Our ULTIMATE Japan road trip! 🇯🇵 (in the CUTEST mini campervan! 🚐)

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We found the world's CUTEST campervan 🏆 in JAPAN! 🇯🇵

For almost 2 weeks it was the ultimate little home on wheels as we road tripped around part of the country. 😍 And for the first part of our road trip we headed to the epic Northern Japanese Alps, the charming Nakasendo Trail, and the Izu Peninsula for waterfalls and dramatic coastal views. It was the BEST 6 days getting a bit off the beaten path!

📅 This video was filmed in early to mid October 2025
🚐 We rented this campervan from Japan CRC: https://japan-crc.com/en/

📍Locations in this video
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=1EBoTK54i0NcwXOrf9Vk8sM_KM0FmYEY&usp=sharing

⌚Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:59 Picking up our mini campervan!
02:12 Important things to know about driving in Japan
02:45 Our plan for our road trip
03:09 Driving to Hakuba
04:40 Tour of our mini campervan
07:45 Why van life is popular in Japan
08:41 Does Adam fit in the bed?
10:18 Our journey to Happo Pond in Hakuba
12:54 Happo Pond and Mt. Karamatsu
16:05 How do we shower?
16:46 Our thoughts on our FIRST Manga Cafe shower
18:47 Early wake up call to get to Kamikochi
19:20 Exploring Kamikochi
21:30 The skies cleared!!!
23:25 Matsumoto Castle
24:48 Trying Matsumoto fried chicken (Sanzoku-yaki)
26:16 Nakasendo Trail from Magome to Tsumago
33:37 Our thoughts on driving in Japan
35:41 Joren Falls on the Izu Peninsula
37:01 Trying wasabi ice cream!
39:36 The craziest bridge!!
40:05 Kawazu Seven Falls (+ the BEST onsen!)
42:19 Trying more wasabi dishes
44:32 The EPIC Japanese coast!
45:21 Kathryn’s FIRST time driving on the left side of the road
47:06 Ryugu Sea Cave
47:39 The perfect beach day in Japan
48:45 Thoughts on van life so far (+ what’s next?)
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👋🏼 About us
Hi y’all! We’re Adam, Kathryn, and Kona, an adventurous married couple (+ pup!) living on the road in our self-converted sprinter van! You can often find us driving all around the US and Canada, scoping out the best coffee shops, eating tacos and ice cream (we're a 5+ taco and 2+ scoop household), and enjoying nature.

We help travelers spend less time (and stress!) planning their trip and more time enjoying it! Our detailed travel guides, YouTube videos, and travel resources share the must-visit local eats, popular and off the beaten path sights, and tons of tips to make planning your next adventure a whole lot easier.

Note: We’ve linked a handful of items so you can see exactly which products we take with us. Full disclosure--if you click on these links and make a purchase, we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. We will only ever recommend products we truly love, actually use during our adventures, and think you can benefit from too!