Next month it will have been two years since we drove the van out our driveway knowing only we were headed for Australia- we managed that just fine and had an absolutely amazing 14 months there. A total bonus was getting to ship our van up through North East Asia on the way home and to explore both Korea and Japan in our own vehicle. All three places blew us away and were super easy to travel in – we are so glad we went.
With the ship carrying our vehicle home to North America now dropping it off in Baltimore, I got to do one last trip in the van before we put it away for the coming winter, after which we’ll make plans for our next adventure. I had to fly to Baltimore, get it through the port process and drive it almost 5,000kms ( 3,000 miles ) home to Kelowna in British Columbia. I do say “I” and not “we” because both of us have done this trip on a couple of occasions before and since not much of it represented “new” territory, Lois was less enthused about yet another cross-continent foray. There was really no need for us both to go – it was, after all, more of a delivery run than any kind of adventure, so I stepped up, took one for the team ( 😉 ) and flew off alone to get our rig. It would be a lot of driving, alone, across the US, but I thought it just might also be a great time to get some perspective on what’s happening there with the big election now just weeks away. Anxious to get our rig back home and do some work on it before the outside temperature fell below freezing, I picked just a few places to visit, arranged a slight detour to collect our new retractable shower door direct from the manufacturer in Ohio, and then planned to cross back into Canada near Lethbridge, Alberta. There I could pick up the replacement inside window trims from the good folks at Wilderness Vans. A very busy and probably quite tiring week or so beckoned.
When I got to my van it was very much hemmed in – I had to move the Delica forward so I could get mine.
As mentioned in last week’s blog, getting it out of the port in the US was fast, easy, and compared to ports in other countries, very inexpensive. I was actually shocked at how cheap it was. Just as well, I suppose, as there is a big fuel bill to come to deliver it to the other side of the continent. With the detours mentioned above, the 4400km journey morphed closer to 4,700km which took 7 1/2 days of pretty solid driving. Bear in mind that in a van you are not travelling as fast as you might in a car, and in the western states it was very windy making it difficult to handle the van at times. It’s tall and acts like a sail catching all the cross winds so for several days I had to slow it down quite a bit. I must admit that made some of the days seem very long indeed.
First close up of the rig – all appeared intact, no damage and no theft ( there was nothing to steal !). The usual mess they put all over your windscreen of course !
So, what’s going on the US right now ? I usually stay well away from politics in this blog ( the comments below are just some observations, rather than opinions ) but you simply can’t avoid noticing it in the US right now. Of course one sees many political signs ( Trump/Vance and Harris/Walz ) the preponderance of each aligning pretty closely with what are known as the “blue” states and “red” states. Lots more blue in the east and almost solid red in the west. It’s going to be an interesting election.
The “red” and “blue” in this map pretty much aligned with both the roadside signage and voting sentiments of those I spoke to along the way. A very clear divide…..
Of the people I spoke to ( in the port, at the airport, in the stores, at restaurants and rest areas I stopped at), when the election came up in discussion ( and it did ) people talked mostly about the economy and the cost of living. Where I travelled, immigration did not seem to be a big thing ( guess that’s a bigger issue further south – despite driving through Ohio, I did miss Springfield 😉 ). What surprised me is how many people seemed concerned about “the economy”, especially when, to all appearances the economy in the US is absolutely BOOMING. I can’t recall a time where I have seen it better yet lots of Americans seem unhappy or worried about it when you talk to them. It’s truly bizarre when you have inflation now back to normal, unemployment a non-issue, fuel prices very low ( a huge concern for Americans as a rule ), a strong/stable currency and stock markets at all time highs. I mean, ( on the surface anyway ) what’s not to like ? Restaurants and malls were full everywhere I went, the roads were always busy – things just seemed, well, pretty darn good. Perhaps one of our US readers can help us understand why so many American folks say they are so worried about the economy ? It’s a mystery to most of us on the outside looking in. Even one of the world’s most respected news magazines acknowledges things in the US now are red hot ( see recent front page story below ):
Front page of “The Economist”, noting boom times in the US. It’s certainly how it appears.
Beyond my exposure to the unavoidable political goings on with the election imminent, there were of course some sights to see. In addition to two big attractions along the way, there were lots of lesser “sights” ( I use the word loosely ) passed that also caught my eye – the birthplace of Hoover, of John Wayne, and a few other lesser names that were prominently highlighted as one approached their respective hometowns. I was struck by how humble were the origins of people who rose to such great fame. I also passed the World’s Largest Truck Stop in Iowa ( never, ever have I seen so many trucks in one place ! ), and crossed the great Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Those and many other notable places and features popped up along the way, but one thing I was reminded of as I crossed the continent was just how beautiful it is in places and how incredibly large it is. You can look on a map but one really has to drive it to get a feel for just how big it really is. Americans would of course be well aware of how big their country is in comparison with others (4th largest in the world ) but to experience it on the road adds a whole new perspective. Somehow it seemed almost bigger this time ( or perhaps that was just because it’s the first time I’ve driven it alone ).
Yes, it’s THAT bridge ( or was that bridge). The F. Scott Key bridge in Baltimore that was rammed by a ship and collapsed earlier this year. Caused major havoc with shipping into and out of Baltimore.First state out of Maryland. Found myself humming to the old Neil Sedaka classic about “Wheeling”, a town that I later passed through.A state we hear much about in the US election. Unfortunately saw just a corner of it on the route to Kelowna. In the east the states are generally smaller and you pass through several a day on some days. Later, out west, it seemed like several days in a state !Getting up early and heading more or less directly west each day provided some beautiful lighting. Not so pleasant driving into the sun in the late afternoon! October is often a beautiful travel month.The always helpful Jenifer, at Stoett Industries in Hicksville, Ohio – maker of the legendary Nautilus Retractable Shower Door. I was even given a factory tour !Hicksville, Ohio ……a quintessential US small town.Having gotten off the interstate I sought out a small tire place to do a tire rotation. I was a bit overdue. The friendly folks at Stockland took good care of me.Crossing Ohio I stuck mostly to smaller roads having diverted off the interstate to get to Hicksville. A good perspective on many of the small towns in this part of the US.Crossed the bottom of Iowa then went up the west side of the state, bordering Nebraska and the mighty Missouri River. And yes, there are indeed fields and fields and fields in this state!I’d forgotten how fast you can travel down here. That is 80 mph, or almost 130 kph (and even at that limit I still saw the cops catching people for speeding ! ).In much of this part of the US, the states came and went. Just acres and acres of farmland with bigger cities hundreds of miles apart. For days it seemed I just drove and drove, from before sunrise, till sunset. Tiring doing it alone. Not much to photograph !One of those places where nuclear missiles were kept, and pointed at locations across the USSR. Now a historic site, near Rapid City, South Dakota.Remember those days ? The “Cold War” ? There were some fascinating displays and lots of interesting facts spelled out at the Minuteman Missile Historic Site.Badlands NP, South Dakota. One of the two attractions I wanted to see while out this way, having been close, but never having driven through it before. Quite an eerie place, in some areas almost like a moonscape.Badlands NP.Badlands NP.More Badlands NP.Stunning Mt. Rushmore, near Rapid City, South Dakota. This was the other attraction I was interested in. I had seen it, a long time ago, but it’s the kind of place you can definitely revisit. Still as impressive as ever, carved in rock they are aging well.A close up. No prizes for guessing who is the most prominent President .We’ve probably passed this place in Montana 4 or 5 times over the years and I’d always wanted to check it out, but never did, rushing to get somewhere else it always seemed. One day we’ll stop at the place of Custer’s last stand !And, eventually………made it back to Canada ! An easy border crossing, at the town of Coutts, no one there waiting, just two quick questions and I was in. Getting close to home now.Crossing the Rocky Mountains – always a highlight of any drive across Canada !More Rockies….Getting close to home, crossing the Alberta/BC border near Lake Louise.Back where it all started ( our driveway ). We had 15,479kms on the odometer when we left Kelowna in November, 2022…..….and 81,440kms when the van pulled back into our driveway. That’s 65,961kms spent crossing the US ( twice ), and all our travels in Australia, Korea and Japan.
So, very tired (but very happily) I had now made it back home. Relieved to be here safe and sound ( certainly ) but at the same time still quite annoyed that the need to wait this long for our vehicle and the need to drive so far was all due to a careless error made in Japan. Alas, one can’t look back and cry over spilt milk. There is much to do at home for a few more months including cleaning, maintenance and replacement of some parts in the van. We will also use the time to start planning our travels for 2025 ( we are considering two options ), and will decide where we’ll go soon.
As this will likely be our last blog for 2024, let me say a huge thank you to all our readers for following along, for your comments (always appreciated), your tips, and at times from some, for your advice! Lois and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (in advance) and a very Happy New Year, we will restart the blog as soon as we hit the road again.
I’ll close now with a short video clip of the trip across the USA – enjoy.
Been quite a while since our last post, but, as you will read later in this edition, we had a little, umm, shall we say, “setback” just after we flew out of Japan that very materially delayed getting our van back to North America – but more on that saga later in this post. As promised some time back, in this edition I’ll share the costs and processes involved in getting it home from Japan ( and elaborate on what went wrong ). This shipping update is provided ( based on our own experience in Japan ) primarily for the benefit of those following our blog or IG updates, and who are contemplating adding Japan/Korea to their overlanding travels. It is very much focused on the Japan side of the journey, which had a bit more complexity; the US side was super fast, easy and very cheap. Next week I will share a full update on the driving experience across the USA and back home to Kelowna, thus going “full circle” as it were, over the past ( almost ) two years of our time on the road.
For those who have emailed, WhatsApp’d, or Messenger’d us with questions ( or who’ve just been following with interest ), here’s the shipping summary based on our experience. It’s pretty dry, technical stuff so if you are a regular blog reader following our general travel experiences in Japan, this post is a definite pass ( you’ve been warned ) ! If that is not you, but you’re just curious about our “setback”, skip down to “So, What Went Wrong ?”.
Arrival in Japan from Korea:
Since we did not arrive in Japan on a RoRo ship ( we came by ferry, from Korea ), I can’t really speak to the process or port costs exactly. I can share that an Australian couple we met ( @rightfoottravel ) shipped a Landcruiser in to Japan ( Yokohama ) in a container and their port charges/customs fees etc ran to $950 USD. RoRo might be a tad less as a vehicle shipped via RoRo does not need to be unpacked but it’s probably a fair guide. For the record, arriving by ferry from Korea was a bit slow in terms of processing ( we spent all day at the port ) but it was very cheap; our “all in” fees for customs, Carnet review by JAF, and the security deposit came to about $150USD ( and the security “deposit” is not a deposit – you don’t get it back – it’s a fee, plain and simple). The ferry was very reasonably priced as well ( around $500USD, for the van, 2 people and private cabin with shower/toilet ), and very comfortable – I’d highly recommend it for anyone considering that route to Japan. We used Camellia Line and our very helpful contact in Japan who handled everything was Jae ( speaks English, Japanese and Korean ) : [email protected]
Background To Shipping Out of Japan:
A constant over the last few weeks of our time in Japan was regular communication with our shipping agent agent, Hollis Humphreys – it’s par for the course when one is at this stage of any overland journey. Without question, getting the shipping piece completed on time, on budget, and without damage or loss is one of the big challenges of overlanding. It stresses overlanders out more than anything else. The challenge was further complicated on this route because all shippers were advising that the vehicle had to travel with no inside cargo. See our previous blog for details on how that complicated our life and added considerable expense for us. On no other shipping route have we ever had to do that, and hopefully we won’t have to again. Having said that we are now hearing that other overlanders are being told ( or at least strongly advised) to do this on some other international routes ( in Japan, it seems to be a rule, not just advice ! ).
Meeting Hollis in Tokyo, in person, was a nice touch – so often one never meets the shipping agent in person in this business. Just the day before, Hollis confirmed that we in fact now had “space” – the “green light” we’d anxiously awaited. I don’t think we have ever been as relieved to get such a confirmation – we were, in fact, braced for the possibility that we’d be flying out of Japan with the van in storage and still on a shipping wait list so it was heaven not to have to contend with that. When the news was looking especially bleak a couple of weeks back, we‘d actually seriously explored ferrying back to Korea in the hope of getting a firm booking out from there. Fortunately we did not have to go that route- while they had space out of Korea it came at a price we were not willing to pay ( well over double the rates on offer out of Japan ). Shipping can be like that, prices being extremely sensitive to supply and demand on particular routes.
We finally got to meet Hollis ( our shipping agent ) in person while in Tokyo. He’s lived in Japan for over 22 years so knows the lay of the land well.
Choosing A Shipping Agent:
in some respects shipping out of Japan is much like elsewhere in the world and other respects quite different. We found Hollis’ name through another overlanding contact and reached out initially many months before coming to Japan with preliminary inquiries. It’s important to get someone familiar with RoRo shipping vs regular container shipping. They are different beasts – one agent we spoke to simply said they just “don’t do” RoRo. We did speak to others initially to get quotes and assess service levels – we chose Hollis for a few reasons:
a) Native English speaker, a huge benefit when you are discussing the intricacies of shipping minutiae
b) Had 22 years experience in Japan, fluent in Japanese, and communication was generally timely
c) Was also able to broker our vehicle insurance needs and arranged our vehicle coverage through a large and reputable Japanese insurer.
d) Knowing we had shipped 3 times before, he was able to carefully explain how and where it was different in Japan. We could have easily made some incorrect assumptions without his insights
Key Differences Between Japan And Other Places We Have Shipped From:
a) Given current demand for RoRo space everything is “last minute” here right now. We are assured that is NOT normal but it’s certainly been our normal! In this environment one must be VERY organized and prepared to move at short notice. Nowhere else in the world have we experienced this. Hopefully we won’t anywhere in future.
b) We did not technically drop our vehicle at the “port” but rather a private yard nearby, awaiting later delivery to the port. Not sure if this process is specific to this port, this shipping line, our agent, or just as a result of capacity limitations at this time. It was new to us, we’ve always driven our vehicles directly on to the actual wharf.
c) As a result of the above, there was no customs inspection while we were present, nor did the shipping line inspect it at that point. That would come later. When leaving Argentina, the USA, Australia and Korea we delivered our vehicle directly to the actual port. In both Argentina and Korea the customs inspection on departure was done while we were there; no such departure inspection was done in Australia ( but they sure got us coming in ! ), nor in the US. It was due to this uncertainly that we decided to bite the bullet, absorb the considerable mailing costs and ship it empty. We are glad we did.
d) Regarding documents, this was mostly very similar to elsewhere – proof of vehicle ownership, Carnet copies, passport copies etc were required to be emailed in to secure the booking with delivery of original Carnet as we dropped the vehicle off. This last part was very different to other ports/countries where I took the Carnet to customs myself to have it stamped and then got it back to take with me. In Japan, your Carnet is left with the shipping agent ( Hollis ) who gets it stamped ONLY after customs have confirmation the vessel has sailed and your vehicle is on it. Not a process I love and of course we will now have to have the Carnet couriered to us in Canada. I need it back so I can have it closed out and get my deposit back.
e) Marine Insurance – Hollis acknowledged that his providers were not very competitive in this critical field so encouraged us to shop elsewhere. His sources charged 1.5% of vehicle value, which is very high. We went straight back to Stewart Insurance ( Michael, or Sam ) in Melbourne who insured us from Australia to Korea and they were happy to insure our passage onwards from Japan. It worked out to about 0.65% of vehicle value and they were as fast and efficient as before. Highly recommended, this time they used Chubb International vs Zurich International last time.
Getting To Port:
Google Maps got us to Yokohama port without issue, it’s all pretty organized there. In our experience, due to lack of port space they won’t want your vehicle too early, so be prepared to drop it at a “yard”. Seems to be the way in Yokohama.
Pretty busy road on the way to Yokohama port, so this time we took toll roads. One of the few things that is still expensive in Japan. And of course, we are not considered a “car” here, we’re a bus, remember ! It was a 90 minute drive of approximately 100kms ( 60 miles ) and cost us just over $60 Cdn ( almost $50 USD ).Port area of Yokohama was a bit of a maze with cars for export everywhere. But, we found our yard with no problem.Parked in the port storage yard awaiting transfer to the dock. Mr Bean’s mini beside us ( lol ).Mr Nii, who accepted our vehicle at the yard in Yokohama. They will deliver it from his yard to the Yokohama wharf ( just a few hundred meters away ) on or before departure day. Side note – every shipping office we have EVER been to looks like this !We always note the mileage and fuel level when leaving the vehicle at a port. Shippers insist on a maximum fuel level of 1/4 tank. The closing mileage tells us the distance we travelled in Japan.Odometer on arrival in Fukuoka, Japan. So, we drove 11,772kms over 91 days, thus averaging just 129kms per day. While that seems like absolutely nothing, it’s fairly typical here when one is generally not using the toll roads.Van was left with owners manual and two laminated instructions sheets ( in English and Japanese) on the front seat. One showing how to jumpstart it if there’s a flat battery and the other showing the starting process.Delivered to port- clean and empty ( getting it to that stage, while on the road, was a huge task ) !Garage area had not been empty since before we started. We have a lot of space there and unfortunately brought many things that we never used. Now we had to pay to send them home 😔. In case you are wondering it’s a beach shade hanging in the garage – not valuable enough to send, yet hard to dispose of. I offered it to Mr Nii should Japan Customs or the shipping line want it removed. Likewise for the shovel. The shovel survived, the beach shade not !Given the starting procedure is a bit unique with a Sprinter and there is a short delay until the diesel engine starts, I asked Mr Nii to drive it around the yard to get familiar with it. I then asked what he thought. His comment ? You guessed …..”Oki desu!” ( it’s big ! ) . How fitting we should hear this once more before we left Japan !!!!This time I made sure to have an AirTag active in the van – when the van is close to a wifi/cellular signal it should alert us to where it is. Should be helpful to track its whereabouts in the ports at both ends.Our scheduled ship is the “Eternal Ace”. We joked that we were “eternally grateful” to have gotten space on it !
Payment/Bill of Lading Etc:
As with every other international shipment we have done, payment is made only once the ship is at sea. Hollis accepts credit card ( but with a 3.75% fee ! ) making the transfer of funds easy if you don’t want to send a wire. It was better value just to wire funds, which we did. We had a booking confirmation number and got the BOL before the ship sailed. The shipping quote had already been agreed on at ¥760,000 ( all in ), or just a hair over $5,000 USD (and we are a 42cbm vehicle).
So, What Went Wrong ?:
While we left Japan ( to fly home ) feeling pretty pumped and that everything was under control, things soon went VERY pear shaped. We’d not been home a week when Hollis called to say that our van had been “bumped” off the ship ( the “Eternal Ace”, which was a 15 day direct sail to Vancouver – the best possible sailing for us ). Seems Hollis had submitted our height as 2.59 meters, not the 2.95m I had originally supplied, and when it got to the port for measurement they said there was no space in the higher section. It gets worse – sailings to Vancouver ( and the West coast in general ) were heavily booked as major shipping clients were all booking up space to the West Coast ahead of a potential US East Coast port strike that was coming. We had no hope of getting on another sailing to the West coast which is why we ( very reluctantly ) accepted Baltimore ( near New York ). The “Marguerite Ace”, our new ship, wasn’t scheduled to leave for another 25 days and given the much longer passage to the East coast it meant that we would now not see our van till early October ( as opposed to mid August ). And now I would have an almost 5,000km drive back to Kelowna, versus 400km if we’d shipped direct to Vancouver ! All because the height was incorrectly recorded by the shipping agent. We were, quite literally “not happy campers !”. But, what do you do……?
The short red line is the route we were to take. The long red one is the route we ended up taking.
Alas, despite typhoons in Japan that slowed it down for 5 days, and a 3 day port strike that started just before our ship was to dock in Baltimore, we did finally manage to pick it up on October 8. I will add that, just like before ( when we shipped a truck camper from Argentina to Brunswick, Georgia ), the US port process is VERY efficient. I flew into Baltimore airport, arriving at 8.00 am and was driving out of the port in the early afternoon….same day ! Our shipping agent in the US ( the same one we used when we shipped the truck camper ) was super efficient, and very reasonably priced. We had our Carnet handy but did not need to use it to clear customs. The total costs paid at the US end were:
Arrival notification – $50.00
Port fees – $98.00
Port escort – $62.50
Agents fee – $125.00
Customs fee (1) – $12.00
Total: $347.50 ( very similar to what we paid in Brunswick in 2022, and very cheap compared to other countries)
(1) Customs is at BWI airport and provide the port release – you need it to get your vehicle. Fast and efficient.
Derrick was my friendly Port Escort. Vessel Finder app makes it easy to track the ship and to see when it has arrived and moored.My Apple AirTag makes it easy to see when my van has been unloaded and exactly where it is on the dock.
So, despite the long wait ( I picked it up at the port almost 7 weeks later than expected ) it was a huge relief just to get our van back safe and sound. There was some good news in another respect, as well. Readers will remember the frantic packing of 6 huge cardboard boxes containing all our “inner cargo” in the days preceding our flights home from Japan. Japan Post had advised that they may take 8 weeks – happily, they all arrived, over 2 different days, undamaged and delivered right to our door less than 6 weeks after they were sent. Some pretty valuable stuff in the boxes so that was also a huge relief. The cost of sea mailing all the boxes was around $500 CDN ( $370USD ) and when you consider that the deductible/excess on any marine insurance claim is usually $750-$1,000 USD ( and there most surely would have been some theft based on past experience ) we felt it was not a bad deal cost-wise ( just more of a headache to do it all ). Vehicle damage is rare, contents theft is sadly common.
Four of the six boxes arrived one day, the other two the following day. In perfect condition !
I hope potential future overlanders to North East Asia find this of some value – I know that similar information supplied to me by those who came before us helped immensely with our decision to ship our vehicle to/from the region and travel extensively in Korea and Japan. We absolutely loved the experience, and we’d be happy to answer any questions readers may have ( happy to do a little “payback” in this regard ). Next week I’ll document the final drive home to Kelowna – stay tuned !
Positioning ourselves for a few days in downtown Tokyo first meant finding a secure and affordable place to store the rig while we “hoteled” it in the city itself. That, we managed to find out towards Narita ( home of Tokyo’s international airport), convenient also for when we needed to ultimately fly out. Getting there was an interesting drive taking us mostly along the coast south-west of Tokyo Bay, via Kamakura and Yokohama before making use of the new bridge/tunnel across the bay ( the “Aqualine” ) to Chiba prefecture. An incredibly impressive feat of engineering and something really weird to experience – knowing large ocean going tankers are actually sailing above you !
Our final drive in Japan. So much for our initial plan to “avoid Tokyo” ! We ended up crossing it twice given the challenging logistics of delivering all our ( considerable ) luggage to Narita before ultimately delivering the van to the the port of Yokohama before then taking the Narita Express train back to Narita airport. Complex ! A very long final day in Japan.
Tokyo is the kind of place you could spend many days ( or even longer ) but we spent 3 days and two nights on this visit. Now in our final days, it seemed a good time to splash out on a nice hotel and the Villa Fontaine Grand Tokyo in trendy Roppongi fit the bill nicely. We love our van but it was certainly a treat to spread ourselves out for a few days in 4 star luxury. Centrally located in Roppongi, and with Tokyo’s awesome 24 hour Unlimited Metro passes in hand we set off exploring.
As amazing as our van has been, it was a real treat to splash out on a nice hotel for a few days ( to escape the oppressive humidity more than anything ).Roppongi is a great spot and with a subway station right out front getting to all Tokyo’s attractions was a breeze.
This thriving, busy, home to 20,000,000 people has much to offer- several of Japan’s more famous shrines, phenomenal food options, amazing shopping, the Imperial Palace, and one of the world’s best known pedestrian crossings with accommodation and entertainment options now at prices that once seemed unthinkable in one of the world’s great metropolises. Is it any wonder that the place was packed to the rafters with foreign tourists ? We thought Kyoto was popular – Tokyo was insane ! You certainly can’t do it full justice in the time we spent there so we focused on some specific areas this visit – the Imperial Palace, Ginza shopping district, Shinjuku/Shibuya ( home of the famous “Shibuya Scramble” ), Meiji Shrine, Yasukuni Shrine and Sensoji Temple. There is of course much more but these alone certainly kept us busy.
Starting in the very heart of downtown Tokyo, the Imperial Palace ( residence of the Emperor ) is most people’s first stop. While one can’t visit the “inner sanctum” so to speak, the grounds are huge, beautiful, full of historical landmarks and remarkably quiet considering its location. The gardens/grounds are superbly well-maintained, as befits the home of the country’s monarch. While the emperor used to reside in Kyoto, since the time of the Meiji Restoration ( 1868 ) Tokyo has been his home.
Moat surrounding the Imperial Palace.Old and new – one of the the Imperial Palace entry gates juxtaposed against downtown Tokyo business centre.Imperial Palace grounds.Imperial Palace gate.
Probably Tokyo’s most famous suburb ( and reportedly its most expensive ), Ginza is not far away. Here one finds the most historic department stores, international fashion brands, all manner of luxury stores and some of Tokyo’s trendiest streets and restaurants. For mere mortals like us, much of it was “window shopping only” but still interesting to experience this most decadent part of the town. On every street corner there’s a name brand you’d recognize, foreign and Japanese.
The 1930’s Art Deco themed Mitsukoshi Dept Store, Japan’s most famous.Louis Vuitton, a particular favourite of the Japanese.Versace. There were many more !
Yasukuni Shrine holds a special place in the hearts of Japanese, being the place where many of its war dead including its greatest military leaders have been interred. While this includes revered military leaders going back to Edo times, 14 Class A war criminals from WW2 ( like Hideki Tojo ) are interred there as well. While not an issue for Western nations, this causes friction, particularly with near Asian neighbours, when Japanese politicians habitually visit to pay their respects to the deceased ( as politicians are wont to do ). So, beyond being a beautiful shrine, with impressive grounds, the place is a bit controversial in the eyes of some. Our interest ( mine anyway ) was purely on the grounds and the military museum within – for any military history buff ( as I am ), Yasukuni offers some great content. It is the 3rd place in Japan we’ve seen a well preserved WW2 Zero fighter and it had by far the best one of them all. Showroom condition, you might say. Unsurprisingly it attracted by far the most attention among the hordes of foreign visitors. There was much more beyond that but two other items in particular caught my eye – a wartime Japanese steam engine, and a monument recognizing the Indian juror at the Tokyo War Crimes trial, Dr Radhabinod Pal ( see images below ). I’ve posted a little quiz ( under the image ) re the steam engine to see if any movie buffs recognize it – let me know in the comments if you do. For those into military history ( and may have seen this recent mini series ), the aforementioned Dr. Pal was the sole dissenting judge at the 1949 trial. Among all the judges of the tribunal, he was the only one who submitted a judgment which insisted all defendants were not guilty ( Wikipedia ). Of course, many were hung anyway, but his position gained him much sympathy and recognition in Japan at that tumultuous time and he is recognized for his position with a granite monument at Yasukuni.
Yasukuni Shrine.Very interesting to watch a kendo match while at Yasukuni.We’ve seen the legendary Zero-sen fighter at two previous museums but neither as clean as this one at Yasukuni.More military history at Yasukuni- if this train looks familiar, you’ve seen it in a classic scene near the end of a famous WW2 movie starring Alec Guinness. Guesses ?The contentious War Crimes tribunal judge from India, Dr. Pal, the sole juror to dissent on the guilty verdict for senior military leaders, such as Hideki Tojo.Statue of Iwao Oyama ( 1842-1916 ) a famous Meiji-era Japanese general, after whom the Okanagan valley town of “Oyama” is named ( a little trivia tidbit for folks who live in or near Kelowna, our hometown, in Canada’s Okanagan Valley).
Realizing a need to buy yet more luggage to carry our things home, busy Shibuya ( a great shopping area ) was the next stop. A place on every Tokyo visitor’s checklist, Shibuya is also home to the famous “Shibuya Crossing” (or, as it’s more colloquially known) “Shibuya Scramble”. It’s that busiest of intersections in the heart of Shibuya where pedestrians from all 4 sides cross at once. It creates the impression of pure chaos but, each day, tens of thousands navigate their way through this landmark without incident. So popular is it now that many visitors hold cameras aloft filming it as they cross. You’ve surely seen this one on an Instagram or Facebook post at some point. A view from above can be had as well although ours was somewhat obscured by the wire-inlaid security glass. Oh, and we did manage to find the extra carry-on’s we needed. They would save us a couple of days later.
Tokyo’s famous “Shibuya Scramble”, the intersection where all 4 sides cross at once.From above.
An easy walk from Shibuya is Meiji Jingu ( shrine ), also on most people’s list. The grounds here are large as well, making for a lot of walking but the huge cedars that line the entranceway provided much needed shade on what was a blisteringly hot day. Meiji is not as old as the other shrines but is impressive nonetheless.
Meiji shrine.Meiji shrine entrance.Meiji Shrine.
Our last visit was to one of Tokyo’s oldest temples, the hugely busy Senso-ji. Oldest, and also the busiest – it was absolutely shoulder to shoulder at this site, seemingly the most popular of all those we visited. Odd, because for us it certainly was not the most impressive – perhaps though, that had something to do with it being the last visit on one of our days there so we were getting tired and possibly a little “shrined-out”. Whether it’s temples in Asia, churches in Italy, or shrines in Japan, you sometimes reach that point !
Tokyo, it’s sights, and the hotel stay especially, was a welcome break but now there was a more pressing matter to deal with. While in Tokyo we had received our shipping space confirmation but had precious little time to deliver our “empty” van to the port of Yokohama – our final days were, shall we say, rather frantic. The scheduled sail date was only a week out meaning we had to deliver a clean, empty vehicle back to the port of Yokohama ( driving right across Tokyo this time ) in just two days. With some of the van’s contents already delivered to Japan Post the week before (compressed into 5 large boxes), it was now a juggling act to determine how the remaining contents would be dispersed, either:
a) carried with us on the plane ( necessitating significant extra paid baggage ), or
b) packaged into one final large box for yet another drop off at Japan Post, or
c) given away ( if so, to whom ? ), or
d) dumped ( and if so, where, especially given the travails so far in disposing of just “regular” garbage in Japan ! ).
It’s probably no surprise that we used all four, and while the first two were expensive, it was the latter two that were by far the most difficult. Here are a few images showing how it all played out, right down to the wire:
While driving around the outskirts of Tokyo looking for 7/11 stores with garbage cans big enough to dispose of smaller items, we bumped into Cazy, a friendly Japanese lady with a campervan who was delighted to relieve us of some of the bigger camping items and other consumable we could not take with us.On one of the days outside Tokyo it poured raining which really put us under the gun to prepare the van for shipment. Hard to pack in these conditions.Needed our window shades till the very end so packed those with our 400w external flexi solar panel ( one of those things we almost NEVER used ! ) and rushed off to Japan Post – on the way to Yokohama. Our 6th big parcel.Weigh scale at Narita. Three checked bags, all close to the maximum 23kg ( never in our lives have we carried so much stuff ! )Maximized carry-on; two small suitcases for the overhead and two loaded daypacks for under our feet. Awkward, but…..…no problem carrying it all on – Canada, here we come…!Calgary Airport. You know you are back in Canada when……Having sent so much gear home by mail it was necessary to complete a list of “Goods to Follow” with Canada Customs – when the boxes ultimately arrive we don’t want to be taxed on stuff we took with us when we left Canada ! We made sure to stop in and see these folks as soon as we landed in Calgary. And then…..….had our beautiful new granddaughter to greet us on arrival in Kelowna ! FaceTime calls every day were great but it’s nothing like holding a little one in your arms.And she came straight to Poppy ! We’ve had an absolute blast in Australia, Korea and Japan…………but it’s always nice to be home.
So, what’s next ? Well, a few things. We need to track our van shipment and be ready to pick it up when it arrives ( late August hopefully ), and we are certainly hoping that all 6 big parcels arrive, but that could take up to 2 months – fingers crossed. There’ll of course be lots of time with our kids and especially our new grand daughter as well as many friends to catch up with over what remains of the Canadian summer . Possibly a few shorter trips around British Colombia and Alberta once I complete the maintenance and parts replacement on the van. Beyond that, it’s our hope to take off again early in 2025. Global political winds might play a part in exactly where so I’ll paraphrase a line from the late author, Anthony Bourdain, and leave it as “Destination Unknown”.
In closing, thank you to all our readers for following along on our overlanding journey – it’s been great to have the comments, questions, messages and personal emails of support from so many of you. It means a lot to us. While this is the “final edition” for this journey ( now that we are back home ), I will follow up with a “Full Shipping Update” once the van is back in North America with final details of the process of the vehicle leaving Japan and returning to port here. I will detail all costs as well. Not a relevant, nor interesting read unless you are into vehicle shipping in this area ( it’s really just for the handful of overlanders following us who are ). But if you are just simply curious as to what that looks like keep an eye out for one more stray blog likely in August/ September.
Having completed a detour around Tokyo when coming down from Nikko, only a couple of places of personal interest remained before we essentially called “time” on our Japan travels and focused our remaining time on getting the campervan booked on a ship out. That would ultimately prove more challenging than we had initially anticipated – but I’ll leave further details on the shipping saga for the appendix at the end of this edition.
Our route ( in blue ) over the past week, primarily in Hakone and the Izu Peninsula.
Southwest of Mt Fuji and another weekender favourite of Tokyo-ites is trendy Hakone. Sharing Nikko’s elevation ( and hence moderated climate) Hakone sits on delightful Lake Akashi and offers visitors an especially appealing view of Fuji – a different side than we had seen previously and in this town as a backdrop to a calm, warm and picturesque lake. The bonus here was that we got to camp up for a couple of nights right by the lake with Mt Fuji as a backdrop each morning we opened the sliding door of the van. Hakone has a couple of particularly interesting “drives” with many younger Japanese using the winding mountain routes and steep hill climbs to test out the capability of their vehicles – something difficult to do elsewhere ! Hakone was on the original route between Kyoto and Tokyo in the Edo period and elements of that historic road can be explored still – a section of cedar lined trees being especially noteworthy ( walks along which provided us some cool relief from what were becoming oppressively hot and humid days).
Arriving in Hakone through the local tori gate.Beautiful old cedars lined the roads around Hakone, making for pleasant walks when we wanted to go into town ( we were camped by the lake about 1km out of town). Important, since it was hot there !View from our van, camped in Hakone, Lake Ashi, with a view to Mt Fuji in the distance.One of the prettier spots we parked up at in Japan, here in Hakone.……and the sunsets were pretty cool, too.With a preliminary “I think I’ve got you on the ship” email from our shipping agent, we decided it was time to celebrate. Here at the beautiful Hotel Hakone
Leaving Hakone, but not quite ready to head into the heart of Tokyo just yet, our last few days here were spent around the pretty Izu peninsula. Another of those areas frequented by the Tokyo weekend getaway crowd, Izu offered up some unexpected surprises, unique roads, and cooler weather not the least of it. Famed for its rugged coastline among other attractions, the area around Shimoda was not just scenic but also offered up a couple of historic connections I’d not been aware of ( one with a “Shogun” connection ) – the inland parts offered refreshingly cooler elevations good for sleeping at night.
Leaving the elevated Hakone area there were some truly steep climbs and descents at times. The sign above warns that it is a rugged area, dangerous and to use engine breaks ( which we did constantly ! ).If you’ve watched ( or read ) “Shogun” this is a bust of the original Will Adams who was shipwrecked in Japan during the Edo period when it was closed to the world. Near Shimoda.Here, Will’s I’ll-fated ship, the De LiefdeRugged coastline near Shimoda.Coastline near Shimoda.Ditto.Drove down a tortuously windy road to see the monkeys at “Monkey Bay” only to find it had closed minutes before our arrival. Very graciously a few monkeys came up from the beach to see us anyway !The beautiful Joren Falls, Izu Peninsula. On a boiling hot day it was heaven to be standing here. We were not in a rush to leave.
Shipping Update:
While Izu was definitely worth the detour further south, we were also simply playing somewhat of a “waiting game” while in the area. We had requested a late July shipping date out of Japan, but all reports were that getting “space” would be extremely difficult and if we did get space it would be confirmed only a few days prior to sailing. To state the blindingly obvious, that is highly unusual (but it is what it is) and puts huge pressure on us. The need to stay close to Tokyo ( specifically Yokohama ), to have the van “shipping ready” at a moment’s notice, and ( in a final cruel twist ), to ideally have the van “empty” when shipped all made this past week pretty crazy – trying to enjoy our time while working with everything half boxed up made for some cozy living in the rig. No idea why the RoRo shippers out of Japan are starting to ask that camping vehicles be empty ( really tough in a motorhome ) but we are hearing of it elsewhere, too. Whilst one’s van “might” escape a thorough customs inspection, or shipping line examination, the risk of having your contents confiscated (and then to be charged for their disposal !) was a risk we did not want to take. As such, much time was spent tossing what we did not really need, determining that which we could take on a flight and that which would need to be sea-mailed home. This took many days, the task being spread out over various locations where it was possible to spread things out, and on days where it was not raining- absolutely NO FUN ! We ultimately filled 6 large boxes that were sent via Japan Post, dutifully recording their exact contents for later explanation to Canada Customs. Anyone who owns any type of RV can imagine the herculean task that was – we now get to sweat it that they make it back safe and sound. Here’s a glimpse of how that exercise looked:
Trying to find the right combination of weight and size of the various things to send. We got to know Japan Post’s parcel rules intimately ! Maximize weight, minimize number of boxes was the goal.If the look says “Jeff, I’m so over this !”, that’s because it is exactly what she WAS saying !By the end of the week, when we went to bed, this is what the rest of the van looked like in the midst of trying to get everything into boxes. Ughh ! Sort of like living in a house while renovating it. Not easy……..The extremely detail- oriented fellow at Japan Post graciously added extra tape to some of the heavier boxes. Their allowance was quite generous, up to 30kg per box, although we never exceeded 20 ( risk that someone drops it ).
With the news of a firmed up shipping date looking better as the week rolled on, it now made sense to park up the van on Tokyo’s outskirts and head into the city for a good look around given we’d be leaving Japan as soon as the van was delivered to port. More on our last days in Tokyo, the final “pack”, and the final shipping resolution in the coming blog.
Following what had been an interesting previous week, albeit travelling through a less notable area of the country, this last week took us to two of Japan’s finest (and arguably most famous), sights – historic and stunningly beautiful Nikko, followed by that most iconic of all places and images associated with Japan, Mount Fuji.
The blue road shows our route through Nikko and on via the edge of Tokyo to Mount Fuji.
Fortunately last week’s travels took care of the bulk of the long drives that we should have to do here in Japan (seems strange, I know, but despite the fact that distances aren’t great here, travel is slow away from the expressways, especially when you get up into the mountainous parts). Following the east coast most of the way south from Sendai we cut inland near Iwaki for the tortuously windy route up to Nikko. It’s a long haul up, but it’s Nikko’s higher elevation that is part of the appeal. Famed primarily for its great shrines, cedar rows and nearby Lake Chuzenji, Nikko has a revered place in Japanese history. Home of Toshogu, the famed Shinto shrine was established in 1617 as a lavish memorial for Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan throughout the Edo period. Nikko also attracts folks from the nearby Tokyo area who at this time of year are sweltering in the oppressive humidity associated with Japan’s rainy season. We know it well and had begun to feel it ourselves so it was a definite relief getting to Nikko’s cooler climes.
Nikko’s cedar- lined approach.Yomeimon Gate, Nikko Toshogu Shrine.The intricacy of design is incredible.Part of Taiyuin Shrine, NikkoTaiyuin Shrine, Nikko.Part of Taiyuin Shrine, Nikko.
Ian McQueen ( author of Lonely Planet’s ‘Japan’ travel book ) aptly describes visiting Nikko as “sensory overload”. I’d been before, in 1983, but this was Lois’s first time so it was interesting to get her impressions – and she did not dispute his. Whether it’s the stunning beauty or grandeur of the various shrines, it’s spiritual relevance to the Japanese, or perhaps just the fusion of nature ( it’s very beautiful here ) and historic Shinto structures, Nikko really does take your breath away. Combine this with the fact that you get cool relief from the torpor-inducing humidity of early July in Japan and Nikko is an easy place to just “chill” ( if you’ll excuse the pun ! ).
It’s not far up the mountain to Lake Chuzenji and while famous enough to once host part of a G7 Ministerial Meeting, we actually found it a little disappointing. The day was hazy, which didn’t help, but it was just a bit run down and had clearly seen better days. Also a bit of a holiday spot for Tokyo-ites, Chuzenji’s best sight, in our opinion, was pretty Kegon Falls, a thundering cascade you will hear well before you see it.
Most definitely the highlight of our detour to Chuzenji, the impressive Kegon Falls.Lacquerware is a specialty in Japan. It’s beautiful stuff and lasts forever- we still have, and regularly use, a set we bought in Japan almost 40 years ago. Here at a store in Chuzenji.While we were underwhelmed by Lake Chuzenji, it was nice to see some local wildlife at least.
With only Mt Fuji ( and the nearby Hakone area) left on our planned Japan itinerary, we sought a way to get there from Nikko while skirting metropolitan Tokyo ( which more or less lies in between ). We’ve comfortably driven every other major Japanese city ( some just as congested ) but Tokyo’s size is on another scale – you can be stuck bumper to bumper for hours just in suburbia here ( and we were, as it turned out, on a rainy and overcast day ). We’ll need to go to Tokyo again ( or close, at least to nearby Yokohama anyway ) when we ship out, but for now we tried to avoid as much of it as we could. A grinding drive it was, but we survived the journey there and parked up for a few days in the Lake Yamanaka area, ready to explore “Fuji”.
It seemed almost claustrophobic at times driving around Tokyo, so we avoided as much of it as we could.
Everyone wants that clear, snow-capped view of Mt Fuji on a cloudless sunny day of course, but locals will tell you that is very rare. I once got most of that from a Shinkansen ( Bullet Train ) window, but even then there were still clouds. During this visit it would be days before Fuji fully emerged so we could see her completely and while we eventually got the full sun ( and very little cloud ) view, there was of course precious little snow, it now being the middle of summer here. We moved around a bit in the area, camping at different sites, exploring the “5 Lakes” area around the base of Fuji and found this a most enjoyable period of the Japan experience so far; we met some interesting folks, slowed the driving pace down ( almost to nothing ) and made good progress each day in preparing the van for shipping ( I’ll add some “shipping” context in the next blog ) – a fairly big task !
Upon arrival at Lake Yamanaka, this was our “view” of Fuji….we were told it was ‘somewhere’ behind the red circle !A couple of days later it had improved somewhat, and you could make out most of the mountain. The peak, however, remained shrouded in cloud.Generally the Michi No Eki’s ( Roadside Stations ) provide a safe, secure, flat, and usually quiet night to park up. We generally seek to avoid the big trucks but sometimes they just find us ( especially when we park in the long bays ). Little sleep while these guys idled their engines most of the night. This place was close to Fuji but we still could not see the mountain due to visibility ( or lack of ).We did a lot of packing, repacking, sorting and cleaning while waiting in the Fuji area. For security and sorting different items ( what stayed and what came with us ) we needed lots of cardboard boxes. Very helpfully supplied by a nearby Family Mart. But we still needed at least one big box……….more on that later.One day we found a great, quiet, level place to park up, when it was NOT raining, where we did a big shipping prep. We seemed to be quite an object of curiosity to the locals.We needed to find one large, simple duffle type bag to carry extra stuff and struggled to find one in the mall. We then chanced upon this little shop which provided exactly what we needed – and the staff took great interest in our Japan travels !An early morning, sunrise view, from Roadside Station Narusawa.Pretty sunset view of Mount Fuji.One of our best views, from Hirano Beach on Lake Yamanaka.Another, from close by.
Once we finally got some nice views from the base ( the best place to view it ) we decided, on a particularly fine day, to drive up as far as we could – to the “5th Station”, or “Gogome” as it’s known in Japanese. We knew it would be cooler at least and even if we were not set up to climb to the top there were shorter hikes from the 5th Station and the views down would be spectacular……or so we assumed. A good thing our expectations were managed, as it turned out – no sooner had we begun to ascend the Fuji Skyline Road than thick clouds wafted in and blocked any visibility. From the highest (5th) station we could see absolutely nothing at all ( making any hikes rather pointless ). Well, at least it was cooler up there !
Fuji’s reputation for bashfulness is well-deserved it would seem and she was most temperamental during our visit.
A multitude of hiking options in the area. A very reasonable looking day at this (low) level.This map would have been most useful – if we could have seen anything at all ! Surprisingly quite a few still set out to hike when we were there.View from the 5th Station parking area – practically ZERO visibility. A somewhat disappointing end to our Fuji visit.
Finally, here is a short video clip of the week that was- enjoy.
From the Fuji area, as we await onwards shipping confirmation, we’ll head east, then south to explore nearby Hakone and the Izu Peninsula.
Till next week….
Appendix: Another “Only In Japan” experience
So I spoke above about preparing the van for shipping – among other things that involves boxing a lot of the contents and in the process of doing so different sized boxes are needed. In one of the images above the van is parked outside a “Family Mart” convenience store since the staff there willingly gave away as many of their small packing boxes that I needed. Small boxes, though, are in plentiful supply – what I sorely needed was at least one much larger box and they had none. I was kindly directed to a larger supermarket nearby. After wandering around it I noticed a large display of regular tissue boxes. It was obvious from the packing boxes underneath the stacked tissue boxes that they had all come in a very large box – precisely the size I needed.
I approached a staff member to ask if there were any such empty packing boxes in the back. She understood and ran out back to check. Returning a few minutes later, head bowed, she apologized profusely advising there were in fact none. I thanked her for looking and went elsewhere in the store. Not two minutes later she had chased me down, and beckoned me back to the “tissue” department. There, right in front of me now, was a large empty tissue packing box. At first I was puzzled – had she not just looked and said there were none ? Indeed, she had said that. But, then I noticed that the tissue box display had grown very considerably in size – it was about 4 tissue boxes higher than when I had arrived, and, frankly, almost toppling over ! Yes, you guessed it ( and it quickly dawned on me ) – she had gone out back, gathered a couple of colleagues, pulled a full packing box off the rack, brought it out and emptied it on to the rather significant tower of tissue boxes that were already there – all, so I could have an empty packing box ! Now, I was polite, and definitely as charming as I could be, but I’d never graced that store before, nor would I likely again. I was, most definitely, just a visitor. It didn’t matter – this is just the kind of thing I/we have experienced so many times here that it just speaks to the culture of helpfulness in this amazing country. I’ve said it before, but I need to say it again – only in Japan !!!
This large empty packing box was “created” just for me !
We are Lois and Jeff, of Kelowna, BC, Canada. Recently retired with a serious overlanding travel bug, we hit the road in our truck camper in May 2019, initially tackling the Pan American highway. The PanAm completed in April 2022, and truck camper sold, we plan to continue exploring again later in 2022 in our Sprinter 4×4!
