What RV Travel in Japan Is Really Like: Costs, Roads, and Free Camping

Name: What RV Travel in Japan Is Really Like: Costs, Roads, and Free Camping
Uploaded: 2026-10-18T12:05:12+00:00
Duration: 20 min
Channel: Lloyd & Mandy

00:00Before traveling Japan in an RV we thought we had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

00:05We imagined quiet roads, beautiful scenery, convenient store food and the freedom to just

00:11drive wherever we wanted. But after spending two weeks living out of a tiny camper van and driving

00:17through rural Japan we realized that there were so many things that nobody really tells you about

00:22RV life in Japan. Some things made traveling easier than almost anywhere we've ever been

00:28and others honestly caught us completely off guard. Oh my gosh the mountains here and everything's

00:35just so beautiful and like well kept and clean and oh I'm so happy. We've pretty much been smiling

00:43all day and a lot has gone wrong today. Japan's probably not the first country people think of

00:49when it comes to van life or road trips. I know when we first came up with the idea we

00:54didn't even

00:55really know if it was possible. But honestly after spending some time here it started to make

00:59perfect sense. The country feels incredibly safe, the roads are beautiful, the scenery changes

01:05constantly and there's just this feeling that almost anything you need is never too far away.

01:11At least that's what we thought before actually trying it ourselves. Because once we started

01:15driving through tiny mountain villages, sleeping in parking lots and figuring out daily life inside

01:20a small RV the experience became something completely different. G'day guys. As you can see we have the

01:27beautiful Mount Fuji behind us. We are coming to you today from Japan and we are sleeping at the base

01:34of the mountain here in our beautiful camper van that we hired from Tokyo RV Campers. And in today's video

01:42we're going to be giving you a complete tour of our RV that we hired for two weeks here in

01:47Japan.

01:48So I'm going to give you a quick tour of the inside of the camper van. It's quite small but

01:55actually

01:55quite roomy at the same time. It has enough room for probably up to six adults honestly even though

02:01that would be tight. A family of two adults plus two or three kids honestly is perfect. For us three

02:08it's been great having just two adults and one baby. So I'll give you a little walk around of the

02:13cabin here starting with the top bunk here. This is enough space for all three of us to sleep in

02:22believe

02:23it or not. We've actually been sleeping in this all of us together for the entire trip. I did start

02:29down here

02:33in the bottom bunk on my own but it was a little bit tight and honestly like it got a

02:39little bit cold at

02:40night. We weren't running the heater because we were free camping. So I ended up sleeping up here with

02:45the other two and it was fine and it's been honestly great. So there is this top bunk and then

02:51you've got

02:51another bunk bed here which is good for either a full-size adult or a kid easily and then the

03:00bottom bunk.

03:01See here we have another mattress. We've pretty much just been using these two bunks here as like our

03:09storage. So we've had our suitcases on here, we've had like our hiking carrier, anything we want to just

03:14come and grab really quick we've stored up here. And it's been great. There's a cool back window here,

03:22look at the view we've got here.

03:26So you can lay there and stare out the window and then we've got as well as the double bed

03:32over the

03:32top of the driver's seat, two bottom bunks plus the dining room here. So you've got a two or three

03:41seater on this side and then another two seater on this side which actually turns into a bed as well.

03:46So you could sleep another two adults there or a couple of kids there. We haven't used it as a

03:50bed at

03:50all we've just kept it as the table. This table is really cool because it moves back and forward.

03:57So if you want it closer to you while you're eating. Actually the other cool thing about this is

04:01you can drive around with I think up to six adults maybe seven because these back seats actually have

04:11seat belts as well.

04:16So yeah you could have two people sitting in the back here and two people on this side and then

04:22there's three seats in the front as well. So then we've got this awesome window here which like we

04:27got stunning views of Mount Fuji.

04:33It's a really cool spot to just sit and I've been doing a little bit of work. We have like

04:38our lunch and

04:38dinner and we get to have like a really nice view. And then as you come in here there's storage

04:43for shoes.

04:47Big no-no in Japan wearing shoes inside so we've been taking our shoes off every time we come into

04:52the camper. Luckily it hasn't been raining too much so it hasn't been like muddy or anything. Oh there's

04:57also this huge storage here which looks like maybe at one point it was a I don't know it could

05:03have been

05:03a bathroom but this is a huge storage area here as well. So we've also kept stuff in here that

05:09we

05:10didn't really need. And so yeah it's quite big like you've got another one two three four little closets.

05:22So all the windows have curtains that close up so when we've been sleeping at the roadside stations

05:28we've closed everything up and it's been really quiet and dark. I think that's because

05:34at the Michi Noekis it is kind of like a rule that you have to keep quiet. So there's nobody

05:39like

05:40listening to music or yelling or anything like that it's like really peaceful and it's been surprisingly

05:45very easy to sleep at the roadside stations which we've done probably 80 percent of this trip.

05:50One thing that really surprised us on this trip is just how well we're able to sleep in the RV.

05:55Normally when traveling sleep can be pretty hit or miss especially in Asia. Sometimes it's traffic

06:01noise, people moving around outside, music, air conditioning units humming all night or just

06:07being in a different environment every few days. Before this trip Fitnexa sent us their Somnipods 3

06:13earbuds to test out and the biggest thing that I've noticed personally is that I can actually sleep

06:19on my side with them in. If you've ever tried side sleeping with regular earbuds you'll know exactly what

06:24I mean. Usually after 20 minutes your ear starts hurting and you end up just taking them out.

06:29These are ultra slim and they're designed specifically for sleeping so I've been able to wear them

06:34comfortably throughout the night. They also have active noise cancelling which helps reduce things

06:38like traffic noise, snoring or air conditioning hum which is especially useful when you're traveling

06:44and sleeping somewhere new every night. In Southeast Asia it is not always quiet. As you can see it is

06:53six o'clock in the morning. There's been a wedding going on literally right outside our window for the last

07:00four days. Also through the app you can play nature sounds and sleep audio and it even includes sleep

07:07tracking if you're interested in seeing how you're actually sleeping while on the road. For us they became a

07:12really useful part of our travel setup especially on longer trips like this one around Japan. If you want

07:18to try them out for yourself we'll leave a link down below in the description and you can check them

07:22out.

07:22Now back to the RV. Probably the most important feature of the RV is this here.

07:28So this RV runs off two batteries. You've got the car battery which obviously runs everything in the front

07:36and then you've got the rear battery or the main battery which runs all the appliances and the

07:42electronics in the back here. So you've got the main switch which you can see here you turn on

07:47whenever you park or you want to use the lights. So there's three main lights

07:54and then there's like a couple of switches for the appliances. So we've got a fridge.

08:00Haven't used the fridge at all because honestly it's cold. We just put our drinks and whatever we want outside

08:06and then

08:08uh, you've got the heater as well, which runs off the battery, but it also draws

08:13from the fuel tank. So that's important to note. It doesn't run off fuel

08:17but it does draw a little bit of fuel when it's running. So if you're low on fuel it'll shut

08:22off. We found that out the hard way

08:23uh, and it shut off in the middle of the night for us

08:26but there's a meter here so you can keep track of how much battery there is. Honestly

08:29hasn't even got past the green line for us. So we haven't run it too hard. There's also a sink

08:35here

08:36with running water and a water tank. Uh, you've got

08:40your clean water and your dirty water. So if you need to

08:44tip out your dirty water you can do that. This has been an amazing RV to do free camping. Um,

08:50you can literally

08:50drive it anywhere, park it anywhere and stay overnight. You could probably do two or three

08:56nights even without having to plug in or anything or charge the battery back up. And then as far as

09:01driving goes, it's very, very easy. It's got a really small turning base. Uh, I think it's a

09:072.7 liter engine. Um, I could be wrong about that. Automatic,

09:14absolutely no problems driving through cities or small towns, narrow places. Um, it's not that big. It feels

09:20a lot bigger on the inside than it actually is on the outside. So I'd highly recommend if you're

09:27going to rent a camper van from Tokyo RV campers, this model is definitely to go if you've got more

09:34than two people, if you've got kids, especially, uh, but even if there's just two of you, like it's

09:38very, very roomy and has everything you need and super easy to drive. Okay. So one of the biggest

09:43surprises was honestly just how easy it is in Japan to travel in an RV. We're super impressed

09:50at this RV. Like we've done van life and RV life many times in our years together. This is like,

09:57has everything you need and like nothing more, nothing less. It's super fuel efficient and like

10:04not difficult to park or yeah. We've just had a really pleasant experience so far. I think Japan

10:10might be the best van life destination, which I thought it was going to be really tough. It's

10:14actually the opposite because the Michino Equis, you're legally allowed to camp there. There's

10:19toilets. If you want to use onsens, they're everywhere. So you can go shower. There's also

10:23these internet cafes, which have showers in them. It sounds weird, but apparently all the van lifers use

10:30them. So we're going to go and do that later today as well. And it's like a few dollars to

10:33go and have a

10:34hot shower and they give you a towel and there's vending machines everywhere. You're never going to be

10:38stuck without water. There's 7-Elevens literally every couple of kilometers. So like it just feels

10:43like the most hassle-free van life we've ever done. Yeah, 100%. Within the first couple of days,

10:49we realized the entire country almost feels built for road trips. Everywhere we stopped,

10:53there were clean public bathrooms, convenience stores, vending machines, parking areas, and roadside

11:00stations. Even in some of the smaller little villages like where we didn't expect to see anything,

11:05it never really felt too difficult to find somewhere to stop, take a rest, maybe grab some food,

11:11and have a sleep. And honestly, compared to a lot of other countries where we have done RV life,

11:17there was also something else that we noticed pretty much right away. And that was that we felt

11:21incredibly safe. Even parking overnight somewhere unfamiliar never felt nearly as stressful as what

11:28we expected. To be completely honest, our first night, I was kind of sketching out like we just parked in

11:34this random parking lot kind of near a shopping center. And if we had done this in North America,

11:38which we have before, I would have been absolutely freaking out. But after just a couple of hours

11:44being there and seeing other people there doing it, it really didn't feel that sketchy at all. But at the

11:49same time, nobody really prepares you for just how small some of the roads in Japan actually are.

11:55Especially once you leave the cities and start heading into the little villages. There were some moments

12:00where we genuinely questioned whether we were even supposed to be driving on these little roads. Like

12:04I'm talking about tiny mountain roads with blind corners, villages barely wider than the RV itself.

12:12And unlike countries built around big highways and wide roads, Japan can sometimes often feel

12:18designed around compact spaces. And at times it was a little bit stressful, but weirdly it also became a

12:24part of the experience. Okay, we got a little bit distracted and a little bit cocky thinking we

12:29like had this all sorted and we missed an exit.

12:36And we've added about an hour of driving. We've messed up like a couple times actually.

12:42I think we missed two exits, but it's so hard. Like there's so many roads and traffic and freeways here

12:49in Tokyo.

12:49We just need to get out of the city. Yeah, it just like keeps adding time on though.

12:53Like telling us that we're going to be there and it just keeps being like the same amount of time.

12:58We've basically been driving for an hour and nothing's pretty much happened.

13:03We're really hungry

13:06and we can't seem to find like anywhere to stop for food, but it's okay.

13:11We know that there's food where we're going to be camping. So

13:17we'll just, when we get there, we get there. The beer and the pork buns and the ramen are going

13:23to taste incredible.

13:25And pretty much from the first day we were there, convenience stores basically became the center of our entire routine.

13:32And that's because the convenience stores are extremely convenient in Japan.

13:36We went there for morning coffees, late night meals, bathroom stops, snacks, water, diapers for our baby, literally everything.

13:45Charging devices, like anytime we needed anything, our first stop was a convenience store.

13:49And at some point it honestly felt like we were just surviving almost entirely off Lawson, 7-Eleven and Family

13:56Mart.

13:56And yet somehow it never really got old.

13:59We looked forward to going to the convenience store every morning to get a coffee or hot chocolate or whatever

14:04and our egg sando and be on with our day.

14:07Made it to a 7-Eleven. Not quite there yet, but just need to stop for a snack, which we

14:13haven't eaten all day.

14:15Let's see what they got in this roadside 7-Eleven here.

14:19Japan's convenience stores are honestly on a completely different level.

14:23If you've been there before, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

14:26There were nights where we'd pull into a random parking area in the middle of nowhere,

14:30absolutely buggered from the drive and still somehow end up eating a better meal

14:35than what we expected from a convenience store.

14:38Trying the famous Lawson's strawberry cream sandwich.

14:47Honestly, didn't think it would be that great looking at it, but heard too much about it.

14:53Now we've got to try it.

14:59It's like strawberry shortcake, honestly. It's actually really good.

15:03Something nobody really talks about is how strange it feels sleeping in random places at first.

15:09The first few nights, especially, you become like hyper aware of every little sound that's going on

15:14outside, every passing car, every little movement. There's this weird feeling of asking yourself,

15:20are we actually allowed to be here? But slowly that feeling started to disappear and eventually

15:26waking up surrounded by mountains and forests or tiny Japanese towns became one of the best parts

15:32of the entire trip. Honestly, some parts of rural Japan almost didn't feel real. The deeper that we

15:37drove into the countryside, the more it felt like we were seeing a completely different side of Japan

15:42than most tourists ever experience. I'm talking about tiny villages with empty roads, old houses,

15:48little mountain towns, rice fields, absolutely everywhere. And because we were traveling slowly

15:54in the RV, I feel like we actually had time to experience it properly. We weren't just rushing

16:00from one major tourist attraction to the next. And I think there's something about road tripping

16:05through Japan that makes the country feel quieter, slower, and somehow more personal. And some parts of

16:11RV travel in Japan were much cheaper than what we expected. And then I guess other parts definitely

16:16weren't. So food honestly ended up being surprisingly affordable most of the time,

16:21especially if you're using convenience stores regularly. But things like fuel and toll roads

16:27can add up pretty quickly once you start driving long distances. And that's probably one of the biggest

16:31things we learned during this trip. RVing through Japan isn't necessarily the cheapest way to travel

16:37here, but it might actually be the most convenient. By the end of our trip, the thing we loved the

16:42most

16:43wasn't really the RV itself. It was the freedom that came with it. Being able to stop whenever

16:48something looked interesting, changing plans halfway through the day, finding random places

16:53that we never would have visited otherwise. It completely changed the way we experienced Japan.

16:58And instead of feeling like tourists rushing between destinations, it started to feel like we were

17:04actually traveling through the country. And that's what we really loved about it.

17:07Well, starting our morning at the river, not the worst idea ever. It's so pretty down here.

17:13Perfect weather. We're pretty much the only ones here. We've seen like two other people.

17:17We just saw that there's like a little coffee stand. We're going to go see if it's open.

17:21It's in the cutest spot. Most unsuspecting thing to be there, but I love it.

17:27Oh, the weather, sunshine. This might be my favorite weather. A little bit cold, but sunny. It's the best.

17:36Honestly, RVing through Japan ended up becoming one of our favorite travel experiences we've ever had.

17:42And not because it was perfect. There were stressful moments, of course. There's tiny roads,

17:46long drives, confusing parking situations. There's the language barrier, but

17:51somehow all of those little things became part of the experience. And in the end, it gave us a side

17:57of Japan we probably never would have seen otherwise. If you've ever thought about road tripping

18:01through Japan, honestly, just do it. Okay. And before we go, we're going to give you five

18:05quick tips for traveling across Japan in an RV. Number one is using Michi Noekis, which are roadside

18:12stations. These are free roadside rest stops. And they're one of the best parts about RVing in Japan.

18:18Pretty much all of them have bathrooms, food, parking, and even onsens nearby.

18:24Number two, you don't need to cook your own food. We actually paid a little bit extra for our RV

18:30and got the full cooking setup. We never used it once. We ate at the convenience stores or cheap

18:37restaurants for pretty much every meal. It just didn't make sense for us to go shopping and waste

18:42time cooking food. It actually ended up being much cheaper not cooking.

18:46Avoid driving in major cities as much as possible. Places like Tokyo and Osaka are just extremely

18:52stressful and expensive for RV parking. And Japan is best explored by RV in the countryside,

18:58in the mountains, and in the coastal towns. Don't rely on cashless payments everywhere.

19:03Even though Japan's modern, a lot of places like campgrounds and fuel stations, rural restaurants,

19:10still prefer cash and only accept cash. So, especially outside major cities,

19:16do not rely on using your card everywhere. And finally, leave extra time for the unexpected.

19:22Some of the best parts of Japan are the random places you find while driving.

19:26Think about tiny little ramen shops, hidden onsens, roadside temples, and quiet mountain villages.

19:32We rented our RV from Tokyo RV Campers. They were extremely helpful.

19:37We highly recommend them. We'll leave a link down below in the description.

What RV Travel in Japan Is Really Like: Costs, Roads, and Free Camping

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