder than expected etc. Plan is mostly to use Michi no Eki with the odd camp ground thrown in. 2 of us have camped in winter before so kinda know what to expect weather wise and we've all been to Japan multiple times so have an idea of what the roads are like All and any advice is appreciated. I know this is kinda vague so fire away with any and all info

 

[Ex-Calif]

looking to take a camper van trip (2023) with 4 blokes through Nagano and Tohoku predominantly, for 3 weeks and chase the snow. Has anyone got any campervan hire company advice? We would most likely hire the van in Tokyo but have considered getting the train to Nagano and hiring from there instead to ensure we get snow tires/not have to pay extra for them. Japanrv, Japan campers, Fuji rentals and el monde are all companies we're considering.

4 guys in a camper van, especially with ski gear is gonna be crowded IMO. It's also gonna be cold. I lived in Japan for 5 years and any time we went snow hunting we did Ryokan stays. Works great, especially with a crowd as you can end up "taking over" the smaller ones.

We actually did Nagano right after the 98 olympics and stayed in the same Ryokan the Swedish downhill team bunked at. They had actually left some cool swag we made off with.

Especially if you plan to hit multiple areas I would consider binning the campervan idea.

Lots of other advantages to Ryokan like someone else cooking a cool evening meal, many have associated Onsen for apres ski soaks etc. etc.

Japanese roads can become parking lots, especially weekends, so train/public transport is the way to go.

 

[Mountain high]

Recently my wife and I were walking along some of our grassland acreage near the highway looking at nearby old groves of dead apple and apricot trees to remove. Both an irrigation ditch and a spring fed creek run through it down into a pond. It has the most excellent views of nearly all of the surrounding Colorado High Country. A thought came up about renting some our land to RVers passing by for boondocking since the mountain campsites are snowpacked. No, the land would be trashed. How would we know?

Our youngest daughter works as a Ranger and complains about how she finds folks trashing the remote boondocking campsites. If they trash the land that they park the RV on, I doubt that they would take better care of the RV.

 

[jackiemac]

Recently my wife and I were walking along some of our grassland acreage near the highway looking at nearby old groves of dead apple and apricot trees to remove. Both an irrigation ditch and a spring fed creek run through it down into a pond. It has the most excellent views of nearly all of the surrounding Colorado High Country. A thought came up about renting some our land to RVers passing by for boondocking since the mountain campsites are snowpacked. No, the land would be trashed. How would we know?

Our youngest daughter works as a Ranger and complains about how she finds folks trashing the remote boondocking campsites. If they trash the land that they park the RV on, I doubt that they would take better care of the RV.

I've split thread from the old one about renting your RV as the question wasn't really related, so this response may not make sense to those reading it.