Camping Trade World – Issue 08

DOING BUSINESS WITH... JAPAN
Photo: Tiplada M (Unsplash)
▲ Many campervans and campers in Japan are built on small and versatile vans such as the reliable Toyota Hiace.
CAMPERVAN IS KING
The campervan is without
doubt the most popular kind
of camping vehicle in Japan,
with small vans such as the
Toyota Hiace as popular as
vans such as the VW T6 are
in Europe. The Japan RV
Association recently conducted
a survey to find out more
about this market segment and
where it is headed for 2022
and beyond. They discovered
that the most common age
for campervan owners was
50s and 60s and of the people
surveyed about 79 per cent
owned a camper, while 86 per
cent said they had used one.
The most common usage was
of course for leisure, but with
this being the workaholic
country that is Japan, about 15
per cent said they used them
for commuting or for a place
to have a break in when at
work. Interestingly, those who
do use them for work say they
use them mostly as a way to
have accommodation when on
work trips. The most common
reason for using a campervan
was to stay overnight at
popular tourist spots or
destination, while the second
most common reason was
simply to enjoy the pleasure of
being outdoors in nature. One
of the most popular benefits
for having a campervan
according to Japanese users
was the freedom to be mobile,
closely followed by the idea
of having private space while
travelling. Japanese campervan
owners expect much the same
things as those in Europe, with
electricity, water systems, air
conditioning and comfortable
sleeping quarters the most
important attributes to them.
The most common length of
ideal time spent in a campervan
is a week or more and the most
desired location to visit in Japan
is Hokkaido. Most commonly,
campervans are used by couples,
and when pushed on their most
desired international location to
try campervan or RVing, North
America came out on top.
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