Most tourists who visit Japan want to spend at least one night in a traditional Japanese hotel and eat at a traditional Japanese restaurant to enjoy authentic surroundings. Tatami-matted rooms, sliding doors and lamps made with delicate Japanese paper, panels beautifully decorated with traditional motifs such as Mount Fuji, decorative woodwork accents, low tables with sunken floors to rest your feet, and futon to sleep on. These are some of the things which create the charm of a Japanese hotel.

As much as you'd love to stay at a Japanese hotel whenever you please, they can be expensive, and in popular tourist areas, they are often booked and unavailable.

But what if you could own your very own traditional Japanese "hotel" and take it with you wherever you go? Now, this dream is possible, thanks to an amazing customized motorhome created by Nippon Tokushu Body Ltd.

On display through Sunday, February 4th at the Japan Camping Car Show in Makuhari Messe, this special version Sinobi (pronounced "shinobi") in their Asakaze line is based on an Isuzu Be-cam 2t Wide motorhome. A true labor of love, it was designed by NTB chairman Toshio Eda specifically with foreign customers in mind. Sensing an opportunity in the confluence between glamping and foreign visitors' keen interest in Japanese culture, Mr. Eda built this Japanese inn on wheels.

To live up to its name (which also can mean "ninja"), he had it painted an elegant black. Indeed it strikes a handsome figure:

When you open the door, you'll already notice the first hint of what awaits for you inside. The step panel is decorated with a design inspired by kumiko, a traditional woodworking technique used to create intricate designs from the wood of tall, slender Japanese cyprus trees.

Remove your shoes, take two steps, enter the room and lower the entrance floorboard panel to close the space. If you're facing the cabin, this is what you'll see:

Now turn around, and look at the other side:

It's really hard to believe you're inside a vehicle!

But it only gets better. Remove the tatami mat in the center, make a few maneuvers, and a table with a sunken platform appears! In winter, you can easily convert it into a kotatsu

The room is elegantly illuminated by a square lamp made of washi paper

The roof is decorated with beautiful wooden panels that were inspired by the roof panels of the Seven Stars Cruise Train in Kyushu.

OK, so you have your tatami-matted room and you're snug inside your kotatsu. That's a traditional Japanese home or hotel room. What's missing? Watching TV! Fortunately, you have one at the perfect viewing angle from the table:

What else is missing? Obviously, something to eat. How about a nice Japanese hotpot stew? You can take care of that at the handy kitchenette. Your ingredients are kept fresh in the full-featured refrigerator, you have a gas-canister heating range, a sink with a faucet, even a microwave oven.

Three people can sleep comfortably in the room and a fourth can sleep in the over-cabin deck (Japanese parasol not included)

The Sinobi has full air-conditioning, a television, LED lighting, and a microwave, so it needs battery power to keep things running smoothly. That's not a problem with four 12V 190 Amp batteries and four 12V 100 Amp batteries. There's enough power to have the air-conditioning or heat running and the engine off for three nights and four days, which means you can enjoy your traditional Japanese hotel-like experience without making any noise or pollution when you're camping in the pristine natural surroundings in the Japanese countryside.

Mr. Eda explains that he is seriously considering making this special edition Sinobi available for rent to foreign tourists, probably at his camping ground in Ibaraki Prefecture, Moriya Base, which sounds like a wonderful idea!

If you're in Japan now, you can see the Sinobi for yourself at booth 3A-3 at the Japan Camping Car Show

If you're living in Japan and would like to purchase a Shinobi, you can visit Nippon Tokushu Body's website here, and contact them at the following e-mail address or by telephone:

E-mail: ntbcamp@gmail.com / Tel: 048-970-1370

(Please note that it takes about a year from first contact to delivery because each one is customized to the client's needs)