I used to travel on our minivan before and since we used to drive quite often during the night and could not get any sleep, I found that a bit hard to take. I then had my encounter with Petit from Toy-Factory and we drove that for a while, but as my three children grew we felt that there just was not enough space. My wife and I were discussing about switching to another vehicle and it is around that time that I encountered the Seven Seas. With most camper vans, you need to clear the space after a meal to sleep, but the Seven Seas is large enough to have both the meal space and the bed space at the same time. When we go on a trip we tend to stay out there for a long time, so it was absolutely an improvement when we no longer needed to clear the table before getting into bed. I hesitated quite a bit before purchasing, but seeing my children happy with the van I am convinced that it was the right choice to purchase the vehicle (laugh).

I found it in a magazine or on the internet. There was no custom builder who created camper vans in Mie Prefecture, so I went all the way to Aichi Prefecture and visited a number of custom builders and one of them was Toy-Factory. I was very satisfied with the vehicle itself, but above all, I felt that this energy of having fun together, towards their users, was the strongest with Toy-Factory. I was very drawn to that (laugh).

Of course! A lot of fun (laugh).

My wife and I argued a lot in the past and the family was disintegrating and everyone did different things, but after our encounter with the camper van, above all else, the family bond became very strong. My wife and I argue less now and we get along really well as a family. Particularly when our children were quite young, the vehicle seemed like a secret base for them and it was exciting for them to discover shelves and doors and had fun going into storage space and all that. (laugh)

When we visited Hokkaido we went on this vehicle, used a ferry to get over there and we visited campsites and roadside tourist stops.

The downside was the amazingly expensive ferry fare (laugh).

In terms of cost, it might be cheaper to get there some other way and stay at hotels, but the memory and the experience we gained are irreplaceable.

There are no algae in Kaminokoike Lake in Hokkaido so the water was very beautiful and sunken trees were not rotten. Our children love that lake and they keep on insisting that we should take this vehicle and go there again. The fact that we were able to get to some place that was impressive to our children themselves and remain in their memories is to us a priceless asset.

When we go skiing, we naturally go on this vehicle and since the FF space heater can be turned on without turning the engine on, it is nice and warm inside. So since we got this vehicle, we can go anywhere in Japan, so we have been to locations in Shikoku and Tohoku as well (laugh).

That's the thing, it is much easier than you would expect from looking at the vehicle. Turning radius is amazingly small so it is easy to take tight turns and wonderful to drive. You come across places you are convinced you won't be able to turn and you find out yes you can.

Buy a camper van while your children are still very young!! Sharing the same space as a family and spend the time together and do the same things together as a family! You would be the richest person, to be able to do that.

So truly, it is better to start while children are still very young and you do not necessarily have to go camping. Sharing the same space as a family also strengthens the family bond.