Japanese-built campground opens on Washington Coast

TACOMA — A Japanese style first-of-its-kind campground that aims to connect people with nature has opened on Washington’s Coast, and it’s about to set new standards for camping.

Japanese outdoor gear maker Snow Peak held the grand opening of its Campfield in Long Beach last weekend. The $20 million rehab of a former RV campground is now 25 acres of tent sites, luxury micro cabins, a sauna, store, lounge and Japanese-style bathrooms. Plus trees, meadows, ponds and roaming deer.

It’s Snow Peak’s first U.S. campground, said senior brand manager, Mike Anderson. The company has 14 in Japan.

Forest bathing

In Japan, the number one outdoor experience isn’t hunting or fishing but what’s called forest bathing. There’s no water involved, said Noah Reis, Snow Peak’s vice president of U.S. operations, just a lot of communing with the natural world.

“It’s just relaxing and being in nature,” he said.

A walk around Campfield revealed buildings covered in charred wood paneling and honey-stained trim. Earth-toned Snow Peak tents dotted the meadows. There were no cars in sight — they’re not allowed beyond the parking lot. Campers use carts to transport belongings.

“There’s tons of people in this country who haven’t had an opportunity to experience nature firsthand,” Anderson said. “We really think camping is a wonderful opportunity to do that.”

But it’s all done with a Japanese aesthetic. That means no RVs, no generators running into the night and no beep-beep of car alarms.

Snow Peak, Reis said, aims to merge people with nature rather than keep it at bay or exploit it.

Snow Peak

Snow Peak was founded in 1958 by Yukio Yamai in Japan’s Niigata Prefecture. Yamai wasn’t happy with the quality of post-World War II outdoor gear and began working with samurai sword makers, according to Anderson.

“He showed them how to make crampons and pick axes and all sorts of stuff,” Anderson said as he showed a reporter around the campground.

Three decades later, Yamai’s son and current CEO Toru Yamai, turned the brand toward camping equipment. Around 2009, the company opened its first campground in Japan incorporating the company’s high standards with a back-to-nature ethos.

Why Long Beach?

Long Beach is the company’s first of what it hopes to be several U.S. campgrounds. Snowpeak’s U.S. division is headquartered in Portland and the company liked both Long Beach’s location on the coast as well as its easy drive from both Puget Sound and Portland.

“Long Beach has been kind of up-and-coming for a little while in terms of the other firms investing in it, building up the hospitality industry here,” Reis said.

Using what was a former rundown campground with basketball and tennis courts, the company built a new facility from the ground up. A pond and wetlands make up more than a quarter of the property. Snow Peak is rehabilitating the aquatic areas, Anderson said.

“It continues to be more and more expensive as we’ve gotten along,” he said. “But it’s expensive to create and design an experience on top of a wetland in one of the most remote parts of the West Coast.”

On my visit, Swainson’s thrushes were trilling in the forested understory while a deer grazed near tents, unfazed by campers gathered around fires.

Campfield will be open year-round but prices, as they usually do, rise during the high season.

Tent camping

Campfield offers do-it-yourself camping or they’ll-do-it-for-you style.

Tent sites in either the campground’s meadows or forest start at $40. They can fit two average-sized tents.

If you’re tired of packing and setting up gear, a tent suite comes with most of what you’ll need but requires a two-night minimum stay. The nightly rate of $120 includes a four-person tent, gas-fueled grill table, dining table, chairs and a campfire setup. Campers supply their own sleeping bags or cots.

Purchased new, the equipment retails between $5,000 and $6,000, Anderson said.

Whether you’re in a tent or the site’s micro cabins, campers get access to Campfield’s ofuro, or spa.

Ofuro

You can smell the ofuro building before you reach it. The structure’s sauna is lined in coveted and highly aromatic Hinoki cypress.

In the same open-air structure is a hot pool and smaller cold-plunge pool. Both look out on to the grounds’ wetlands. Shower and bathroom facilities complete the building.

While I was there, construction workers were finishing up the final touches on the building, slated to open this week.

Jyubako

At the high end of the camping experience are 14 jyubakos. Variously called micro cabins or tiny houses. These minimalist houses are like a Tokyo apartment dropped into the wilderness. Each has a queen-sized bed and its own bathroom.

A sign at the door asks visitors to remove their shoes.

Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, who designed the Japan National Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics, the jyubakos also come with a micro kitchen, complete with tea kettle.

Rates start at $130.

Lounge and camp store

Wine bottles line the shelves in Campfield’s lounge. It’s not obvious at first but all of the tables, chairs and sectional seating is Snow Peak’s outdoor furniture.

Separated by an espresso counter, Campfield’s store offers drinks and snacks produced either within 100 miles or 5,000 miles away in Japan. Fried-egg-flavored potato chips share space with osenbei, or traditional Japanese snacks. Nearby are six packs from local breweries and chocolate from Oregon candy makers.

Snow Peak’s light weight titanium cook ware, leather gloves, gas grills, utility vests, tables, chairs and more are for sale at the store.