thatjapanlife

My son asked me last month why we don’t just look at a picture of Mount Fuji instead of driving two hours to sleep next to it. Fair question from a kid who’d rather be at the playground. But there’s no photo that gets you the version where the mountain turns pink at sunrise while you’re still in your sleeping bag, freezing, fumbling for your phone camera with hands that don’t...

If you’ve been scrolling Japan camping accounts and keep seeing that impossibly green field with Mt Fuji floating behind it, there’s a good chance it’s Asagiri Camp Base Sorairo. I took my 5-year-old there for two nights and I want to walk you through what it’s actually like, not just the polished shots, because there are a few things I wish someone had told me before I booke...

We booked Fujiminooka Auto Camp Field on a whim because a friend sent me a photo of Mt. Fuji sitting right behind someone’s tent, and I basically stopped scrolling and texted her “wait, where is this.” Turns out it’s a hillside campsite in Fuji City, Shizuoka, that opened back in January 2021 and has quietly become one of the spots expat families ask me about most.

Negura Campground has been popping up on every camping account and blog list for Izu lately, and after taking my 5-year-old there with two other families, I get why. It’s not the biggest campsite you’ll find, and it’s not the place to go if Mt. Fuji is the entire point of your trip. But for the view it does give you, the facilities, and honestly just the feeling of the place,...

If you’re a parent living around Tokyo or Yokohama, you already know the summer problem. The kid is out of school, the humidity is doing something unforgivable to everyone’s mood, and every indoor play center within train distance is packed with the exact same crowd you were hoping to escape. Trout fishing with kids near Tokyo solves that problem in a way a s...