＜ At the same time, the multi-purpose “INAKA Backpacker House” will open, which offers shared house, office, and co-working spaces ＞

Ikuma Nakagawa opens “INAKA Backpacker House” which is located in Kawashiri Anamizu Town, Hosu-gun Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. INAKA Backpacker House is a multi-purpose house space that features shared house, office, collaborative workspace, amongst others.

Ikuma moved from Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture to Iwaguruma village, Anamizu Town in Ishikawa Prefecture. He is a campervan traveler VANLIFER, operates a blog “INAKA (Countryside in Japanese) Backpacker,” works as a freelance publicist in various fields mainly in IT and travel industries, and offers a range of countryside lifestyle experiences activities.

Ikuma joined forces with a start-up company Carstay, (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Koki Miyashita as CEO) which operates peer-to-peer RV parking spaces and RV / campervan car-sharing service platform known as “VANLIFE.” Together, they opened a livable RV station “VANLIFE Station” in the facility of the “INAKA Backpacker House.”

“VANLIFE Station” is the first of its kind in Japan, offering a parking space where you can stay and “live” for short to long term periods.

“VANLIFE Station” is for VANLIFERS who spend their “life”styles living, working and traveling in box-type cars such as camper”van”s. VANLIFERS can park and “dock” their vans to serve as their room for the “INAKA Backpacker House.”

VANLIFERS can also use the co-working space, living room, kitchen, bathroom, farming field, Wi-Fi, PC monitors, and other facilities to live a comfortable daily life. The collaborative workspace is shared by office users, visitors, local residents, and other guests in the shared house.

Charges for “VANLIFE Station” including part of utilities is 7,000 yen for 7 days, 12,000 yen for 8 days to 15 days, and 22,000 yen for 16 days to 30 days (1 month).

Applicants for “VANLIFE Station” and “INAKA Backpacker House” are asked to fill out information via this blog “INAKA Backpacker” and interview via video. We plan to welcome campervan travelers with future goals and visions.

INAKA Backpacker coordinates with a provider of peer-to-peer RV space sharing “Carstay” and campervan sharing “Van Share,” (beginning service by March 2020), service platformer Carstay. After the interview with “INAKA Backpacker,” VANLIFERS can book “VANLIFE Station” and make their payment through Carstay’s platform.

Besides the shared space parking service for campervan travelers, Carstay plans to develop and increase its nationwide livable “VANLIFE Station.”

Carstay’s mission statement is to “provide a world where you can stay with-whom you like at anytime and anywhere you like.” In order for Carstay to accomplish its mission, Carstay provides a comprehensive “VANLIFE” platform.

Ikuma Nakagawa, as INAKA Backpacker, has worked as a publicist in various companies and has traveled around the countryside for two and a half years since the end of 2010 as a backpacker. While backpacking, he implemented TOYOTA Hi-Ace van as a mobile base-camp. He dispatched information that might overturn a conventional way of living and organized the “touch and feel” type of a countryside lifestyle experience activity tour. He has always believed in a nomadic lifestyle and felt the need to have a lifestyle that was not trapped by conventional ways or concepts.

Thus, he decided to open the “INAKA Backpacker House” as a multi-purpose base including “VANLIFE Station” for those who choose a nomadic lifestyle. He aims for a space where travelers of different backgrounds will interact with local people and enjoy authentic and rich relationships in the underpopulated village of Noto Peninsula.

Carstay and INAKA Backpacker have agreed on general concepts, thoughts, and way of business for “VANLIFE” or “Mobile Lifestyle.” They decided to open the first base of “VANLIFE Station” in Noto.

So far, there were no facilities for “VANLIFERS” where they can stay at a fixed location for a long-term period during their travel time. There are facilities such as “Roadside Stations,” auto-camp sites, and RV parks where travelers can stay temporarily for napping and overnight purposes. However, at these existing facilities, campervan travelers are not allowed to stay consecutive days and they are not livable parking spaces.

Japan’s first “VANLIFE Station” at the “INAKA Backpacker House” welcomes VANLIFERS to stay for the mid to long term. VANLIFERS can conveniently use house facilities, register “VANLIFE Station” as their address, and enjoy the countryside life at the same time. “INAKA Backpacker House” is a new type of facility that accepts the next generation of lifestyle and offers comfortable daily life.

About Carstay Inc
Carstay Inc. is a start-up company whose mission statement is “to make a world where everyone can stay with someone they like at any place at any time.” Carstay evolves its business to adapt to the new ways of life and travel lifestyle. “VANLIFE” centers on the area of “MaaS (Mobility as a Service).” Carstay will design “comfortable mobility” and “an impressive experience” in the 5G / autonomous driving era by way of providing customers with the “VANLIFE” platform. Carstay was founded in June 2018. (https://carstay.jp/)

About INAKA Backpacker
Ikuma Nakagawa a.k.a INAKA Backpacker wears various hats as a freelancer publicist, writer, blogger, web creator, as well as a sales support representative for local products. He is also an operator for the multi-purpose and functional “INAKA Backpacker House,” providing “VANLIFE Station,” shared house and office spaces, collaborative work spaces, and a range of countryside lifestyle experience activities.

After serving as a publicist for small, medium, and global companies for about ten years, Ikuma Nakagawa started backpacking in the countryside of Japan to search for a non-urban lifestyle starting in October of 2010. In 2012, he implemented a Hi-Ace van as his base camp. In May 2013, he and his family moved to Iwaguruma village, Anamizu Town in the Noto area of Ishikawa Prefecture from Kanagawa Prefecture. Iwaguruma is an agricultural and fishing village where about 120 villagers live.

Although originally from Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture, Ikuma decided to study in the United States and graduated from the University of Oregon. (blog in Japanese: https://inaka-backpacker.com/blog/)

Media Inquiries
Carstay Inc and INAKA Backpacker
Spokesperson: Ikuma Nakagawa
Telephone: 080-3205-2335
E-mail: inaka.backpacker.japan@gmail.com

Reference Information: “VANLIFE Station” of “INAKA Backpacker House”
Cars and the lives of people will be further intertwined as the future of autonomous driving, “mobile hotels,” “mobile offices,” and “mobile homes” become more prevalent. At the same time, cars are changing their current shape and evolving into a state of “mobile X.”

Nowadays, the number of RVs (recreational vehicles including camping cars and campervans) and travelers in “mobile houses” that carry a residential space box on top of a truck are increasing. Travelers known as “VANLIFERS” who work, travel, and live in their cars are rapidly increasing as well.

Different from conventional life, VANLIFE is feasible in modern society because of convenient and modern technologies.

While so-called “Address Hoppers” or “modern nomads” who enjoy working and traveling are increasing, hub and operator companies for “Address Hoppers” are increasing as well.

During the “Tokyo Motor Show 2019” or “Tsukuba VAN Paku” in March which Tsukuba City of Ibaraki Prefecture had organized, major car companies and local governments envisioned a generation of cars such as “mobile hotels,” “mobile offices,” “mobile homes,” or “mobile X.” Because it is a new type of lifestyle, it requires only simple infrastructure to accommodate.

However, there were NO available facilities for VANLIFERS staying for a mid to long term period. Cuttenly, there are only facilities for car-travelers to stay temporarily such as “roadside stations,” “auto-camp site,” and “RV Parks.”

In “VANLIFE Station” of “INAKA Backpacker House” or the facility for a lifestyle of the next generation, they can stay and live in the parking space for mid to long term periods. VANLIFERS can use convenient facilities such as an actual “home,” register themselves using the home address, experience life in the countryside “INAKA,” and enjoy daily life comfortably.

While the Rugby World Cup 2019 was held in Japan, visitors in camping cars were traveling to Japan to watch the games. They rented campervans as their living facilities and traveled as if they were living in Japan. In January 2020, TV Tokyo will start a series about a gourmet campervan traveler. Many people are very interested in a lifestyle with cars such as VANLIFE. In addition, the Tokyo Olympics will be held in 2020, and we anticipate an increasing number of VANLIFERS and a higher demand for infrastructures offering a “mobile lifestyle.”

“INAKA Backpacker House” is a 50-year Japanese traditional old house, with eight bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, two garages, barn, and agricultural field. The house was transferred from a local resident to Ikuma Nakagawa in January 2019. The total area is approximately 1,200 square meters. After the purchase, “INAKA Backpacker House” has been utilized experimentally for business purposes such as the “Carstay” RV station, collaborative workspaces, and spaces to experience the countryside.

Visitors of “INAKA Backpacker House” can use the collaborative workspace, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and other necessary areas as a common space. Rooms on the second floor are available as part of a shared house and office for 33,000 yen or above per month including utilities. The collaborative workspace is also available for 1,200 yen a day.

Please refer to the blog “INAKA Backpacker” for the details.