He made it through the afternoon, but what will happen to our Daiso adventurer once night falls?
When we last saw our intrepid reporter Go Hatori, he was part-way through his experiment to see if you can buy everything you need for an overnight camping trip at 100 yen store Daiso. To our frustration, our legal counsel wouldn’t let us actually send Go out into the mountains for this extremely low-budget test (they said something about us being legally responsible if he died, and also that his vengeful spirit might haunt us), so instead he’s camping on his spacious rooftop balcony.
To review the rules, he’s allowed to use his apartment’s toilet, since that’s an amenity you’d find at most campgrounds, and also because Go said if we were going to make him use Daiso’s toilet substitute baggies, his journalistic integrity would compel him to provide thorough photo documentation. He’s also allowed to get water from his kitchen tap, again since a water tap is something you can find at most campsites, but the catch is that he has to use a water bag (which he bought at Daiso) to transport it back to his tent area, just like he would at an actual campsite.
Go set up his camp and cooked lunch without a hitch, but he started to feel a little uneasy as the afternoon went on. The sky was getting cloudy and dark, and he was going to need a way to stay warm.
As is so often the case in life, though, Daiso was ready to take care of him.
Almost everything at Daiso costs just 100 yen (US$0.88), but they do have a couple of premium-priced items too, which were within the limits of what Go could buy for his expedition. Of course, at Daiso even the “premium” items are incredibly affordable, and their 1,000-yen sleeping bag, as Go knew from experience, would keep him nice and toasty.
Creative and industrious guy that he is, Go had brought his laptop along so he could do some work while at his campsite. It was a nice change of pace to be typing alfresco, though he had to admit that his productivity was somewhat hampered by the temptation to just look up at the sky through his Daiso tent’s mesh window and let his mind comfortably wander.
Before long, the sun slipped down below the horizon, and night fell.
With his stomach starting to growl, Go decided to shift gears, shut down his laptop, and start working on getting dinner ready. Since he was running out of atmospheric light to work with, he got out the head-strap LED and battery-powered lantern he’d got at Daiso.
Since he’d already made a pot of curry rice for lunch, tonight’s fare would be the other great comfort food: ramen, purchased from Daiso’s noodle section!
Firing up another block of solid cooking fuel for his trusty mini stove (again, both from Daiso), Go heated up a pot of water and snapped the dried noodles in half to help them better fit inside.
Unfortunately, the wind had started to pick up, and the fire wasn’t strong enough to heat the water up enough to really cook the noodles. The mini stove can actually hold two blocks of cooking fuel, though, if you need more powerful flames, so Go slipped a second one in, and this provided the necessary boost.
▼ It’s ramen time!
In hindsight, Go wishes he’d started with two blocks of fuel, since the extended cooking time meant the noodles had gotten sort of soggy. Still, he had no complaints about their delicious, spicy flavor, and even the unorthodox texture he’d ended up had its own charm, reminding him that he was roughing it.
After dinner, Go retired to his tent, crawling into his sleeping bag and indulging in a little star/fog-gazing.
The solitary stillness put him in a pensive mood, and he thought back to some of the literally hundreds of Daiso products he’s purchased and tested in a professional capacity, such as the respect-inspiring Splat Poo Ball, mysteriously not-a-toy Light Up Poop Stick, hand-powered poo fan, and even a few things that don’t look like piles of crap.
▼ He also might have spotted a UFO, but he’s not sure.
Eventually, drowsiness overtook him, and he slumbered peacefully until the next morning.
Rising shortly after daybreak, Go fired up his stove again.
With the morning light acting like a silent alarm clock, Go was up earlier than normal for him, and not quite ready for breakfast just yet. What he was in the mood for, though, was the remaining stick of powdered hot cocoa mix he had left over from the pack he’d bought at Daiso.
Sure, he was sort of rewarding himself right at the start of the day, but celebrations were definitely in order, since he’d done it! He’d put together a full Daiso overnight camping supply bundle!
And with that, all that was left to do was break camp, pack up his stuff, and head back to civilization.
Now, we should point out that Go’s experiment took place before winter weather conditions set in, so if you’re planning to commune with nature over the next few months, some higher-spec gear would be a wise choice.
Still, in a pinch, and with moderate weather, Go found that he really can get all that he needs to go camping at Daiso.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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