Japanese motor home is like a time machine to a bubble era Tokyo private bar, on sale now【Photos】

It’s like someone opened a 1980s Ginza lounge in the back of a motor home.

In Japan, a motor home is called a “camping car.” That’s not a translation, either. The in-Japanese vocabulary is literally “kyanpingu kaa.”

You could argue it’s kind of weird to toss out the already-in-English “motor home” just to replace it with a different Japanese-made English term, but it makes a certain kind of sense. Even the larger models of cars sold in Japan tend to be smaller than those in many other markets, so you could say it’s a bit of a stretch to call even the more spacious camping cars a “home.” Plus calling them camping cars leaves enough linguistic wiggle room for the one we’re looking at today, which isn’t so much a drivable residence as it is a mobile bubble era-Japan bar.

The vehicle, a converted Toyota HiAce van that was exhibited at this year’s recent Japan Camping Car Show, already has an eye-catching exterior, with its pink metallic paint, shiny wheels, and fiery graphics. The real show starts, though, when you lift open the rear gate and see this.

Stepping into the van, dubbed the Fusion by its designers at Nagano Prefecture customization company Car Interior Takahashi, feels like stepping back in time to the heady times of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, when the Japanese economy was booming and those riding high on the wave of prosperity had cash to splash in fancy private lounges after clocking out of work.

Naturally there’s a sparkly chandelier providing luxurious illumination, and the walls and sofa seating are covered in wine-red moquette, lustrous to look at and velvety soft to the touch.

Interior pillars between the driver and passenger spaces further create the atmosphere of having ascended the stairs to an exclusive high-rise bar, and the checkboard-pattern flooring looks like something young couples with shoulder-padded fashions might have danced the night away on while listening to the latest city pop chart-toppers.

The galley’s sink and refrigerator, as well as the large central table, have a marble-look surface, also in keeping with aspirational aesthetics of the bubbliest period of the bubble era.

Despite the old-school looks, though, the mechanical bits underneath all that moquette are thoroughly up to date, with proper modern electrical and water systems. The sofa can be reconfigured into a bed that’ll sleep two adults with room to spare, and the Fusion is even equipped with solar panels and a rooftop air conditioning setup.

The big-city opulence is a far cry from the rustic style of many motor homes, which often seek to retain a bit of an outdoorsy vibe even on the inside. That uniqueness just makes the Fusion all the more compelling, though, especially as bubble-era retro pop culture is experiencing a revival in popularity these days.

Unlike many car show displays, the Fusion isn’t a mere concept. They’re actually being offered for sale by Car Interior Takahashi, with the model as-shown priced at 13.2 million yen (around US$87,500), which doesn’t seem like a bad price for a little pocket dimension of the bubble era that you can take wherever you want to.

Related: Car Interior Takahashi website
Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Credit: