PROFILE
Born in 1961. After working as a shoe designer, he started his own brand "General Research" in the 1990s. In 2021, "Suigen no Mori Camp Land," a campground he produced, opened in Doshi-mura village.
The key to enjoying camping is how you can enjoy inconvenience.
Doshi Village in Yamanashi Prefecture is located less than two hours by car from Tokyo. Surrounded by mountains, the area is rich in nature and its clean air is very attractive. It is also known as one of the most densely populated camping areas in Japan, attracting campers from all over the country.
The Suigen no Mori Camp Land has recently opened on such land. Setsumasa Kobayashi of Mountain Research, Inc. serves as producer and supervisor, and his stoic and sometimes humorous ideas are scattered throughout.
After parking my car in the parking lot, I walked to the clubhouse and was greeted by Mr. Kobayashi. According to Mr. Kobayashi, "This was originally a recreational facility operated by Doshi Village and the City of Yokohama. After the facility's operation was over and it had been dormant for a long time, Mr. Kobayashi was asked to produce the facility.
About 10 years ago, this place used to operate as an auto campground, but I don't really like the view of the cars next to the tents. I don't really like the view of cars next to tents. I don't like the idea of having urban gadgets next to my campsite.
As the term suggests, this facility does not allow vehicles to drive into the campsites, and the system is to carry your own luggage from the parking lot to the site. The key to success at this campground is how much you can enjoy the inconvenience. However, there are of course tools available to help you with this.
Why go to the trouble of making it inconvenient? To find out, we asked Mr. Kobayashi to show us around each facility in the campground.
