Revisiting Some Season One Yuru Camping Spots – Kofu, Motosuko and Hamamatsu!

So it’s been a week. Since my last post, I visited a bunch of yuru camp season one locations with a friend, and went to a techno festival in the middle of the foresty mountains in Nara. For the yuru camping part, some of the locations I’ve previously visited on a past trip are now open (I visited during COVID time), so I finally got to experience them properly! Read on to find out about all of that. It’s worth noting these won’t be as rigorous for the pilgrimage parts as my usual posts since I’ve covered these Kofu spots in the past, which you can read all about here.

To Kofu

Phil and I met up at Shinjuku station to catch our express train to Kofu, which turned out to be a bit of a faff since it’s probably the largest station in the entire world, tangled up with the cityscape. Eventually, we found each other though.

We grabbed some bentos for the journey, which were yummy (as expected).

As we reached the Kofu basin we got our first glimpse of Fuji over the surrounding mountains.

Fuefukigawa Fruit Park and Hottarakashi Onsen

We reached Yamanashishi station after a while (which has been completely reconstructed since season 1), and started the long climb up the hill that the girls do in the anime.

We’d pass by the fruit park and stop for an ice cream and some anime pics, then head on up to the campsite next to the onsen that they visit in the anime too (all from episode 4 and 5 of season 1). Note that this isn’t the same campsite featured in the anime, which is pine wood. It has an owner with a bit of a negative reputation, and the way the site is managed is a bit old fashioned. I didn’t want to risk it (I’d been shouted at by that owner in the past before too lol) so we decided to opt for the Hottarakashi site instead.

The sun was blazing down on our backs which made it a bit more difficult. Halfway up to the fruit park, we past by a farmer selling fresh peaches on the side of the road. We gave him a little nod and said hello, and he beckoned us over. He shouted “Presento!” while holding up two peaches for us. What a nice guy! There was a little lookout point just up the road so we stopped there to enjoy our peaches. They were juicy and sweet.

After a long and sweaty walk, we reached the fruit park and snapped this shot at the lookout point.

Then we headed to the big dome thing to get some ice cream. I was tempted to get the big parfait that the girls get but I didn’t have the appetite for it. Kinda regret not getting it but oh well.

The soft serve was still really good though. We ate it next to a big AC unit blowing in our faces and recharged our batteries.

Just below the cafe there was a little collection of what I could guess were posters of movies/shows that were aired in the theatre in that building? Or maybe that featured the location?

That theatre I was talking about being this.

We grabbed our bags and continued up the hill through the fruit park.

Right at the top of the fruit park is this shot from the anime, when Nadeshiko snaps this night shot for Rin.

We continued up the hill, past the onsen and we reached the campsite. And let me tell you, we were glad we booked it instead of pine wood. A super impressive location with rows and rows of spots all lining the mountainside up to the summit. It had a cool atmosphere almost like a mini village of sorts.

We set up our tents at our allocated location, and what a spot it was.

After we finished setting up the group in the spot next to us got chatting and invited us over for a drink. They had beer on tap. While camping! Who would have thought.

We explained to them we were there for Yuru Camp, and they were impressed we had walked all the way from the station. We took this group selfie of the gang. They had two cute little kids too.

After that, we all headed down to the onsen together to have a bathe. I couldn’t record inside for obvious reasons, but it was just like in the anime. Nice and relaxing, and with a gorgeous view.

Afterwards we all got the infamous deep fried egg, that glued the yuru girls’ bums to their cushions and sent them into a deep slumber.

It was, as we say in the UK, bangin’.

I also snapped this pic of the kiosk from a different angle. A side note, Costa is a British coffee shop chain found all over the UK, so it’s super cool to see it also popular halfway round the world over here too.

Afterwards we headed back to our spot and had the classic yuru camp dinner of instant curry ramen, with water boiled on a gas burner, with a couple drinks we picked up on the way from an on-site bar.

Something cool, at the bar they were serving a drink which was rum and cocoa, and it was named after Toba-sensei from Yuru Camp! They also had the full set of Yuru Camp manga at the bar too. Super cool.

By the time we were finished with our meal, it was getting dark. I snapped this night shot of the view outside our tents, before turning in for bed.

I didn’t sleep well that night because there was a slow leak in my mat, so I was basically sleeping on hard gravel. Ouch. Either way, we got up and checked out in good time. On the way down past the fruit park again we stopped by their souvenir shop, and there was a Yuru Camp merch section! I picked up a key ring, a Fruit Park sticker, and some peach compote-like substance. It was really good.