RetireJapan

Slightly out of the personal finance realm here. But considering that the following could be an affordable substitute to expensive holiday trips, it could be taken as a part of personal finance.

So I went on a short hiking and camping trip over the Obon holidays around Japanese Alps in Nagano. We camped at Kamikoichi and climbed up to Karasawa Cirque. I want to take up trekking and camping as a serious hobby from now onwards. Through my Obon holiday trip, I realized that our overnight park camping gears are too heavy for trekking/camping expeditions. (tent and sleeping bag was over 7kgs!!)

I am looking to buy some new camping gears now. Are there any trekking enthusiasts or campers here?

Looking for recommendations for gears and may be your experiences of trekking in Japan or route/destination recommendation.
I have bought a PuroMonte VL-37 tent (1.6kg). Light-ish 3 person tent, should be spacious enough for wife and I. We’ve purchased an Osprey Aether 55L backpack as well.
For sleeping bag, we are considering Nanga sleeping bags or Montbell’s seamless down. Can’t decide yet.
Also looking for not too expensive rainwears (hopefully under JPY 10,000).

Please let me know if somebody has any experiences about this. Or any websites for hikers in Japan. (Preferably in English, if not I will feel my way around in Japanese websites too.) Thanks in advance!

TL;DR
Please recommend routes, sleeping bags and rain wear for overnight or multi-day hiking and camping trips in Japan.

This website has some good stuff on it

https://ridgelineimages.com/

Probably the best hike I’ve done was Mt Tsubakuro. We camped on the snow at the top. Amazing views and a good learning experience about the need for adequate gear!

Gareth wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:48 am This website has some good stuff on it

https://ridgelineimages.com/

Probably the best hike I’ve done was Mt Tsubakuro. We camped on the snow at the top. Amazing views and a good learning experience about the need for adequate gear!

The website seems to have really detailed tips on many things! Thanks a lot.

Please share about your Mt Tsubakuro experience, if you don't mind. Which "inadequate" gear made you regret the most? lol

The hiking I've done is kind of from where you mention, kamikochi, more over to the toyama/hakuba area.

Personally, I find the yamagoya okay, sometimes not, but for the trade-off of not having to carry your own camping/cooking gear, I can put up with any negatives. And some people camp nearby, but use the yamagoya for meals and so on--and I can understand the benefit to being in a tent on your own vs being shoe-horned in with a bunch of others (who snore!). While some of the yamagoya are more primitive/basic, some others are pretty nice, e.g., great baths.

gnakarmi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:58 am Please share about your Mt Tsubakuro experience, if you don't mind. Which "inadequate" gear made you regret the most? lol

It was the sleeping bag. Nowhere near warm enough for camping on snow! After that trip, I decided not to camp on further trips and used the mountain huts instead. Have always found them to be comfortable.

Another good hike I did was Mount Kumotori on New Year’s Eve and staying in the hut. Seeing in the new year on top of the mountain at -15 degrees with about 50 other hardy folk warming up by drinking sake and pounding mochi was a great experience!

Gareth wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 1:09 pm

gnakarmi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:58 am Please share about your Mt Tsubakuro experience, if you don't mind. Which "inadequate" gear made you regret the most? lol

It was the sleeping bag. Nowhere near warm enough for camping on snow! After that trip, I decided not to camp on further trips and used the mountain huts instead. Have always found them to be comfortable.

Another good hike I did was Mount Kumotori on New Year’s Eve and staying in the hut. Seeing in the new year on top of the mountain at -15 degrees with about 50 other hardy folk warming up by drinking sake and pounding mochi was a great experience!

I had climbed Mt. Kumotori on one rainy September day in 2015 with tents and sleeping bag. It was cheaper than staying in the hut for 2 persons. But later regretted carrying the cheap tent as it got condensation and water droplets on the inner surface. That was a tough night after hiking in rain.

captainspoke wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 8:27 am The hiking I've done is kind of from where you mention, kamikochi, more over to the toyama/hakuba area.

Personally, I find the yamagoya okay, sometimes not, but for the trade-off of not having to carry your own camping/cooking gear, I can put up with any negatives. And some people camp nearby, but use the yamagoya for meals and so on--and I can understand the benefit to being in a tent on your own vs being shoe-horned in with a bunch of others (who snore!). While some of the yamagoya are more primitive/basic, some others are pretty nice, e.g., great baths.

Thank you for sharing your experience.
I loved the area around Kamikochi. Thinking about going to the same region again sometime later this year. (after I get all the gears in order)

We are thinking of carrying tent and sleeping bag as we are still relatively young-ish and it saves a ton of money. (yamagoya rates of 8-10k per night per person, if you add food another 2000+ to stay one night is slightly out of our budget)
So, we thought if we do 3-4 trips a year, we'll already hit the breakeven for our expenses on the gears by the end of first year. But we'll be using the baths wherever available and may use the hut's food service once in a while as well.

For hiking routes and info YAMAP seems like a popular app with my friends.

JimNasium wrote: ↑Thu Aug 25, 2022 7:22 am For hiking routes and info YAMAP seems like a popular app with my friends.

Thanks for this tip. I heard it from a colleague that there are live weather data and people commenting on that app regarding the conditions of routes. That would come in handy!

I'm dating myself, or the hiking, but here are the maps I studied and used.