It is now 2:43 A.M., and I'm popping a squat next to a bunch of vending machines right by the Olympic stadium in Tokyo.
Lesson 1: Check the weather before sleeping on top of a statue.
I climbed up a statue base to sleep tonight, for sentimental value (I used to bring salad and eat it on top during COVID all the time). I opened my yoga mat, got my sleeping bag out, and was ready to sleep. Then I felt a drop, then two. I decided to check the weather, and it turns out it will be raining all night. I figured I would just open my sleeping bag and use it as a blanket to shield me and my bags from the rain. I woke up around midnight to find the sleeping bag soaked and, in turn, me being soaked. So, I figured I would get down from the statue and find some covering.
Lesson 2: Bring all belongings down before jumping off the statue.
Since I had my yoga mat and sleeping bag out of the bag, I figured I would make two trips down. I got down with the first set of my belongings, then tried to go up again to grab the rest of my stuff, only to find out that the rocks got really wet and slippery. I was no longer able to get up. Ideally, I don’t want to have half of my life packed and stuck on top of a statue. Eventually, I got creative and brought a traffic cone to step on. I definitely could have prevented this. Not sure which I’m better at, problem-solving or problem-creating.
Lesson 3: Rain will penetrate through the leaves of trees if strong enough.
I couldn’t really find a roof, so I settled on sleeping under a tree. It was not so bad except for occasional drops on the forehead. But eventually, as the rain picked up, it went from occasional to often to constant drops on my forehead, body, and legs—my whole body. So when it rains, find somewhere with a man-made roof.
Afterwards
This is certainly not sustainable, but I’m glad I got to experience this on the first night. These are some valuable lessons I learned tonight, and I can only get drier from here. Honestly, I thrive in challenging situations; it makes me smile. There is humor in all of this. Going from a rich family with an elite education to doing jumping jacks in the rain to keep myself warm with no house. I could have easily gotten some jobs with suits and ties if I wanted to, but the only thing that swayed me a little bit was that some of those places give you free kombucha. But I know that wasn’t my calling. Deep down, I’ve always wanted to become a Pokémon trainer. Unfortunately, there are no Pokémon in real life, so I guess I am a Pokémonless Pokémon trainer, which is just a boy with a backpack, exploring the world and engaging in whatever the universe brings. And I don’t even think kombucha is that healthy for you anyway; the benefits of probiotics are probably outweighed by the spike in blood sugar.