Japan in a Van, Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, Hokusai Museum, Sea of Japan (Season 2, Episode 4)

For my 60th birthday year, Chet and I took my dream trip to Japan. We journeyed as far north as Nikko National Park and as far south as Nagasaki. We saw ancient temples and shrines, wild monkeys, amazing forests, and interesting museums. We ate at 7 11, Family Mart and Lawson convenience stores, restaurants, and local markets. We dipped our toes in the Japan Sea, climbed sand dunes, and even rode a camel. We traveled in a Mini Wink camper van from Japan Campers for three weeks, driving up and down crazy mountain roads, driving through rice paddies, and in the city traffic of Toyoko and Osaka. We camped at Michi No Eki roadside stops and other stops recommended by the Japan Campers app. We hope you will join us on this trip of a lifetime. We had a blast, and I hope you will enjoy joining us through this video series. We also lightly discuss accessibility that we see in our journey.

This episode starts when we wake up to monkeys outside our camper, we see a waterfall, travel to the Snow Monkey park, go to Japanese art museum to see how the great wave painting was made and eat seafood viewing the Sea of Japan.

We are Betsy and Chet, and our oldest son, Alex. For 33 years, we thought Alex, had nonverbal autism, intellectual disability, ADHD, but a few years ago we found out that he has Phelan McDermid. Alex goes on many trips with us, but this time the plane trip is too far.

There are many reasons we make these videos. One reason we make these videos because I love watching travel videos. I love to dream about my next vacation so I'm challenging myself to learn to make my own. I hope we can help others dream about their vacations.

Another reason we make these videos is to share the world with Alex and others who are unable to make a journey to Japan and for those with disabilities whose comfort may be increased by knowing a little bit more about accessible. We have no idea what Alex understands receptively, so videos are a way to visually communicate where we went for three weeks. He likes to use his eye gaze communication device to watch his vacation videos so now in a way he can see Japan with us.

Our videos, Goal 1: Joyful Life are based on our family's journey and strategies we use to improve the quality of our life through meaningful leisure experiences. It is our hope to reach our number one goal of having a joyful life and to help others reach that goal too. We are hoping that our videos will encourage everyone to get out and have fun.