I’m in the upper-class. A civil servant with 4.7 million yen in income started solo camping as a marriage activity.

In the midst of the Covid-19 disaster, solo camping, where you can avoid the dense crowd, has become popular. At the end of last year, “solo camping” was selected as one of the top 10 words in the “2020 You Can New Words and New Trends Award” (a selection of the Basic Knowledge of Modern Terms). Hiroshi, a popular solo camper and comedian, said at the award ceremony that he attended, “I just do it because I like it. I don’t like places with a lot of people, and I wanted to be alone, so I went to the mountains and was invited. I don’t really know what happened.

I think solo camping is naturally for people who want to be alone, but I may have gotten into solo camping for a different reason,” said Ms. Yamanishi (pseudonym, 30 years old). Mr. Yamanishi (pseudonym, 30 years old) is a local civil servant working at a government office near the Kanto region with an annual income of 4.7 million yen. He believes that he is a senior citizen because he “never runs out of work.

Mr. Yamanishi learned about solo camping on TV and bought a magazine featuring solo camping at a convenience store. He was struck by the worldview of the magazine.

Looking at Yamanishi’s behavior, it seems that he sees solo camping not as “living a simple but spiritually rich life in the wilderness away from the hustle and bustle of the city,” but as “living a luxurious life without city gas in a cool and photogenic place (within 30 minutes from the city by highway). Camping equipment is not just a magazine catalog.

The camping equipment will be uniformly of the high-end brands listed in the magazine catalogs. Let’s listen to Mr. Yamanishi’s explanation of camping equipment.

First of all, I call it gear, not camping equipment. At first, I bought outlet and used products, but I think gear looks cooler if it has a consistent brand. It’s the same when taking pictures, but even if you’re camping solo, there are still people camping nearby, so you’re still curious.

If you use second-hand or outlet gear, you can save a few tens of thousands of yen, but if you go with a high-end brand, it can easily cost several hundred thousand yen. Mr. Yamanishi, a spendthrift, has no savings and pays his bills on a revolving basis.

He has no savings and pays by revolving credit. Since I don’t have a car, I invite a friend to Makuhari every month to take me to a large gear store,” says Yamanishi, who buys a new product every month that will last for 10 years.

We asked Mr. Yamanishi about what solo camping means to him.

When I saw the catalog for the first time, I thought it would look good on Instagram, and if I took a cool picture at the campsite, I could use it as an excuse for a marriage activity app. I didn’t like camping because I didn’t like insects and to tell the truth, there were many inconveniences. But once you have the right tools, it’s not that different from everyday life. It may sound a bit offensive to say this, but I guess it’s a luxury to enjoy nature as one of the winners, a senior citizen.

The ITOMOS Research Institute conducted an online survey (conducted between November 1 and 10, 2021) in the “ITOMOS 10,000 People Survey: Japanese People’s Honest Opinions,” asking men and women aged 20 and older, and men with annual incomes of 10 million yen or more, what they look for in a marriage partner.

In the second place, women tended to prioritize “income” and “face/appearance. For men with annual incomes of 10 million yen or more, “face/appearance” outweighed “good personality,” although by a small margin. It seems that for most Japanese people, having the right personality is an absolute requirement.

We asked Mr. Yamanishi, a bachelor who loves solo camping, what kind of date he would go on if his “solo camping marriage activity” was successful and he ended up going out with a woman.

I’m not sure what the purpose of the question is, but I can only say that the only reason I continue solo camping is because I am fascinated by the world view. In a way, it’s like a religion. I think the more money I spend on it, the closer it gets to perfection. Will she be able to understand that worldview? I think I’ll go camping at least once on a date.”

Mr. Yamanishi says that there is only enough gear for one person. No matter how well our personalities match, I wonder if she won’t be offended if I end up with used, outlet, or rental gear. I had a bad feeling about this.