From Italy to Japan by Van

The time has come to reveal our next adventure to you: we’re going to Japan!
By van? Yes! A crazy idea? No!

We’ve been dreaming of this trip for years, and finally the time has come to turn it into reality and tell you all the details, the behind-the-scenes stories, and even a few secrets!

A project born three years ago

It was March 2021, and while we waited for our van to arrive, we traced routes with our fingers on a big map hanging in the kitchen. It was the time of Hanami in Japan, and the photos online full of blooming cherry blossoms made us want to go back to the Land of the Rising Sun. Half-joking, we said to each other:

Why don’t we go there by van?

A simple joke, which nonetheless turned into a dream, tucked away in a mental drawer. In the meantime the months went by, the dealership finally handed us the keys to the van, we started our first adventures around Italy, and then we spent a whole month on the road in Denmark. We came back home, looked into each other’s eyes, and said:

Let’s go to Japan by van!

And this time it wasn’t a question.

Following our instinct, we took the map off the wall and traced the route in pencil: Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, then crossing the famous Trans-Siberian all the way to Vladivostok, from where we’d board a ferry to Korea and, right after that, finally set foot in Japan!

Easy, right? Wrong! However unstoppable our urge to leave was, everything seemed to be working against us. It was Covid time, the Russian land border was closed, so was the Japanese one, passenger transport had been banned on the ship that would have taken us first to Korea and then to Japan, and war had broken out in Ukraine.

Our crazy project had to be tucked away in our thoughts once again. We decided to set off anyway, just in the opposite direction. We were supposed to head east, to Asia, and we ended up south-west, in Africa. A bit off route, you might think, but this unplanned adventure taught us so much: we truly learned to live in the van’s 9 square metres, to understand its limits, ours, and how to solve the many problems you find yourself facing every day, alone in the middle of the world.

Good news

Once our adventure in Africa was over (which you can relive with the interactive map here), while we were heading back to Italy to get married, fix up the van and rethink the road ahead, we got a message from our dear friend Franco of @bicosisgud  : “guys, the ferry to Japan is running again!”

You can try to imagine the state we were in. We had a thousand and one things to organise, but the priority had suddenly become writing an email to our contact in Russia. A few time-zone hours later, we got the most important reply of all:

Hello Paolo,
the ferry to Korea goes weekly.

We looked into each other’s eyes and said: “we’re going to Japan by van, for real this time!”

A new itinerary

Even though there were no more major obstacles ahead of us, one small problem remained: it was September, and winter was about to arrive in Russia, which certainly wouldn’t have let us cross the country’s roads until summer.

Was it time to postpone our project once again? Of course not! At that point, map in hand, we simply decided to take the road ahead of us nice and slow, splitting this huge trip into two tours: the first through the Balkan countries to slowly, slowly say goodbye to Europe (which you can see here  ), the second crossing the threshold of a new continent, heading for Japan.

Could we have gone straight there and shortened the distance? Of course not! So here’s yet another bizarre, Vandipety-style itinerary.

Update Unlike what we’d originally planned, we’ve decided to change a few parts of our trip. We’ve decided to postpone our visit to Kyrgyzstan but add a visit to Saint Petersburg. You’ll find the reasons in the dedicated paragraphs below.

1. Turkey

It’ll be the first country we cross, starting from Edirne to reach Istanbul, crossing the Bosphorus and officially entering Asia, the third continent we’ve visited on the road! First we’ll head south to visit the Mediterranean coast, then we’ll head to Cappadocia and inland Turkey, pushing all the way to the country’s far east, a stone’s throw from Iraq and Iran.

2. Georgia and Armenia

Here are two countries we have great expectations for! We’ll enter Georgia from Batumi and then head on to the capital, Tbilisi, visiting a thousand and more wonders along the way. After that we’ll head down and enter Armenia, visiting places like Lake Gegharkunik all the way to the capital Yerevan, then heading back into Georgia.

3. Russia

From the border with Georgia we’ll head straight for Moscow, and from there go discover the Golden Ring, a group of historic cities located north-east of the city. We’ll then start covering a stretch of the Trans-Siberian up to the border with Kazakhstan, and briefly interrupt our visit to enter the first of the two “stan” countries!

Update “Did you know Saint Petersburg has white nights?” It only took one sentence to convince us to make a roughly 700 km detour from Moscow to go visit the city that never sleeps in summer, especially at this time of year! Did we make the right call?

4. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

We’ll enter Kazakhstan from the north, heading for the capital Astana and afterwards we’ll go all the way south, to Almaty, the “Cortina” of Kazakhstan. Given how close it is to Kyrgyzstan, we’ve decided not to skip a visit to this wild country, starting from the capital Bishkek and then pushing on to Lake Issyk-Kul.

It won’t be too long a visit, since the rest of the country is hard to reach without a 4x4.

Update After finding out that Olimpia had a tumour, we decided to skip the 3000+ km detour south and, after visiting Astana, head straight back into Russia instead. We’ll leave the visit to Kyrgyzstan for a future trip.

5. Russia, again

Our return to Russia will be brief, through the Altai Mountains area, a region little known to tourists but, scenery-wise, really beautiful! We’ll drive some stunning roads that will take us straight to the next country.

6. Mongolia

This wild, magnetic, unspoiled country has always been part of our original plans, and we’ll finally get to visit it. We can’t wait to set foot in the land of Genghis Khan! If everything goes according to plan, right in front of the statue of this great leader our cat Sakè will celebrate his fourth birthday!

7. Russia, one last time

One last entry into Russia, we promise. We’ll come in through the Lake Baikal area, then follow the Trans-Siberian all the way to the end, arriving in Vladivostok, our last stop, from where we’ll catch the ferry that will take all of us to Korea: us, our pets and the van!

8. South Korea

Once we finally arrive in Korea, a long visit to this country will begin, since we want to explore it far and wide, even though it isn’t huge! And let’s be honest, also to help offset the cost of the ferry a little.

9. Japan!

We’ll probably cry our eyes out with emotion the day we finally manage to set feet, paws and wheels in Japan. It’ll be a dream come true, it’ll be a huge milestone, it’ll be an unforgettable moment.

And once we’re in the Land of the Rising Sun, what will happen? Stay with us to find out, because it won’t be an ending, just an exciting new starting point.

Time to reveal a few secrets

We said we’d reveal a few secrets, and we want to keep our word. The first is that our destination and our love for Japan have always been right in front of your eyes!

In almost all our videos there’s always been a nod to Japan: a ramen restaurant in the Madrid vlog  , a red torii spotted by Sara in Morocco  , or one Konichiwa too many  . These are just a few small examples, and we challenge you to find them all!

Although the biggest secret has always been him: Sakè!

Yes indeed, the name of our globetrotting cat comes straight from the traditional Japanese drink! He’s been in every single video, as if to tell you: “hey, we’re going to Japan!”

But there’s more. You’ve often asked us what our van is called, and we’ve always dodged the question, so much so that the community decided to name it Scricchiolo (“Creaky”, in Italian) because of the damage it picked up during our Senegal adventure.

Now the time has come to reveal to you that our van’s real name is:

ToTo: TOrino-TOkyo (Turin-Tokyo).

The initials of two cities, the one we started from and the one we’re headed to. In between: us, the changes of direction, every single emotion we’ve lived through.

Latest updates

One last piece of news to celebrate this big trip! We want to keep everyone happy!

Vlogs

Throughout April, two vlogs a week will come out on our channel ( subscribe so you don't miss them!  ) every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm!

Mini vlogs

Alongside the vlogs there will be “60-second mini vlogs” both on YouTube as shorts  and on Instagram as reels  , to tell this big adventure a little more “briefly”!

Blog

We’re officially opening the Overlanding to Japan (in Italian) series, a set of articles where we’ll share anecdotes and useful information about this big trip!

What do you say, will you travel with us on this crazy adventure?

Arigatou, see you next time.

🇮🇹 → 🇯🇵 9862 km (as the crow flies)