Not exactly roughing it
Glamping - glamorous camping - has caught on in Japan. Have the staff put another log on the fire, would you?
NEXT TIME YOU go camping, a little extra cash can save you the fuss of learning how to put up a tent or cook meals on a campfire. Instead, you go “glamping” – glamorous camping. It’s a latest fad in Japan.
You still have the open-air environment, but it comes with hotel-class facilities and services.
Glamping boomed in Europe and the US a few years ago and its comparatively posh facilities have been popping up across Japan since last year. “Purists” find it strange, of course, since it sort of misses the point of camping, which is supposed to bring people closer to nature.
Nevertheless, here are 13 employees of a private firm spending the night at Wildmagic, an outdoor park that opened last autumn in Tokyo’s Toyosu Bay area. They arrived empty-handed, but enormous tents are already waiting for them – between 18 and 22 square metres, each complete with a living room and bedroom. They enjoy a barbecue and chat over beer and wine while park employees fluff their pillows.
“I don’t particularly like camping, but here I can spend the night comfortably,” says a 29-year-old man who’s experiencing glamping for the first time.
The facility charges a minimum of 11,500 yen (Bt3,400) per person for an overnight stay with a meal, slightly more than the rental for the “auto-camping” tents also available at the park. “A lot of women book us for parties, and most weekends in August are fully booked,” says a member of the staff.
Auto-camping is the most popular approach. A tent is erected near your parked car, an easy way to commune with nature. The number of auto-campers increased to 7.8 million in 2014, up 4 per cent from the previous year, according to the Japan Auto Camping Federation.
Glamping is completely hassle-free. Staff people put up the tents and prepare your bed and your meals. Ise-Shima Everglades, an auto-campsite in Shima’s Ise-Shima National Park, opened three glamping facilities this spring facing a large lagoon. They’re 80 square metres and equipped with air-conditioners, canopy beds and open-air bathtubs, with canoeing also on offer. They charge a minimum of 44,800 yen for two people.
Eight “tent villas” at the Hatsushima Island Resort in Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture overlook the ocean so that guests can feel the sea breeze and hear the sound of the surf. Prices begin at 7,200 yen per person.
Proprietor Hoshino Resort Co plans to open a glamping facility called Hoshinoya Fuji on a hill in the town of Fujikawaguchiko in late October. The facility will be located in a forest with Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi visible from the tents.
“Glamping aims for comfort and convenience, so it meets the needs of people who want to enjoy nature casually within their limited time,” says Toshiko Nishida, a part-time lecturer at Osaka International University who specialises in hotels and tourism. “It also matches the trend to pursue high-class, luxurious experiences to raise the quality of their lives.”
Makoto Nakajima of Yagai Asobi Yorokobi Sogo Kenkyujo, a non-profit organisation that takes children camping, says the glamping trend makes everything easier. On the other hand, “Unlike ordinary camping that aims to bring us closer to nature, glamping lacks the fun and joy of honing the skills that true outdoor camping requires.”
