Nimen Hao， Ladies and gentlemen．
First of all I would like to express my deepest thank to The Camping Association of the Republic of China for organizing this very meaningful symposium titled “2014 Asia Pacific Camping, Caravanning and Autocaravanning International Forum in Taiwan”.
Also many thanks to The Aletheia University for its totally supporting the forum. I see many students of The Aletheia University as audience in this hall. The word “Aletheia” comes from an ancient Greek word "ἀλήθεια" which means the truth. Since you are the students of The Aletheia University, you must love the truth. Finally after the symposium you will find the truth what the camping and caravanning really is, so I hope.
However I’m afraid you might be already confused because a lot of confusable terms were heard during this forum such as camping, autocamping, caravanning or motorcaravanning. So before starting my presentation I would like to explain the key concepts.
“Camping” means in principle a tent camping. People carry a tent and other camping equipment in a vehicle to a campground. “Caravanning” is touring by means of a caravan or travel trailer towed by a vehicle. “Motorcaravanning ” is touring by means of a self-propelled caravan or motorhome. In Japan, we include all these types in a term of “autocamping” because they had been all established in Europe when the autocamping started in Japan in 1960’s. So I will use the term of “autocamping” in my presentation which means camping, caravanning and motorcaravanning bundled together .
Now I would like to review the history of the autocamping in Japan by showing some historical pictures. It would be interesting to compare with the history of Taiwan because some points may be common while the other points may be deferent.
About 10years after the World War II, Japan entered an age of high economic growth and kept an average GDP growth rate of higher than 10% for over a decade. Such a huge economic growth had no precedent in the history of the world, so it was called the Japanese miracle of economy
Ezra Vogel, an American writer, wrote in his book titled ”Japan As No.1”: By 1952 when the Allied Occupation ended, Japan’s GDP was little more than one-third that of France or the United Kingdom. By the late 1970s the Japanese GDP was as large as The United Kingdom's and France's combined .
This high economic growth generated increased disposable income and more free time for working people. The growing use of personal cars and the construction of highways made it easier to travel by car everywhere they want. These drastic changes in society paved the way for the birth of autocamping. Against this background, the Japan Autocamping Federation, JAC for short was established in 1969.
During this period, the 1st leisure tent was developed in 1961 by Ogawa and the 1st autocamping ground was built in 1966 as the slide shows.
In the 1970s the rapid economic growth ended due to the dollar shock, oil crisis, and sharp appreciation of the yen. The economic growth rate drastically slowed down and an average GDP growth rate fell to around 4%. However these economically disadvantageous situations were not negative for autocamping at all, quite the contrary in fact. Because working hours were shortened due to the elimination of overwork time and so consequently leisure time increased. People valued leisure more than work and think of their family more than their company. Thus people preferred to spend time with their family outdoors.
During this period, in 1970 the JAC was accepted in FICC, first case in the Asian region. JAC held the first camping show in Japan in 1970 and the first Japan Autocamping Rally was held in 1971.
By the way The Camping Association of the Republic of China was established in 1975. Since then we have maintained a deep friendship between Japanese and Taiwanese campers which is great pleasure for me.
In the 1980s the economy stabilized and maintained an average GDP growth rate of 5 %. The working hours continued to get shorter. There was a shift from money-consumed leisure such as luxurious hotel touring to time-consumed leisure such as camping and caravanning. People’s awareness of health and environment also grew. With these changes, autocamping became even more popular. The autocamper population doubled from 4 million in 1984 to 8 million in 1989 just within five years.
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During this period, "Camper News" was issued by JAC in 1980 and F.I.C.C. Rally was held in 1983 for the first time in Asia.
In the first half of the 1990's a so-called "Bubble Economy" brought a huge autocamping boom in Japan, with the autocamper population reaching 15 million. Local and central governments started to build campgrounds. As the result high-standard public campsites appeared around the country. Even a supermarket sold camping products, resulting in the sales volume of camping equipment reaching total 7.6 billion yen. The number of registered RV, recreational vehicle, reached 300,000 units. Various outdoor-related magazines were published and furthermore information became available through the Internet which made the autocamping accessible to everybody.
During this period the 55th FICC rally was held in, Shimane prefecture for the second time in Japan and the 3rd FICC Asia-Pacific Rally was held in Gunma prefecture.
In the second half of the 1990’s, with the collapse of the bubble economy and the consequent economic stagnation the autocamping boom came to an end. The autocamper population decreased significantly as well as the sales volume of camping equipment. The management of campgrounds generally suffered a deficit. Having experienced the bubble economy and its collapse people started to value the richness of the spirit richness in mind more than materially rich life. They began pursuing leisure activities as a means of self-realization.
And moving into the 21st century, the camper population has stabilized at around 8 million. Each year, about 400,000 families in their 30's and 40's with kids join the auto camping. In addition a growing number of couples who have finished raising children, so-called “senior campers” go camping by themselves. So the autocamping is practiced from the childhood over young family generation up to seniors.
For these reasons we could say that the autocamping in Japan has moved from a growth phase to a mature phase. Now in Japan, the autocamping is considered as part of daily life and as a life style, rather than a momentary form of leisure. Today the autocamping is generally recognized as a national pastime in Japan.
Now, we are coming to the last slide. Last October the 16th FICC Asia-Pacific Rally was held in Okinawa organized by Japan Autocamping Federation. The rally was joined by six countries, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Portugal and Finland.
Especially from Taiwan there was a big delegation of no less than eighty persons sent by two Taiwanese organizations, The Camping Association of the Republic of China and Formosa Camping & Caravanning Club. Over the rally all the participants deepened a friendship in a cheerful and peaceful camping atmosphere.
Okinawa is beautiful islands and located very close to Taiwan. From the prefectural capital Naha to Taipei is just 630km, while from Naha to Tokyo 1500km. It is not so far from mainland China, too. So these beautiful islands could be a symbol of peace and friendship among Japan, Taiwan and China. But unfortunately the reality is quite the opposite. In fact there are some territorial tensions over one of Okinawa Islands as you know well.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the great history of FICC. Since the end of the Second World War FICC international rallies have been held every year, even during the Cold War, sometimes on this side of the iron curtain, sometimes on the other side of the border. Each time people came together under the flag of FICC, just as today.
This is clear evidence that the camping is peaceful activity and has power to get people together. And this pepopl getting -together is exactly what the word “Rally” means. So let’s make sure again that we will continue to hold the rallies for our peaceful future in the Asia-Pacific region. I firmly believe it is our mission to contribute to the cause of world peace and friendship through our common hobby that is camping
Thank you for your attention. xie xie da jia
October 2014 (Asia Pacific Camping, Caravanning and Autocaravanning International Forum,Tamsui, Taiwan)