日本のバンライフは…違う

日本のバンライフは…違う

there are average road trips and then there is van life in Japan We honestly have no idea what we’ve gotten ourselves into over the next couple of weeks Cruising around the country in this absolute beast of an RV which don’t worry we’ll give you the full tour in today’s vlog But I think it’s safe to say that Japan doesn’t really do average And there are just some experiences that can only happen here My job off someone’s watching kind of [Music] Heat Hey Hey Hey [Music] [Music] [Music] Good morning guys This is just the most unique experience that we’ve ever had waking up at a campsite Well it’s not really a campsite It’s one of those road stations again but we’ve got hot coffees out of the vending machine and a little natural mineral hook bath It’s some heated water And apparently it has those feeling properties like an onsent because it’s got that sulfur smell So we’re enjoying our coffee with the smell of egg this morning Yeah it stinks But uh this is a good start to the day Well guys people rocked up A lot of people You got to be quick in Japan cuz there’s so many people here You got to wake up really early to get things to yourself But that was a good experience My legs feel 20 years younger They might even actually makes me want to go to a full onen so much more now My feet do feel they feel so soft They feel weird and tingly Yeah that might just be my blood flow pressure problem that I need to get sorted Look where we camped last night Next level But this morning this morning all the clouds you couldn’t even see the mountains and it was beautiful [Music] Just as we were getting back into the van we spotted a waterfall down there but I can’t tell if it’s like a real waterfall or just like a shoot of water coming out of somewhere but we’re going to go down for a look anyway Bye-bye At least we’re closer I think Oh look at that big chain stopping us Well actually it’s just stopping cars Well I think I don’t think it we should not go down there Okay Will be those annoying tourists on the Japanese news Oh wow That’s still pretty There it is guys It’s pretty stunning The water is so blue Hey and clear It’s amazing This whole landscape is amazing This is our mission for the next couple of days to find some more natural places that we can get to I wonder what these signs say actually What does it say the river will start to increase water rapidly Oh yeah So because there’s mountains surrounding us if it rains they get flash flooding I love the way that things translate um from Japanese it always sounds like a haiku It goes attention I suddenly increase water There is something The sky is getting dark It starts to rain Yeah The w wateriness increases If there is such please get away from the river immediately So I know on our last video we’re a little bit confused about the whole road station thing if we’re actually allowed to sleep there or not So we’ve done a lot of Googling since then and the general consensus is it’s not like a campsite in the way that Australians would think of a free restside stop You can’t set up an awning set up chairs anything like that But as long as you’re quiet and respectful and basically like get in and out as quickly as you can and just sleep there it’s totally fine If you’re traveling Japan as well and you want to make use of them just search you can search either road station on Google Maps or Mitchi Noeki They’ll just come all on Google Maps and they’re everywhere But there’s about a thousand in Japan That one was so cool though to have a little foot bath That’s just I can’t get over it And are you seeing this scenery right now that’s lovely Have a look at it It feels so intimidating driving in it Oh yeah especially with this big beast I don’t know how they have stopped landslides from happening because we’re we’re currently we’re next to well we’re next to the biggest mountain I’ve ever seen Bigger than Tasmania How have they built these roads here it’s incredible It would have taken years Look at the river It’s never the same I found myself picking Jesus in my bra What you done to me oh baby Hey I wish you [Music] [Music] that I don’t understand how they don’t One of the main things that we said we didn’t really want to do on this trip was be constantly comparing Japan to Australia But the fact that we are just driving through the middle of a mountain right now just boggles my mind How are we we got to stop the video right now Google search how do Japan tunnel through mountains or if I was a man who could cut maybe I could erase the moment you So our main goal for this whole van trip is to get as far away from the cities and feel like we’ve really experienced Japan and done some really unique things So this morning we have come to one of Japan’s oldest onen villages to cook our breakfast in a natural hotring which I just think is the most unique thing that we’ve ever done especially for breakfast I know I did say Yunamino Onson is one of the oldest Onson towns in Japan but did I mention it’s been around for something like 1,800 years that’s not just old It’s people soaking here since before your country even existed old This little village is tucked along the Kumano Cotto Trail a pilgrimage route that stretches about 70 km through the mountains connecting ancient shrines and sacred sites We weren’t quite ready to jump into one of the public baths ourselves yet We’re still working up the courage So instead we found a nice peaceful onen for our ex So see this nail here Yep That’s it We got it We were told to set a timer for 11 minutes Am I all steamy [Music] They’re ready I think I hope Is that enough do you think i don’t know How long did the guy do it about that long Yeah Okay there you go Breakfast Boiled eggs It worked I don’t know why I was doubting it That water was so hot That’s proper That’s boiled perfectly So good So this morning we are having a very fusion breakfast Ancient Japanese boiled onen eggs and the food from our culture Ao toast I wonder if it will um taste Yeah mineralally I’ll give it the first taste here possibly It smells extra eggy Does it ooh Good Perfect That was really nice That was actually It actually just tastes like an egg guys to to be honest M on an egg [Music] We’re doing it We’re doing it We’re going to a nonsen Well we’re going to a private one just to ease ourselves into it And then maybe by the time we leave Japan I would have done a public one Jack unfortunately has tattoos so he can’t go to a public one Sorry But um Oh my gosh I’m excited We have no idea what to expect We’ve just pulled up to somewhere that I found on Google Maps that says it’s got um private ones and I think you pay for your entry on a vending machine So we’ll see how we go Wish us luck We’ll see how we go I’m mostly interested to go do it because of the minerals in the water I want to see how I feel after Yeah Jack’s been watching lots of things about longevity and how old people live in Japan And there’s people here right on islands in Japan that live to like 116 years old and they look like they’re 60 So if you see Jack Jack just in onson’s 24/7 and drinking green tea every single day from now on you’ll know that’s why my hair might grow back All right let’s go We have no Did you already say we have no clue of what we’re doing yeah we’re just going to give it our best go We’re going to wing it and see what happens probably end up in a public on some tickets [Music] All right we’re on our way We’re on our way to our private onen We’re getting the VIP treatment He’s walking us to our onen I think it’s because we have absolutely no clue what we’re doing but they’re all so nice about it We just walk in and we’re like “Help help.” Show them a photo But we’re going there now The door is locked and we are in Welcome to our private onen guys Okay so I read up on this because this is an experience that I really wanted to have while I was here Before you get in your naturally heated hotring here you shower here and like really scrub yourself get really really clean before you get in And then you can just soak in the middle I wonder how hot it is Oh it’s perfect There’s nothing wrong with that All right ready this is what van life needs all the time All right let’s go Let’s do it I feel sorry doing this Doesn’t make sense You could do it and then it’ll be normal She’s naked in public Oh I’ve still got my jocks on I’m not actually naked You got it You have to My jocks are off We’re fully naked I can’t believe it Do you feel Don’t you feel like someone’s watching kind of I scouted the whole area How do you know no one watching Oh well we’re just showering It’s not anything weird that we’re doing Like give me a towel It’s cold Oh you sit on these and then you wash yourself up Yeah All right And use the bucket as well Okay Oh my chair is breaking Oh I sat on a bucket That feels so good Oh naked bump is on plastic chair It’s not getting any easier Maybe it’s not even like a relaxing thing It’s just the comedown from the adrenaline of being naked in Why are we covering our bits there’s no one here Feels so free Oh wow it’s so hot It’s too hot Oh my god Okay I’m going in I’m sitting on the bear rock Leave my bottle That is hot E it gives you like adrenaline rush It’s too hot I think it’s too hot There’s no way you’re out I’m going to come out like a tomato That was the best experience I’ve had in a long time What an experience I feel so relaxed and clean Oh my gosh We’ve done a lot of things guys but that there is up there with some of the coolest things I’ve done Yeah And I was very hesitant to do it You were And uh I’m so happy I did it And I’m going to do it tomorrow and the next day I feel ready for a public one almost No But I feel like that is the whole reason that I like to travel is to like open my mind up to things that in my brain I’m conditioned to think no getting naked with strangers is wrong You don’t do it But it’s just so normal here It’s completely normal Like there’s people going into the public ones and it’s not even questioned It’s not even like it’s it’s completely normal And my whole body’s got this feeling of a tingling sensation almost like it’s I read up on it and apparently it opens your blood cells which creates more oxygen or something So and it helps the circulation of your blood So it was very hot It was so hot I couldn’t even I thought it was hot and I usually have like skin shredding showers It took me a while to get in there but after a while I was in there It was like addictive as well because you would get out for a bit and then you go I want to go back in cuz we originally thought you get an hour time slot and we were like “Oh we’ll be done in like 20 minutes.” And we stayed for an hour Yeah But and also the whole time you still have that feeling of “All right I’m naked There could be like for some reason we were holding our hands over our private parts.” Well because there was like a fivetory hotel next to us as well So like someone could have a window Yeah it was weird Like subconsciously you have it in your head someone’s watching me but no one’s watching So it was pretty cool Anyway there’s our new experience for the day There you go Uh let’s keep going in this beautiful beautiful part of Japan Oh my gosh it’s stunning [Music] We come down to this river guys It’s a special kind of river I’ll let Megan explain it to you Oh that’s really cold It’s cold Yeah So I’m pretty sure what you can do here is you can bring a shovel and then you can dig here and I guess the water from underneath the ground is the water that’s running all through that onto the village So that’s hot And then you come and you take a dip in here and it’s cold So you can alternate Well maybe I’m going to dig a hole Yeah Say that a little bit Cuz people over there are laying down in these huge holes they’ve dug and it just looks glorious I just want to feel if it’s hot Ready how you going to dig with my hands Oh okay [Applause] Yeah Look I think you need a shovel You definitely need a shovel But it’s got that it’s got that uh eggy smell so it must just be just under the surf You can see these guys living the dream over there Even if you don’t do it it’s still so beautiful here [Music] Wow I’m calling it This is the most stunning road that we have ever driven on Yeah Would you say it beats It beats everything It’s next level We said we weren’t going to try and compare and rank stuff but I’ve just been swearing It doesn’t make sense We are just surrounded by mountains and then the most clear blue bright vibrant water I’ve ever seen in my entire life This river running Oh my gosh Stunning just don’t get it So we’re making our way south to Shingu and we keep going Shingu Shingu Do you think Pingu came from Japan sounds Japanese Hey definitely But I found a really really cheap conveyor belt sushi So we’re going to go there because we actually have dinner So just a little snack before we get back on the road Yep What the Look at the water Love is going to reach your heart And my damn lion love is going to reach your heart [Applause] And my damn lion love is going to reach your heart Okay guys We just got back from uh sushi and we ended up eating 11 plates of sushi We The whole plan was to go in there go to a conveyor belt sushi so we could just have like two each Yeah And save money and not eat too much and still eat dinner because we have the esie and our food’s going bad So we need to cook dinner And yeah 11 plates of sushi later But it was still only like 20 Australian dollars Yeah I don’t know It’s so cheap guys But anyway we’ve come to this next road station here We’ve got our motor home parked up which we were just discussing We need a name for it And the name we want for this motor home has to like the the car reminds us of a sumo wrestler I was trying to think of a name and I was like it needs to be like Arnold Oh Arnold Ani Arnold Schwarzinger or Anisan Anisan The car’s name is Anissan Oh the first thing that came to my mind I was like what’s a like strong name like Gus what what about Jack we’re going to give you a tour of Arnold Sun because um we promised we would in the last video So before we get into the tour we didn’t let you know last week where we actually got the van from So it’s from a company called Samurai Campers Now they got franchises all over Tokyo I think there’s like maybe all over Japan Sorry We chose a Saka this time last year or a couple years ago We used Samurai Campers and we went from Tokyo and they have a huge range of different vans So we’ll put a link in the description to their website Go check them out and give them a follow on Instagram That would be amazing Do you want to We tidied up Arnold Sun for you Yeah Uh where do we start i might just quickly give you a little tour outside There’s not really much to see You’ve seen it already because the internal fit out’s been done right So it’s got a couple of these around the car but a big one on the other side They’re actually just blanked out with wood inside because the fit out’s been done custom inside So there’s no like storage or anything like that So I was going to show you the cockpit but we got Apple CarPlay up the front and that’s pretty much it Other than that it’s just a standard automatic Toyota dino truck I think it is Well Megan Megan didn’t have a clue Yeah looking at me Looking at Megan like she knows But yeah it’s it’s pretty standard and it’s just got this huge motor body on it And Megan’s about to give it to it It’s pretty impressive I don’t know what she’s doing now Well I was just going to see if we could set up like this Is this just for outside we actually haven’t set the Yeah I think that’s just for outside Hang on We’re just going to pack this back up So yeah we have a table for outside You have so much seating in this van And underneath all of these is storage as well We’ve got our esie here but I’m pretty sure you can option a chest fridge like we did with our last van that we hired from Samurai which we forgot to this time You can enter the um huge bonus What’s it called the cockpit Isn’t that I don’t know The front of the car You can enter the front of the car from back here and vice versa which it’s always a thing that we think about traveling Australia in terms of safety but I don’t think it’s really No it’s fine here But it is nice You sleep better at night Yeah for sure That’s got curtains as well for privacy And then up here you have a huge queen bed with two windows a reading light and USB and USBC chargers up there as well However this mattress is a little bit too on the firm side for us So we’ve been sleeping on the bunk beds instead which are so comfy except we have hit our head about 14 times since we’ve been in here They also have reading lights on each one and USB and USBC chargers I really hope that stops later tonight We forgot to say we’re sleeping near a train guys I think they stop at midnight I hope so Yeah Anyway um we also have storage under the bed as well which fits our suitcases perfectly However we have unpacked So I put all of my packing cubes and everything up here because we have heaps and heaps of storage up here Oh wow You’ve really moved in Yeah I wasn’t meant to spread out that much I was supposed to keep it contained but oh well We have our kitchen area here with a window and again curtains to cover that These also Is this the one yeah they got fly screen Fly screen Some of them also have the the blackout blinds as well which is really really cool Heaps of bench space for a van like this And then a microwave in an RV which we had in the last van that we hired with Samurai as well which I could not get my head around And Jack will of course geek out on the electrical system soon So you can see how we’re running that because that’s really cool as well More storage under here with all of our cooking stuff Again we’ve sort of spread out there a little bit more than we should have We’ve got running water Um how many lers again i’m not sure Uh anyway we’ve got fresh water and a gray water tank as well Show you guys There’s our tanks there So we got gray water and a fresh water And just like with the last vent as well we were just obsessed with all of the wood paneling and how nice it is And again so many lights So guys look at all the switches for lights You haven’t even turned There’s still more There’s more Yeah more lights Oh you got to turn them on Oh yeah They’re all touch There you go There’s just a ridiculous amount of lights which is great for a photographer It’s so good Oh I also forgot over here we have 240 We’ve actually got a second point over there as well on each side Yeah And it’s not That’s not good And also hooks which I don’t know just make it feel a little bit more homey We were planning on buying like a few little extra touches like plants and things like that But I think we’ll try and keep it as tidy as possible considering how much my bags have exploded in the cupboards But it’s definitely got that cozy feeling already built into it We’ve also got an air conditioner and a exhaust fan These exhaust fans are brilliant They really suck out the cold air you’ve been having it on exhaust during the night cuz they’re so silent and it just lets the air flow through the van a lot better Sometimes when you don’t have a fan in a motor home or a camper van you can get really stuffy inside and you can really feel it So that’s been very nice to have on every night We’ve also got a diesel heater and we have the coolest electrical system I’ve seen in a motor home for a while You guys will know that I love my Reny setups I love electrical systems and I love putting them together This motor home has 460 amps of lithium battery power 2000 watt inverter all the solar controllers on the roof So we’ve been running the aircon and it hasn’t even gone under 400 amps of battery So they really went all out with this electrical system and it was really cool to see that in Japan especially it being Reny the same stuff we use at home was even cooler right There you go There’s our motor home There’s Arm and Sun It’s actually been amazing One thing I will say is if you’re going to hire a van like this make sure you’re a bit confident in driving something so big Otherwise go for the highest the one that you can stand up I think they call it the uh high roof Yeah So that’s the one I would highly recommend is the highest high roof to go around Japan in But but this one is super comfy Considering we’re in here for an extended period of time it definitely feels like a home on wheels more than a van Really it does We’re going to cook dinner We probably should We have to It’s in the es We just ate though I know Well it’s going to go off We spent the money on it guys We got to cook guys We said we’re going to cook dinner but we actually just realized there’s a beach right next to us So we’re on the hunt to get to this beach Found it Nachi nachy beach But this is the weirdest entrance to a beach I’ve ever seen What the heck is going on here you know what’s really weird we’re going lower than sea level right now We’re below the ocean and we’re going to the ocean Oh my goodness What i did not expect this I did not expect this at all This is our first Japanese beach that we’re actually going to set foot on And it’s so quiet There’s no one here Are we even in Japan have we time travel such a contrast to where we were just two days ago in Dom I can spread my arms out and not touch anyone See over there guys i’m pretty sure I’ve done Look I’ve done absolutely no research yet but I’m going to say those are for tidal waves tsunamis Sorry I reckon they’ve built them for tsunamis I could be so wrong We’re about to touch our first bit of Japanese water I mean it’s all the same water really isn’t it here we go guys It’s boiling [Music] [Music] Just wo I’ve got some heat for some dinner We were going to do our eggplant curry from our cookbook and then I was like “Oh maybe the pumpkin one.” And then we couldn’t be bothered buying a whole bunch of ingredients So then we just got curry sauce in a box and some tofu for protein Okay Okay I I think I think I can do that for you Can I You’re going to chop your finger off Can I just do it that is a hard pumpkin I know That’s really hard Why are you doing Oh my gosh What is going on here this is the dessert What that’ll be plenty of pumpkin if it’s not Yeah Okay that’s burning Yep that’s burning Oh my god why has this turned into a disaster i’ll turn it off Hang on One ingredient What is up with this pumpkin oh the knife must be blunt Obviously if only we’re in a country that was really well known for having good knives Hey if only we’re in a country that was known for having really accessible and nice food that’s already made for you I wouldn’t eat that That’d be yucky It’s all right Disgusting Delicious This is so weirdly nostalgic for our best trip I just love the rice There is no chance in the world I can eat with these metal chopsticks Why not there is absolutely no chance Oh they’re a bit more difficult aren’t they they’re really slippery If I’m being totally honest it’s not nice It does not taste nice at all I don’t know what we’ve concocted up here We tried too many different things But not good

We have officially begun our van life travels across Japan! This week we quickly learn that there are A LOT of new and completely unique experiences that we are going to have on this road trip.

🚐 Check out Samurai Campers for van hire across Japan:

Home

(We hired ours from Osaka but they also have pickup locations in Tokyo, Hokkaido and Fukuoka)

📍 Vlog locations:
1. Totsukawago Roadside Station
2. Yunomine Onsen
3. Watarase Onsen (Private Open-Air Bath)
4. Kawayu Onsen, Oto River
5. Hama-Sushi, Shingu
6. Nachi Beach
7. Road Station Nachi

Nara & Wakayama Prefectures, Kansai Region

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#roadtrip #japan #vanlife

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:32 Most unique free camp EVER
4:00 Road Station / Michi-No-Eki Explanation
6:11 Yunomine Onsen
8:34 Our first Onsen experience 😳
14:26 The Japan countryside is BEAUTIFUL
18:06 RV Camper tour
25:25 Nachi Beach
27:17 Dinner