If you watch Laid-Back Camp (Yuru Camp△), you know the rhythm: Rin packs up her little scooter, rides out alone to a quiet lakeside or mountain pass, and sets up camp with the winter air all to herself. The solo motorbike trip is as central to the show's mood as the campfires.
What a lot of international fans don't know is that this "moped journey" spirit is a deliberate nod to a real Japanese TV show — one that's a genuine cult phenomenon in Japan: Suiyo Doudeshou (水曜どうでしょう, roughly "How's it Going, Wednesday?").
What is Suiyo Doudeshou?
It started on October 9, 1996 as a tiny late-night program on HTB, a local TV station in Hokkaido. The premise was almost absurdly cheap: four guys go on grueling, low-budget trips and film themselves suffering through them.
The cast became legends:
- Yo Oizumi (大泉洋) — then a 23-year-old college student, now one of Japan's most famous actors. The show launched his career.
- Takayuki Suzui (鈴井貴之) — the older "straight man" and theater veteran.
- Tadahisa Fujimura and Masamichi Ureshino — the two directors, who don't stay behind the camera; their banter is half the show.
What began as a regional Hokkaido oddity grew into a national obsession, with DVDs that sell out and a fanbase that has kept it alive for 30 years.
The "moped journeys" (原付の旅)
Among the show's most beloved projects are the genbiki no tabi — the moped/Super Cub journeys, where the cast crosses enormous distances on tiny underpowered scooters. Over the years they conquered:
- East Japan (Tokyo to Sapporo)
- West Japan (Kyoto to Kagoshima)
- Vietnam (a full north-to-south crossing)
- The Japanese archipelago (Tokyo to Kochi)
Long days, sore backs, terrible weather, and a tiny engine straining up every hill — the genbiki no tabi turned the humble scooter into a symbol of the show itself.
The connection in Laid-Back Camp
Here's where it gets fun. In Laid-Back Camp, this isn't just a vibe — it's written into the story. Sakura, Nadeshiko's older sister, is canonically a die-hard fan of Suiyo Doudeshou's moped journeys. She owns the entire DVD collection — East Japan, West Japan, the overseas editions — and the reason she even has a scooter license traces back to that fandom.
It's a small detail, but it's a wink straight at Japanese viewers who immediately recognize the reference. And it's not an accident: the author of Yuru Camp△, Afro, is himself a known fan of the show.
The official crossover
The two camps eventually met for real — and not just in spirit. In Laid-Back Camp△ Season 2 (2021), both Suiyo Doudeshou directors, Tadahisa Fujimura and Masamichi Ureshino, made guest voice appearances across episodes 5 and 6. Fujimura voiced a liquor-store owner from Izu who — while out flying a radio-controlled seaplane at Lake Yamanaka — helps a nearly-stranded trio of the girls (Chiaki, Aoi and Ena). Having the real directors literally voice characters who rescue the cast is about as affectionate as a tribute gets.
It went further still. On April 2, 2021, an official collaboration music video was released — pairing highlights from Season 2 with Suiyo Doudeshou's iconic theme song, "1/6 no Yume Tabibito 2002" (1/6の夢旅人2002).
For a quiet camping anime and a chaotic travel-variety show to officially join hands — on screen and in the recording booth — says a lot about how deeply the influence runs.
Why it's worth knowing
It deepens what Laid-Back Camp is doing. The show is, at heart, about the joy of going somewhere small and far on your own — the exact spirit Suiyo Doudeshou turned into an art form on two underpowered wheels. Rin's scooter isn't just transport; it's part of a lineage.
So if the solo touring scenes are your favorite part of Yuru Camp△, you now know where that DNA comes from. And if you ever get the chance to watch Suiyo Doudeshou with subtitles — do it.
Looking for your next cozy watch? See where Laid-Back Camp lands on our all-time rankings, or browse more hidden gems.
Sources: Yuru Camp scooter route + Suiyo Doudeshou notes, Yuru Camp (Japanese Wikipedia), Suiyo Doudeshou (Japanese Wikipedia), Suiyo Doudeshou 30th Anniversary (HTB), Official: Yuru Camp△ S2 director guest voices