[This one is long and represents a special moment to me.]
After setting out from Awaji Island, I had quite a long and windy drive to arrive at the Nagisaen Campground (https://maps.app.goo.gl/69vMYRcDJ5H9qH28A) and wow what a different experience from the first. The site was huge, offered many different ways of camping and very well maintained to boot! Biggest problem for me was the Japanese Summer, it was around 1pm when I arrived and temperatures where reaching 38C in the sun. It took me about 2 hours to set up the tent and everything, I had to continuously lie down after hammering in a peg to not pass out from heat stroke and drink tons of water. It did not help that I had a lot of issues with the pegs and this ground. You see, this tent came with cheap little aluminum pegs and the ground was surprisingly hard, I bent a few of them and they refused to penetrate the ground.

Thankfully there was also a shop with some camping supplies on the site. This was all new to me, I didn’t even realize different peg styles existed. I talked to the clerk and had them recommend me pegs that are sturdy and would last me. I bought 8 heavy duty steel nail pegs and they’ve been my go to ever since. After a bit more struggle with the heat and my new pegs, I finally nailed everything down (it was very windy that day, so I was relieved when it was all done. You can probably tell from the picture I might have tightened my guy lines a bit too much hehe.

Anyway I teased last post that it was this one that made me fall in love with it, so what happened? Well as the sun set slowly, I got a bit loose with my drinking, I chatted up the staff as we watched the sunset together, there was also another foreigner there who joined in. IIRC he was doing a bicycle trip across Japan and happened to camp here today too. I don’t get to speak Japanese much, but the alcohol really helps loosen me up and it felt great making this random connection.

But that wasn’t all, when I settled back in my chair I noticed the moon rise close to where the sun set and something else, a star close by with it.

It made me think…really think and something snapped inside me and I started crying. I’ve been in Japan for almost 9 years but I could not remember the last time I looked up at the sky and see stars. I’ve been grinding grinding grinding, myself, my sanity, my job and things have been going faster and faster and faster, especially after Covid, ESPECIALLY nowadays with the direction tech is going… I never took the time to stop and look at the sky. This is the moment a flip switched inside me. I need to take this time. I need to make the decision and take that time, else I lose myself in the endless brainrot of current existence. I want to stop and look. Look at the scenery, look at the sky. I want to see stars. And I want to use camping to pause and disconnect, even if for just a day. I also set an explicit goal: I want to see a clear sky with a sea of stars, surely there is a campsite somewhere in Japan that is far enough from light pollution to experience that. I want to find that site and experience it!

With the profound part out of the way, there is also something silly to all this. Being all emotional and setting these goals, my mind drifted and wanted to know, what is THIS star I am looking at? Why is it so clearly visible despite being in the middle of a city and so close to sunset? I did some research and… it’s not a star, lmao. This is just fucking Venus! The sun just set in that direction and it was just reflecting a shit ton of light back and appear as a “star”. I felt a bit silly crying over a star that turned out to be a fake, but thats life too, isn’t it? As it became proper dark I managed to catch some true stars faintly in the sky, able to chuckle about what happened. Anyway, after more chatting and drinking with the staff and the other guy, I bought some Yuru Camp merch (maybe this is a campsite showcased in the anime?) and eventually passed out. It was easier this night, probably due to the alcohol, but also because the wind moved air quite a bit inside the tent, so it was less torturous in terms of humidity.

Next day came, I could still feel some alcohol at sunrise, so I took it slow with packdown, read a bit more of my book and by the time checkout time approached I felt fine enough to hit the road. Going into Tokyo is always hell as highways are congested and on the final leg of the journey, me, my tent and all my gear got completely drenched in a local massive rainshower over Tokyo. Not fun, but hey, I have gear to dry and my next trip to plan! After all, I shared the above story about the star on a work social slack channel and a coworker also into bike camping called my setup “bare bones basic” and that means I gotta get more gear and convince him otherwise, right?! I do have a silly competitive streak to me that can drive me sometimes. The next posts you will see that streak drive me to more and more ridiculous setups, so stay tuned for next time.

Bonus Pics: