By JUNICHI KAMIYAMA/ Staff Writer
March 8, 2022 at 07:10 JST
Camper vans on display at the Japan Camping Car Show 2022 in Chiba on Feb. 10 (Junichi Kamiyama)
Businesses have become more creative with their campers and other outdoor-leisure vehicles, which have grown in popularity during the novel coronavirus crisis.
Cheaper options have fueled sales among younger drivers, but now, some rather unconventional vehicles are attracting attention.
Seventy companies put automobiles on display at the Japan Camping Car Show 2022 at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba from Feb. 10 to 13.
Nissan Motor Co. showed a prototype camper van named Caravan Myroom Concept. Proposed by a young employee, the vehicle contains a foldable bed and rotatable desk in its luggage area that can be used for telework or rest.
R.C. Core Co., a Tokyo-based log house builder, released its Imago log cabin on wheels in October and aims to sell 1,000 units in fiscal 2022.
The cabin, which is designed to be towed by a sport utility vehicle, comes in two sizes, 6.51 square meters and 11.27 square meters in floor space.
It costs between 3.86 million and 4.57 million yen ($33,500 and $39,700), compared with a full-sized camper van, which typically sells for 7 million to 8 million yen.
Jusetz Marketing Co., a camper builder in Kobe, sells the Movuse camper canopy to be mounted on small trucks with an engine displacement of 660 cc or less at a cost of 583,000 yen. Interior fittings can be changed at buyers’ requests.
A Movuse-equipped truck is priced at 1.8 million yen. The number of orders doubled in 2021 from 2019, and many of new owners were younger than 35.
Preliminary data from the Japan Recreational Vehicle Association in Yokohama show that total sales of camper vans in Japan in 2021 increased 9 percent year on year to 63.54 billion yen. The figure is triple that of 10 years ago.
In 2021, 136,000 campers were owned by motorists in Japan, up 6 percent from the previous year.
Many camper makers are small and midsize companies and procure base vehicles from major automakers. It is rare for domestic auto giants like Nissan to develop camper vans on their own.
A growing challenge is how to quickly deliver campers to their buyers.
Nuts RV Co., a camper builder in Onga, Fukuoka Prefecture, is struggling to keep up with demand. Its camper sales rose 20 percent in 2021 compared with 2019.
“Our products used to be delivered within three to six months, but some models currently take one and a half years to arrive at patrons,” said Kenji Araki, president of Nuts.
Reduced automobile production stemming from the global semiconductor shortage has also contributed to the prolonged delivery period.
Personal watercraft accidents rise in leisure boom
October 14, 2021
Brewer, shop develop sake as possible fixture at campfires
October 5, 2021
Residents turn to balconies for recreation amid long pandemic
October 3, 2021
Wealthy motorists turn to luxury car imports despite pandemic
September 21, 2021
Seaside camping outing offered on Kamomejima in Hokkaido
August 19, 2021
For campers, venomous ‘mamushi’ are a constant risk
July 29, 2021
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
