It’s the last leg from my Yuru Camp season 3 travels last year! First I’ll be heading to the river campsite (Black Smith Outdoorfield Sanogawa Base) and Sanogawa onsen just up the road (1) then to a spot by the river that the girls also visit by Kai-Oshima station (2).
I set off from Shimada towards Shizuoka to change trains. While I was waiting for my connection, I grabbed lunched in a Vie de France (a big bakery chain). Check these out:
I hopped on my train and changed yet again at Fuji station to get onto our old friend, the Minobu line! Had to take a pic of the interior in memory of Season 1 and 2, where we see these trains so much.
It just started to rain but it wasn’t too hard. I was hoping to get to the campsite before it got worse, which the forecast said it would. Setting up camp in the pouring rain is the last thing you want to do.
I said bye to my train at Ide station.
And began my journey in the light sprinkle of rain. I love walking around in places like this, the scenery was great despite the weather.
Black Smith Outdoorfield Sanogawa Base
The girls camped by this river in episode 10, but this isn’t the campsite that the girls stayed in. In fact they didn’t camp in a campsite at all. But you’ll find out more about that later.
I arrived at the front gate, but it looked worryingly a bit closed.
I remember there being a warning on the website that bookings would be cancelled due to heavy rain. I was sure it wouldn’t get that heavy.
I wondered in anyway, and it seemed pretty deserted. Until I noticed a small pick up truck in the distance. There was a man with in overalls and a spade, shovelling gravel. I tried in my worst Japanese to ask if the campsite was open. He answered in his best English that it was closed due to the rain. But he decided to make an allowance with me, so long as I agreed I knew the risks. He asked for my phone number so we could contact each other, as there was going to be no-one manning the site, but we couldn’t get a call through to each other.
After some thinking he decided to stay the night at the site in his big Glamping tent by the entrance. What a nice guy! He didn’t seem too bothered and was almost happy to host me. He gave me a quick tour and asked if I would need the hot water turned on for a shower. I said no, as I planned on going to the Onsen up the road to wash. Plus I wanted to make things as easy as possible for him. I paid him the amount for the night and set up camp.
It was still raining, so I took shelter inside my tent. It began to rain harder. And harder. I noticed a pool of water forming about a meter from my tent in the gravel. It slowly got larger, eventually reaching the base of my tent. Crap. So this was why the campsite was closed.
I got out of my tent in the torrential rain, and quickly scanned around for a spot that didn’t have a big puddle in the centre of it. I spotted a place that was on a slight slope by a tree. Perfect. I uprooted my tent from the ground and dragged it completely whole to the new position.
Sanogawa Kasen Park
The rain had started to ease up so I thought it would be a good time to check out the park up the road, and then have a wash in the Onsen afterwards. That park is where the girls actually camped, but I planned to stay at this campsite instead as I wasn’t confident enough to be camping on public land with no facilities and amenities. And you’ll see soon that it’s good thing that I did.
I started my walk up the road, and as expected, the scenery was awesome.
I walked past the Onsen and resisted the urge to start snapping pics, as I’d be back there properly later.
I was very much “in the sticks” as they say.
Eventually I made it to the park, and was greeted with some rather unwelcoming looking signs.
The translation (according to google) is as follows:
Left sign: This is a river park, not a campsite.
Right sign: This is not a campsite. No use of open flames. Take your rubbish home.
My guess with what happened here is that Yuru Camp fans watched season 3, decided to camp here, and made a mess of the place. This small building that looked like a public toilet was all barred off and had “Out of order” plastered over the doors.
I got to taking my pictures, despite all the scary signs and warnings. I wasn’t camping there anyway, so it was fine.
This was their spot! You can see a dark patch in the grass where other fans probably set up.
A slightly different angle.
And another!
Earlier in the anime, Chiaki scouts out the place solo and has a walk across the nearby suspension bridge a few paces from the spot. Another one!
This one shook and swayed a bit as a walked across it.
I made it to the other side to take a shot.
There wasn’t much more to look at, so I turned around to leave the same way I came. I took one more shot before heading to the Onsen.
Sanogawa Onsen
I was looking forward to this and I was a bit cold and damp. I snapped this shot of the vending machine at the entrance.
I entered the car park, and took this shot of the main building.
I entered the Onsen and went to have a bathe. Of course I couldn’t take pictures around the baths but don’t worry, I took some of the common area afterwards. I paid my fee and decided to pay for a small towel too to cover my bits. They were sulphur baths, so the water had a little teeny sulphury and eggy smell. But it’s supposedly good for your skin. After drying myself I felt super refreshed, and I relaxed in the relaxing area.
I got chatting to one of the staff who could speak a bit of English, and he was wondering where I was from and all that. We had a really nice talk, and he was super nice! He was also super passionate about bar tending, and he showed me around his little bar. I had to ask him for a drink.
There was a cool little crab enclosure by the window sill that I admired while I sipped my cocktail. I can’t remember what it was but I can remember that it was really good.
I continued to snap my Yuru Camp pics. You can see the bar in the background of this one.
There was a big poster advertising a meetup that had happened about a month ago. I’ve always wanted to go to one of these.
A close up of that Yuru Camp shrine thing next to the reception:
While checking out the entrance, I noticed something staring at me from behind the door.
You’ll never guess who it was…
There was not one, but two of them! Look how cute they are. I tried to follow them outside but they were very shy.
After making some snack purchases, I said goodbye to the kind staff at the Onsen and headed back to the campsite to sleep. It was getting a little late and I was tired. In the morning I was woken up by the campsite man driving his van about. He pulled up alongside my tent and asked if I was doing okay. When I climbed out he seemed almost pleased to see me with a big grin on his face. I had another chat with him and it seemed like he had stalked my Instagram a bit after I followed the campsite account. It also seemed like he found my blog and stalked that a bit too. He explained to me that the campsite had been setup specifically for Yuru Camp fans, by Yuru Camp fans. I asked if the creation of the campsite was anything to do with the issues with the park up the road and he confirmed my suspicions from earlier. Still super cool though. This guy was probably in his late 50s and he was beaming talking to me about his favourite anime. Definitely pay them a visit if you decide to check out this area!
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