What Will Happen? Outdoor. 2021 to 2022 | feature

What's going to happen? Outdoors. 2021 to 2022

Looking back on the past year, I look to the right and to the left and camp. The ever-heated outdoor industry is moving at a dizzying pace day and night, and it is hard to keep up. At the end of the year when we can finally catch our breath, we visited with Hiroaki Kobayashi, one of the industry's foremost experts, to review the year in review and discuss future trends at length. Mr. Kobayashi, who is also a buyer, has a keen eye for new gear that will sprout in 2022.

Photo_Taizo Shukuri

Edit_Yuka Koga

A good realization is what creates awareness.

Do you mean that the people who originally enjoyed it will disappear?

Kobayashi:Well, I think it would be a bad experience for newcomers who want to give it a try. I think the reason why outdoor activities are now becoming a lifestyle rather than a passing thing is because it is a powerful "experience. If you enjoy it properly, the feeling of being outdoors will remain in your memory and lead you to the next and the next. But if the experience is done with tools that don't fit or in a way that is not very enjoyable, I think it will end up going in a negative direction. If people think, "Oh, camping is just like this," they will probably leave.

I see that it is important how you experience it.

Kobayashi:Outdoor saunas are all the rage nowadays, and I was wondering why.... I think the exhilaration of jumping into the river and the freshness of outdoor bathing create an overwhelming experience that is different from ordinary saunas. I think the sauna culture in Scandinavia has become so popular because the people who are introducing it now are knowledgeable people who have had good experiences in their home countries.

I too have never had a good impression of saunas in public bathhouses. They smelled sweaty and the water bath was lukewarm! I was like that. But after properly experiencing sauna outdoors, I finally understood the feeling of the autonomic nervous system being regulated. I thought, "Oh, so this is what they are talking about.