瀬戸内の隠れた島々で楽しむVanlife Japan | キャンピングカーロードトリップ＆レトロカーショー

瀬戸内の隠れた島々で楽しむVanlife Japan | キャンピングカーロードトリップ＆レトロカーショー

Hey, good morning everyone. So, we are heading over to a uh car show today and then we’re only about 2 hours from home. We’re I think if I pronounce it correctly is Shimogi Shimogi Island uh off Kur near Kur near Hiroshima. Uh we came across this bridge, a Kagami Bridge again. Hopefully I pronounced it correctly. It’s bright and early still trying to wake up. Look at this gorgeous view. Absolutely stunning. It’s around 6:30 or so in the morning. And um the car show is about about 800 meters from here. So, we’re just going to walk from here. But this right here, this used to be a pier, a port going over to Kur from what I understand. And right over here, this really cool older looking building is the old terminal. Right now, all it is is just a restroom that they closed at night. Not a bad place at all to stay. But look at this is really cool morning activity. Absolutely stunning. Beautiful, beautiful island. We’re going to do some driving around, but going to bring you along for this car show. Hopefully enjoy the different type of cars. But so yeah, we parked right there. Pretty much had this whole place for ourselves. And then a short distance is the restroom. I’ll put the pin in the description below if you’re in this area. Some cars are showing up. They offloading that really cool little BMW in Hiroshima. There’s a really uh popular Mexican restaurant called Borachos. And it looks like they have a little uh vending truck relatively small, but it’s pretty cool. Over there, they have a few Z’s. If you have been following me before, you know I’m a Z fan. I used to have three in the the past one. So, in Japan, they called Fair Lady Z. Actually, I should say originally they’re called Fair Lady Z’s, but in the States, we started doing the 240, 260, 280 based on the engine size and obviously the year. But this has been modified. Fair Lady Z 240Z. This is the one that they were downloading there in the parking lot. That’s a really cool engine. Rotary engine. BMW. I have never seen a car like this. Toyota Sports 800. Wow. One of a kind. And here’s the second one. What’s that? Now, this valve cover is really cool. Never seen something like that. I wonder if it’s custom and engraved or did it come like that originally Skyline GT. Now, this is a gorgeous Datson Fair Lady. I have never seen one like this. I wish they had that hood open. Awesome paint job. Beautiful chrome, 1200. Gorgeous car. Oh, and I just realized that the steering wheels on the other side. Now, this is a really cool K truck Honda. Nice. Even has a little bit of chrome up in here. They have some vendors and music over there on the other side as well. But yeah, really cool cars. Really interesting. This is a retro meet here in the island. It’s about 30 or so minutes from Hiroshima. Check out the interior. I don’t know. I guess I’m going to go ahead and get tacos real quick. So, now we decided to go ahead and do a little bit of island hopping because there’s a chain of islands that can take you uh all the way to a port where you can actually go onto a ferry to Imabati in Shikoku, but we’re not going to do that today, but that’s a future trip. There are also some really cool cars. Check these out. American cars. Obviously, I guess these did not meet the retro meat standard, but really nice Porsche. But, uh, yeah, this is a beautiful car right here. Very nice. Someone’s playing with a little airplane. Remote control airplane. And so we are around here now. We’re going to island hop. And then from here you could go down to Shikoku Imabati area which we won’t do this time but definitely in the future. We just uh island hopped all the way down to Oshaki Shimoima. Really beautiful area. Really nice towns coming all the way through a bunch of Mikan uh tangerines. And on my way back I’m going to go ahead and do a time lapse all throughout the islands. But it’s really really cool. But absolutely stunning. beautiful area. So, let’s go ahead and walk around. Inside this area over here, there’s a whole bunch of little local stores. We’re going to walk around and get some lunch real quick. He was there explaining to you quite a bit which it sounds like he’s very passionate about his town. He’s saying that this one they made in the ado period right here. It’s the strongest e even in Japan probably strongest uh bohate. Oh like a pier. Okay to stop the wave. Yep. thingy. And it’s just made made just like the where the castles, you know, what castle sits on there. Just like that. Right here. That’s how they made. Oh, it broke once. 200 some years old. Oh, wow. Wow. Lighthouse. Uhhuh. And the tip of this it broke down because the uh when they kept the typhoon or some big I think it’s typhoon came and then the boat hits the hit the lighthouse. Yeah. So it broke down. Oh. So they it broke once. So that only tip and that the lighthouse they rebuild it. But all this is it’s still same as back then. Okay. Just walk around the town. Oh, this area right here. So, they’re probably going to walk around through these these little roads, these little streets. This is what you were talking about a minute ago, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, we need to go this way. Go that way. They have all kinds of cool restaurants. Sure. Let’s go in there. Oh, you already ordered it. No, I hope that tempura looks pretty good, too. Mix sushimi. And I got the analog. This looks like a kura here. Ah. Oh, doesn’t it? that was converted into a house or something. But I can only imagine what this place looks like inside Mitarai, which is where we at. There’s a temple here behind us. The stone wall. Furasaku Gakuen. going to keep on walking down these streets. You think they have a go? I don’t know. Oh, this looks uh kind of a European style. Yeah, this one definitely has a European influence. These are little cake trucks I was telling you about. Little classic cake trucks. Nice. Nice. Wow, this is so cool. Yeah, they’re definitely smoky, but that’s pretty cool. Oh jeez. Look at that. There you can see that sushi cave, the mud wall and then uh plastered in between the bamboo last for years and years. You can stay here. Oh yes. What is bhai? Oh, dancing. Dancing and performance. Like a performance hall. Yeah. Show your age. Do you still know how to do these? Look at this camera. Oh, modern iPhone facing that camera right there. Is this a camera? I don’t think so. Is it? No, I’m not sure. What is that? I don’t think it’s a camera either, but who knows? I was looking for whole set like this. remember. But yeah, I know you were adamant about finding a set like that. And it was missing that one little little one. The one that we finally found in Germany, I think it was. But look at that. And this place is closed, isn’t it? Check out that that truck going. Fire car number 503. This is a collector’s. Wow. Wow. Very nice. Is that what you’re talking about? The clock? Yeah. It’s not tower. Oh, a uh back then back then uh watch repair. And he’s still in there fixing watches. Oh, look. The old calculator watches. I remember. You were cool if you had one of those. Wow. Jeez. We got talked into getting some ice cream. You want to green tea or the vanilla or green tea? Huh? Oh, the little machine. Modern. Check out this other building right here. Yeah, the old barber shop. Look. Jeez. So, all these are my chia, huh? Basically, um where they have a uh a storefront and then in the back and the top is the house and there’s normally a little garden in the back, but the front is the storefront. on our system. 200 yen, 100 yen. Just grab it, put your money in there. Good to go. Yep. Choco was just saying this feels like you’re going back in time. And it’s true. A little modern here and there, but still you could just imagine what it felt like 200, 300 years ago. tobacco. That’s where they the vendor will sit out the window. Yeah. And then they come to get the top. They even have the little gardens. You see a shrine over there in front of us to according to the guy. Mhm. explain way way way back then. This town is uh very rich because we call it Joro the back then we call Jorh which is the uh they sell their body. They sell their body. Yeah. I mean the women. So prostitute. Okay. So there were a lot of prostitutes here. Yeah. So there’s a lot of draw to a lot of men. That that was the business the Japanese Tinman shrine. Uh-huh. But they got ex exhibited. Executed. No. Exhibit. Oh. Uhhuh. To so prohibited. Yeah. Yeah. So they it became against the law eventually. And so then after that the town died. Oh. became poor and then and they became poor after that. Yeah. Interesting. This is Mr. Nakamura, the Japan’s first bicycle adventurer, born in this island, 1872. And he has a Japanese flag on the back. And if you would don’t mind, go out and check out one of the videos where we had the Brazilian couple um uh that they stayed at our house and we met them in Hokkaido traveling around the world by bike. And uh check out the channel as well. Really cool. But uh right now I believe there’s somewhere in Georgia or something like that. So over here on the right are the uh castle ruins. The castle is no longer there, but you can see the Can you go up there? You want to go up? I wait. You wait down here. Kind of spooky looking, but oh god, look at that. So, apparently you could walk around and go down the other end, which is what I’m about to do. Oh, can you imagine when the castle was here? You could go down this way. I can see you. Look up. I I got to do that, too. Wow. Look at this. If you have been looking at some of my videos, I have a much much smaller brass bell that I bought at a flea market. And I am about to do this. Look at this beautiful sight down into the ocean. Now that’s an interesting school sign. That kid is definitely running to school. Mhm. Pink house. This looks like a like an old hotel, but it’s funny. It’s like I wonder who built it. Was were the Japanese carpenters or like carpenters from Holland that they came over here to build it for them? Because the Japanese, they be like, why would I build it that way? Nor would they know how to do it. I would like to know that. That’d be pretty interesting to know. And looks like we’re going back, right? Definitely coming back. We’re going to come back someday. Probably stay at the port, go down to my body, drive around Shikoku. But this is a definitely really cool town. Just walk around. I would love to have the tour guide. the guy at the at the little parking, he is very passionate explaining the whole history of this place and very popular uh biking route as well. All right, folks. So, we’re heading home. Going to put you on the time lapse so you could go through all these different islands. It’s really cool. You see all the different islands probably all the way up to Kuret. Hopefully, you enjoy that, too. All right, have a great day. Bye.

We took our camper van across the hidden islands of Setouchi and spent the night at Mitoshiro Ryokuchi Park, a quiet waterfront spot with a beautiful view of Akinada Bridge. The next morning, we explored Mitarai, a historic port town where the Edo-period streets and old merchant homes make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

Along the way, we stopped at a retro car show, checking out rare Japanese and European classics you almost never see today. This trip mixes vanlife, history, island exploring, and old-school car culture—all in one of Japan’s most overlooked regions.

If you enjoy vanlife Japan, off-the-beaten-path travel, and discovering towns most visitors miss, Setouchi is a perfect place to explore.

瀬戸内の小さな島々をキャンピングカーで巡り、見戸代緑地で一泊しました。海沿いの静かな場所で、安芸灘大橋の景色がとてもきれいでした。翌朝は御手洗を散策。江戸時代の町並みや古い商家が残っていて、本当に時間が戻ったような雰囲気があります。

途中ではレトロカーショーにも立ち寄り、日本やヨーロッパの珍しいクラシックカーを見ることができました。バンライフ、歴史、島めぐり、そして昔ながらのカー文化が一つの旅に詰まっています。瀬戸内は、あまり知られていないけれど魅力がたくさんある地域です。

バンライフやディープな日本旅行、観光客が行かない町を楽しみたい人には、瀬戸内はぴったりの場所です。

📍 Pins – Locations Featured

Mitoshiro Ryokuchi Park (camp spot):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3YjGrvKGyXFawjZV8

Route to Mitarai:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FikJbHHxR9REfzmd7

Mitarai – Port Town:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/6V7qWkBKRffxCT779

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