Long Term Camping?

Is there a place where you could camp for long periods of time in nature?

Like months?

Perhaps biking from one spot to another if need be?

Not cabin style, but like totally outdoors.

Thanks :)

I have camped many times in the mountains of Gifu, taking just a tent and setting up alongside rivers or wherever I fancied out in the woods. I honestly couldn't tell you whether there are any laws against this but no one has ever said anything to me. I tend to camp nowhere near a built up area or where people were obviously likely to be.

Just make sure you take any and all rubbish away with you and be very careful about your camp location if next to a river, especially if it's likely to rain. I'll never forget waking up at 4am one day with the river level having risen and my daughter and I only just managed to get the tent down and out of the way before we would have been flooded out.

Of course, these were all one or two night camps. If you want to base yourself in one particular place for a long period, I still think it's likely to be ok but you may need to get landowner's permission first. People might not care if a tent is up for a night but they might for a month...

I recommend checking out this website: https://camp.tabinchuya.com/en.html

He lists free or very cheap campsites across Japan that he's personally been to. Some have maximum stays (such as no more than a week) in the description, and most require checking in and/or reservations, but even if you stayed a week or less in one place, you could pretty easily switch to another. Note that a car/motorcycle will be the easiest form of transportation to and between most places!

Some things to remember about these places are that they are often "mochikaeri" style for trash; that is, you must bring your trash back with you. If you are a tourist that might be difficult! You will need to think of a solution, such as finding a grocery store nearby that takes recycling, and putting the trash in designated areas on trash days according to that area's rules. Also, because they are free, there is often very little in the way of facilities. Usually there is at least a toilet, though!

Also, should you plan to be in the wilderness often, it's recommended that you notify your embassy of your travel plans and intentions. Natural disasters or animal attacks are very rare, but if you are traveling alone and something happens to you, it might take authorities a long time to realize you are missing! So it's good to check in with people and camp safe!

Very cool, thanks you guys. I�fm checking out the various spots on that tabinchyua site.

It looks like at best it would be a week or two then biking to a different site. Repeat 5 times for two month camp ^_^

I�fm also checking bear maps, sadly Hokkaido seems full of bear :(

Yes, Hokkaido has bears, but so does Honshu. My husband was hiking around a trail that isn't THAT remote (probably sees someone on it at least once a day or so) in some Kita-Kanto mountains, stopped to make a snack/coffee, and heard a growl. He didn't confirm it was a bear, but rather got the heck out of there! So whether it was actually a bear I can't say, but it's scary to think about nonetheless. You will want to be careful of cooking and your trash, and make sure you know what to do should you see a bear. Also, boars can be very dangerous too, so it would be good to read up on them as well.

Scaredragon, that�fs good to know. I sort of assumed bears were only in Hokkaido but I guess not :/

My Japanese pen pal says we will bring bear spray and massive knives as a last resort to animal attacks. From what I can tell that�fs allowed in very rural areas.

I�fm also curious if a rural property owner would just let us pay a monthly fee to use thier lot

Scaredragon, that�fs good to know. I sort of assumed bears were only in Hokkaido but I guess not :/

My Japanese pen pal says we will bring bear spray and massive knives as a last resort to animal attacks. From what I can tell that�fs allowed in very rural areas.

I�fm also curious if a rural property owner would just let us pay a monthly fee to use thier lot