Japanese Camping Gear: Which Brands to Order, and What to Check on Used Gear?
Plenty of tents, stoves and camp chairs from Japanese brands never reach Thailand, and the used market is deep. You just need to know where an old tent fails, and which items cannot ship home at all.
A lot of the tents and camp chairs in Japanese camping videos are not sold in Thailand, or only in a colour you did not want. Most Japanese shops only deliver inside Japan, so someone there has to place the order and send it on.
A used tent usually fails somewhere the photos do not show, and some things in this category cannot ship to Thailand at all, gas and fuel above all.
The Japanese camping brands Thai campers look for, and the hard-to-find limited runs
Snow Peak, Coleman Japan, DOD, Captain Stag and mont-bell each run their own online store in Japan. Links to all of them are in the camping category of our Japanese shop directory.
The hardest things to find here are the limited runs. Snow Peak holds Sepposai twice a year, in spring and autumn, and releases special-edition items around it. Coleman marks 50 years in Japan in 2026 with its 50 Limited series: special colours carrying an anniversary logo.
Once those sell out of the shops, the second-hand market is the only place left.
Where used Japanese camping gear comes from
Japan's big second-hand chains run dedicated outdoor stores. Treasure Factory has Trefac Sports, and the HARD OFF group has Off House Outdoor & Sports. Chain stores like these grade the condition themselves before an item goes on sale.
The other route is Mercari and Yahoo Auction, where the sellers are ordinary people. There is more stock and room to negotiate, but what you get depends on how carefully the seller described it. How a shop's grade reads differently from a private seller's description is covered in our guide to reading S, A, B, C grades.
On a used tent, the seams and the waterproof coating go first
The seam tape inside a tent wears out before the fabric does. After two or three years of use it turns white, loses its grip and lifts off the fabric, and wherever it lifts is where the rain gets in. Ask for photos of the inside along the roof seams first; most sellers only shoot the outside once it is pitched.
The second thing is polyurethane-coated fabric. Stored damp for long enough, the coating breaks down: the fabric sticks to itself, goes chalky white, sheds the coating in flakes and smells. If the seller describes the fabric as sticky or the coating as breaking down, treat the tent as no longer waterproof. The description is in Japanese, so send the link to an admin on LINE to read it before you order.
For the poles, ask whether any section is bent or cracked and whether the shock cord still pulls the sections together. Then read the list of what is included: some listings are the fabric only, with no poles and no pegs.
A musty smell and mould spots are two things photos never show. You have to ask.
Gas and liquid fuel cannot ship to Thailand
Gas canisters, OD and CB alike, and white gas lantern fuel fall under pressurised gas and flammables on the 11-item list of what cannot ship to Thailand. Insect repellent and tent waterproofing sprays are aerosol cans, so they fall under the same entry.
Stoves and lanterns themselves can be ordered; buy the gas in Thailand. For a used liquid-fuel lantern or stove that may still have fuel in the tank, send the link to an admin before you order.
Tents, tables and chairs: plan the trip home first
Shipping to Thailand is charged on actual weight after packing. In this category the item that pushes the total up is usually metal rather than a big tent: cast-iron stoves, Dutch ovens, grills and steel-framed tables are not large but they are heavy. By air, anything with a side over 100 cm is charged at a higher rate, and many tent bags and tarp poles are longer than that.
Air freight takes items whose longest side is no more than 150 cm. Check the length on the listing for long one-piece tarp poles and cots that do not fold. Compare sea and air on our shipping page.
Frequently asked questions
Read next
- Prohibited Items from Japan: What Are the 11, and Can Your Order Still Ship?The 11 items Tama-Chan cannot ship back to Thailand, straight from the company's own notice — from alcohol, e-cigarettes and car batteries to powdered and bottled green tea.
- Japanese Second-Hand Condition Grades: What Do S, A, B and C Mean, and Can You Trust Them?The letters have no industry standard — one shop's B is another shop's C. Read them as shorthand for that one shop, and tell a graded verdict apart from a seller's opinion.
- The full Japanese shop directoryEvery Japanese store Tama-Chan can buy from and ship home, grouped by what you are looking for
- Second-Hand Japanese Fishing Gear: Which Reels and Rods Are Worth Buying, and What Should I Check First?Plenty of the reels and rods Thai anglers hunt for are sold only in Japan, and the used ones there have been looked after. The rest comes down to reading the listing properly.
Related keywords
- Japanese camping gear
- used Japanese camping gear
- Japanese tents
Found the tent or stove you want?
Sign up and order camping gear from Japanese stores through Tama-Chan, or talk to an admin on LINE.