Have you ever thought, "I want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and spend time in nature"? This time, I'll share the story of how I, a café owner in the city, became captivated by camping and discovered my own unique camping style.
In my busy days, I seek solace.
My name is Tsukui, and I am the representative. This program aims to provide various information not only for those who want to go camping for the first time, but also for those who love camping. I run a cafe in Shimokitazawa with the concept of "a space that makes you think of a campsite even though it's in the city."
My first encounter with camping was in 2020 or 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was incredibly busy working. At the time, I was working remotely, of course, and I was at home from morning till night, but I was constantly in online meetings, to the point where I didn't even have time to go to the bathroom. I was working from home all the time, and the only time I went out was to pop into a convenience store at night after dark.
At that time, as a way to relieve stress, I used to enjoy going out for drinks, but there was a social trend at the time to stop serving alcohol after 8 pm, so it wasn't really an environment where I could do that. So, after work, I would buy a highball at a convenience store, drink it, and watch camping videos on YouTube to relieve work stress. That's the kind of life I was living, and I vaguely thought that I wanted to go camping someday, and that was really the very first trigger.
I've always dreamed of camping, but I'm also full of anxieties.
From there, there are tons of camping channels by YouTubers I really love, and to name a few, back then I loved Teru-san TV, a YouTuber who mainly does car camping and things like that, and Izu no Nushi Tsuri, who is still active today, and I watched their videos all the time and wanted to go but I didn't know where to start, and I wanted to go by myself, but then I was worried that if I went alone I wouldn't have anyone to ask if I had any questions, so those kinds of thoughts kept swirling around in my head and I just couldn't take the plunge.
I decided to take the plunge and go to Okutama alone.
But one day, on my day off, I felt that if I didn't do anything, this stress would just keep building up, so I went out and bought some camping gear. And also a cup for drinking beverages by the door. I chose them myself and bought them. I came back feeling satisfied, and then on my next day off, I packed the camping gear and coffee into my usual backpack and headed straight to Okutama.
So, I found a nice spot, ground some coffee beans, boiled some water, heated a kettle, ground the beans myself with a coffee grinder, made my own drip coffee, and drank it while looking at the mountains of Okutama. I just did that and came back, and that's what I would call my very first camping experience. I think so, and if I were to call it camping, that was my very first experience with camping.
Enjoying blissful coffee in nature
I suppose there are a few green spaces and parks, but the atmosphere you get there is something you just can't experience there. The smell of the mountains, the birds you can see in the distance, the bird calls you've never heard in the city—experiencing all of that while drinking drip coffee that you've carefully brewed yourself gave me a feeling that something really complicated inside me was unraveling, and that's when I first thought, "Camping is really great."
Experience camping in the city
I really want everyone to experience that same thing, and as I mentioned at the beginning, I run a cafe called The Camping Lounge Waiter You in Shimokitazawa, and we have a menu item called Camp Drip Coffee. We provide the exact same equipment as the experience I described earlier, so customers can grind their own coffee beans and brew it themselves. What's more, all the seats in our cafe are camping chairs, so we want people to feel a little closer to camping in the middle of the city of Shimokitazawa, and that experience has become part of our coffee menu.
So, I think there are many people who want to try camping but don't know where to start, and I think it's a good idea to just give it a try.
This is our first episode, but we'd like to make this a regular program where we talk about various things, such as how to get started with camping, what we think you should do, and stories from recent camping trips. So please look forward to it. See you next time!
