Japanese RV Camper on the Highway
Japanese RV Camper on the Highway
Overview
John Daub and friend Peter von Gomm embark on a Hokkaido road trip in a rented Japanese RV camper provided by Japan CRC. This video serves as a trip update and vehicle review, showcasing the compact size and driving dynamics of the Robinson 106 model compared to American RVs. They make a stop at the Uni Service Area (Parking Area) between Yubari and Chitose Airport to grab local Hokkaido food and explore the facility's amenities, including a unique dog run.
The duo discusses their documentary filming schedule, the challenges of night driving in deer country, and their plans to head towards Obihiro. The video offers a candid look at the logistics of traveling Japan by camper, from rental tutorials to highway rest stop culture. It captures the camaraderie between John and Peter as they navigate the vehicle and share meals on the go.
Highlights
- 00:02 Introduction to the Japanese RV camper and Japan CRC rental.
- 00:54 Discussion on time constraints due to documentary filming.
- 01:08 Review of the Robinson 106 model driving dynamics.
- 02:07 Exploring Uni Service Area amenities and food options.
- 03:11 Ordering zangi (Hokkaido fried chicken) and onigiri sets.
- 04:13 Examining the unique "Captain Hokkaido" menu design.
- 04:56 Tour of the service area dog run facility.
- 07:41 Getting back on the road and discussing sleeping arrangements.
- 11:21 Cameo by Dean Newcomb (Johnny Dean).
- 14:29 Warning about deer on the highway at night.
Timeline / Chapters
- 00:00 Intro at Uni Service Area
- 01:00 RV Model Overview (Robinson 106)
- 02:00 Service Area Food Order
- 04:00 Menu Art & Dog Run Tour
- 07:40 Driving Impressions & Interior
- 11:00 Dean Newcomb Cameo
- 11:50 Dinner Plans (Obihiro & Butadon)
- 14:00 Night Driving Warnings & Outro
Japan Travel Tips
- RV Rentals: Japanese RVs (camping cars) are significantly smaller than American models. Expect a tutorial session (about an hour) to learn bed setup and systems.
- Service Areas (SA): Highway rest stops in Hokkaido are well-equipped with clean restrooms, EV charging, and local food specialties.
- Food: Look for zangi (Hokkaido-style fried chicken) and butadon (grilled pork rice bowl) when in Hokkaido. Note that some famous restaurants close early (e.g., 3 PM).
- Driving: Highways in Hokkaido can be narrow (single lane per side). Be prepared to get stuck behind slower vehicles like campers.
- Wildlife: Be extremely cautious of deer on the road after 6:30 PM. Collisions can result in high repair deductibles.
- Connectivity: Live streams may drop in tunnels or remote areas; plan offline activities accordingly.
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
- Zangi (ザンギ): A specific style of karaage (fried chicken) originating from Hokkaido, often marinated with ginger and garlic.
- Service Area (SA): Highway rest stops in Japan often feature local specialties and high-quality facilities, including dog runs.
- Onigiri (おにぎり): Rice balls, often sold in sets with side dishes at rest stops.
- Butadon (豚丼): A famous Obihiro specialty consisting of grilled pork over rice.
- Ryokan (旅館): Traditional Japanese inn; John mentions filming at one earlier in the trip.
Food & Drink Guide
- Pumpkin Croquette: Available at Uni Service Area. Peter requests this specifically.
- Zangi (Hokkaido Fried Chicken): 03:11 Sold on a stick at the service area. John notes it is similar to karaage but distinct to Hokkaido.
- Onigiri Set (Rice Ball Set): 03:52 Includes chicken (karaage). John and Peter share these.
- Coffee: Hot coffee purchased at the service area log cabin booth.
- Butadon (Grilled Pork Rice Bowl): 11:47 Mentioned as a desired dinner in Obihiro, but missed due to early closing time.
- Hot Dog: 12:12 Mentioned humorously; Peter avoids them due to past food poisoning.
People
- John Daub: Host. Driving the RV, documenting the trip, and explaining the vehicle features.
- Peter von Gomm: Guest/Co-host. American friend living in Japan. Passenger, provides commentary on food and driving experience.
- Dean Newcomb (Johnny Dean): Friend. Makes a brief cameo at the service area before they depart.
- Japan CRC Staff: Mentioned as providing the RV and the one-hour tutorial.
Key Takeaways
- Japanese RVs are compact and drive more like delivery trucks than American motorhomes.
- Highway Service Areas in Hokkaido offer unique local food and excellent facilities (including dog runs).
- Documentary filming schedules can impact travel pacing and live streaming plans.
- Night driving in Hokkaido requires extra vigilance for wildlife (deer).
- Popular local restaurants (like butadon shops) may have surprisingly early closing times.
Notable Quotes
- 01:08 "It's top heavy. So this is the Robinson 106. They have a Robinson 771. Drives like a delivery truck."
- 02:01 "Guys never wave, do they? Sometimes they do. I'm hungry. I'm really hungry."
- 04:13 "That's Captain America with a Hokkaido symbol on his head. Oh my gosh. Hokkaido is on his forehead."
- 09:46 "Smell, yeah. I was going to get a water. You can go ahead and get it. You want me to get it for you?"
- 14:02 "MIR writes in here, like all road trips, nothing goes planned."
Related Topics
- Hokkaido Road Trip
- Japanese Camping Car Rental
- Highway Service Area Food
- Only in Japan Documentary Project
- Peter von Gomm Japan Collaboration
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #hokkaido #rv-camper #road-trip #service-area #uni-sa #zangi #onigiri #japan-crc #peter-von-gomm #documentary #japanese-food #travel-japan #highway-rest-stop
Full Transcript
00:02 John Daub: So we are here. This is Uni. This is a service or parking area. That's Peter. He's driving right now. And we are in a Japanese RV camper, which is pretty cool. Brought to us by Japan CRC, Japan Camping Car Rental Company.
00:26 Peter von Gomm: Thank you guys.
00:26 John Daub: I want to show you what this Japanese RV is like. It's much smaller than you would get in the United States. And I want to show you a little bit about this Uni parking stop. They actually have some coffee over there. It looks like a little log cabin. There's a lady who's running everything. Oh yeah, that's cool. That's really cool. We're not going to show you the inside yet. We're going to show you that maybe later. But this is what it looks like from the outside.
00:54 John Daub: We don't have a lot of time. We've got to move. We came in so late. I was going to do another live stream on the motorcycles, but we just ran out of time because we're making the video for the documentary as well.
01:08 Peter von Gomm: What do you think? It's so narrow. Look at that. It's top heavy.
01:08 John Daub: It's top heavy. So this is the Robinson 106. They have a Robinson 771. Drives like a delivery truck.
01:30 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. It's got here kind of very different from being on a motorcycle.
01:36 John Daub: It is. It's clean. And the tutorial took us an hour. The guy telling us how to set up the beds and everything. Sorry about the wind, Ai-chan. Yeah, we don't have a lot of time, so we're just kind of improvising here and wanted to share with you what we're doing. This is a trip update for the... Oh, we got a waver. She's saying hi.
01:59 Peter von Gomm: It's always the girls that wave. I don't know why.
02:01 John Daub: Guys never wave, do they?
02:01 Peter von Gomm: Sometimes they do. I'm hungry. I'm really hungry.
02:07 John Daub: All right, let's get some food. They got some croquette here. This is Uni. It's between Yubari and Chitose Airport. I've been here before, so I knew that this place existed. But this was always closed. It's really cozy, like a log cabin. Like an Abraham Lincoln. One EV charging station, which is not bad. A place to walk your dog. Motorcycle parking lot.
02:35 Peter von Gomm: And if you can, get me a pumpkin croquette and coffee. Here's some cash, sir.
02:43 John Daub: That's a magic word. Hold on. That's some coinage. Is that 1,000 yen enough?
02:47 Peter von Gomm: Well, that was an extra 250. Thank you. Is that enough for a coffee?
02:51 John Daub: I think it's... We got coffee and let's take a look at the menu. Come over here. Oh. Pumpkin croquette, stick fried chicken. Ooh, it's like the Hokkaido karaage (fried chicken), which is so good.
03:11 Peter von Gomm: Oh yeah, there's zangi (Hokkaido fried chicken).
03:11 John Daub: Zangi. Zangi on a stick. Let's get one of those. Zangie. They've got an onigiri (rice ball) set. The coffees are... I guess I'm gonna get a regular coffee, yeah.
03:22 Peter von Gomm: You want ice or hot?
03:23 John Daub: Hot.
03:24 Peter von Gomm: Okay, we got two hot coffees. Stick fried chicken, two?
03:30 John Daub: We can share. Are you gonna eat two of those? They're gonna sit with you for a while.
03:34 Peter von Gomm: No, one for you, one for me.
03:36 John Daub: Wait, if you get an onigiri set, I think you get chicken with it. Want an onigiri set?
03:41 Peter von Gomm: Let me find out what's in the onigiri set. And then there's fritter potatoes.
03:49 John Daub: Onigiri set what?
03:52 Peter von Gomm: Well, he asked. Hey, Brandania. Thanks for buying us a coffee.
03:56 John Daub: Well, he's looking in there. We're gonna take a look at this design. Oh yeah. Do you want an onigiri set? Two of those?
04:05 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, why not? Yeah. You get a karaage with that?
04:08 John Daub: Yeah.
04:09 Peter von Gomm: Okay, yeah. Yeah.
04:13 John Daub: This is a pretty cool design. Is that Captain America? That's Captain America with a Hokkaido symbol on his head. Oh my gosh. Hokkaido is on his forehead. And look at the women all around him enjoying. Who eats fries like that? She's sucking them down without even... Oh gosh, this is awesome. That's sort of hot. And Captain Hokkaido goes, Hokkaido! And he holds a stick of dango (rice dumplings). I guess they sell dango from here. Soft cream, yakisoba (fried noodles), and yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls). But the booth is closed. That's awesome. Just eating from here might be worth going.
04:56 John Daub: This is a dog walking park. Hold on. Dog run. So for dogs running. So I think humans can go in here too. See, this is where you can wash your dog here. That's nice. And this is for big dogs and little dogs. Oh, that's so cool. This one's open, so let's just take a look inside. Wow. So you can have your dog running around this park and not get hit by cars. That's pretty clean. That's nice. You can run in there, John.
05:35 Peter von Gomm: I could. I choose not to. Right now. I don't want to run. Alright, just lock her up here. What a lonely parking spot for our van. Our camper. There's a gas station on each side. There's one on the other side as well.
06:02 John Daub: Jules is here. Have a coffee for both on me. Thank you. Actually, yeah, we're putting up through a coffee and a onigiri set, which is a rice ball set. And Peter's talking her up, get some local information. It's a Frankfurter Takoyaki Yakisoba.
06:23 Peter von Gomm: Oh, Frankfurter Takoyaki Yakisoba. Was it enough money? You want some extra?
06:26 John Daub: Yeah, I got it. I put in some. Let's go see. Ice cream looks good too. Here's our onigiri set.
06:36 Peter von Gomm: Oh, oh, nice. Thank you. Want to take a look? What's up? Oh, that's nice. Is it going to tide you over?
06:43 John Daub: That'll be fine. Yeah. For a couple hours.
06:47 Peter von Gomm: Let me just show you inside of the service area. And then we're going to take you on the road just for a little bit to show you how this thing drives. So tonight we're going to be at a very remote location. So just very quickly. There's nobody here. Men and women separated. It's very easy to understand. Very clear. They tell you the traffic locations, give you some tips. The restrooms are so clean here. It's just so well done. Alcohol pumps right outside of the restrooms. I knuckle touch everything. I'm a knuckle toucher.
07:39 John Daub: All right, let's get on the road, bro.
07:41 Peter von Gomm: How am I going to eat when I'm driving?
07:43 John Daub: I'll hand feed you. Feed me? Yeah.
07:50 Peter von Gomm: So you've driven the other Robinson before?
07:54 John Daub: Yeah. And actually this one is a little bit easier to drive despite the steering style. The 771 is a bit heavier and bulkier. And it's roomier for more passengers. But we got plenty of space for two of us. Oh, yeah. There's two beds. There's one up here and there's one down. We can move the table and we're not going to be sleeping together. So, yeah, one of us is going to rock, scissors, paper for this. This could be really challenging.
08:24 Peter von Gomm: I'll get it here. There's one there. Is there something? Oh, gosh. It's high up, so you got to use the handle. Just be careful. Oh, gosh. Yeah. You know what? We got to get rid of this renter's agreement right here. And that should help out a lot. I like climbing in like this. Watch. Okay. Oh, yeah. That's just like a truck.
08:53 John Daub: Yeah. We've got a bunch of cameras rolling here. We've got a Smokey on the tail. Johnny Dean.
09:01 Peter von Gomm: Oh, we do? There's a copper?
09:03 John Daub: There will be later, I'm sure. Does that work better with the... Yeah, it's flatter.
09:09 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. The usage guide is insane.
09:11 John Daub: So we're going to go over this with you a little bit later in another live stream in the future. We just want to give you an update on what...
09:18 Peter von Gomm: That sounds really exciting. I want to tune into that one. It's fun when you get trapped between the cushions and you can't get your way out and you go, John, help me. I've fallen in and I can't get out. People tune in for that.
09:35 John Daub: I would. This is a diesel. Yeah. The engine's diesel. So does that delivery truck engine sound too and smell.
09:46 Peter von Gomm: Smell, yeah. I was going to get a water.
09:47 John Daub: You can go ahead and get it. You want me to get it for you?
09:51 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, please. Hold this.
09:53 John Daub: All right. What kind of water do you want?
09:55 Peter von Gomm: Fresh and cold. There he goes. Let's get the hell out of here.
10:05 John Daub: So long, sucker. Bye-bye. Johnny D. Nice knowing you. I could cry and probably fall under the truck. I better pull over. See if I can watch him coming up, crying in the mirror here.
10:43 Peter von Gomm: How you guys doing? This is so bizarre coming right off a motorcycle and getting into this camper. I haven't come down off the high of being on that bike and I can't wait to rewatch this incredible adventure in our documentary that we're making.
11:02 John Daub: I'm going to try to put on my gloves. Oh, here he comes. Oh, God. Here comes Killjoy. Here he comes. Here he comes. All right. Yeah, he's lucky I'm a nice guy. There he is.
11:21 Dean Newcomb: Hey, John. Welcome back.
11:22 John Daub: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I saw you taking off. I had the ale in my hands touching the booth. Got it?
11:33 Dean Newcomb: Yeah. Can I take a little nibble? Yeah.
11:38 John Daub: Hey, why don't you just push your foot on the gas? I'll take the wheel. I'll take the wheel. Yeah. That's how it works in the movies.
11:47 Peter von Gomm: So tonight's feature, we're stopping in Obihiro at a ... I wanted to get a butadon (grilled pork rice bowl), but they close at 3 p.m. What restaurant closes at 3 p.m.?
11:55 John Daub: The Butadon one. Obviously. Yeah, that one. And we're not going into the center of the city where Obihiro Station is. We're not taking a train. We're staying near the expressway. We're going to get some stuff at the market there and then drive on to ...
12:12 Peter von Gomm: Hot Dog Land. Oh, that's ... I don't like those red ones.
12:16 John Daub: Really? They're chemical.
12:19 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, I got food poisoning once from it 20 years ago and I've never ate them since. Don't take yours.
12:26 John Daub: Yeah, I'll give you my hot dog. This one's got food poisoning too in it. You better give that one to me as well. I'm not going to give you my karaage, which is called zangi in Hokkaido.
12:38 Peter von Gomm: Yeah, more or less because we were filming a ryokan house and we had a lot of stuff to do, drone shots and whatnot for the documentary. We didn't get a chance to do the live stream that we wanted to. We did it on Peter's channel. By the way, go check that out. Peter von Gomm Japan on YouTube.
13:00 John Daub: Yeah, we're not going to be able to stop in as many places, but I'm sure we're going to find a roadhouse or a place for dinner before we settle in in the middle of nowhere. And we might do a live stream at sunrise because I know the US is asleep right now. I don't know. Except maybe Hawaii.
13:20 Peter von Gomm: How does she handle, sir?
13:23 John Daub: She handles well. It's a bit of a squeak out back. It's junk in the trunk. But yeah, it's a comfortable driving position and it's got enough power to get you going to where you want to go. I'm pleased so far. The seat's very comfortable. I can really see myself getting one of these.
13:52 Peter von Gomm: You'd park it in your garage kind of a getting one of these?
13:55 John Daub: Yeah, somebody else's garage maybe.
13:59 Peter von Gomm: Yeah. And the third shifters. I saw that right here.
14:02 John Daub: Yeah. MIR writes in here, like all road trips, nothing goes planned.
14:08 Peter von Gomm: Absolutely. That's right. Oh my gosh. This bridge is scary. Oh wow. Well, look at the dam over here to the right. Damn.
14:29 John Daub: So the guy at the rental place, Japan CRC, he said, are you doing night driving tonight? What did you say?
14:37 Peter von Gomm: I said, why? Why? Oh, well, I don't know. I'm gonna watch out for the deer. Yeah. The deer are out in force after around 6:37 PM. The thing is if we hit them in this, we might be okay. Right. Unless it comes to the windshield. It's true. We wouldn't want that. But if they did, we would have it on film. And we have a $1,000 repair. It's a 1,000 deductible. I don't want to do that. Yeah. Yeah.
15:09 John Daub: You can see in Hokkaido, this area, there are a lot of the highways are narrow. They don't have two lanes, so fast and a slow one. Sometimes you just get trapped behind an RV camper for a couple of kilometers because we're going a lot slower. This time we're that guy. Yeah, this time we're that guy. You can see behind us with the mirror, looks like we're clear. I've driven HiAce and bigger Toyota trucks, but never a delivery truck thing, so it's going to take a little bit of getting used to. However, the good thing is that we're going to a place with very little traffic. As you can see, there's nothing coming in the other direction, so we get a little bit of time and practice. Thanks everybody. See you on the other side. We'll do another live stream again soon because we're going through a tunnel. We're never going to ... This is not going to ... Yeah, it's a long one. So the signal's going to kick off. We'll do a live stream tomorrow morning early at the crack of dawn, see if we survive this and give you a tour. See you.