Japan Trip, July 2009

The Des Plaines Valley Council has participated in a friendship program with the Scout Association of Japan for many years. As part of that program, our Scouts have visited Japan to participate in their Scouting programs; and, Japanese Scouts have visited here. This is the report from our Scouts about their visit to Japan in July 2009. It is an amalgam of reports from several participants.

Departure: 7/16/2009...or 7/17/2009 depending on which side of the international date line you're on...

The plane ride was as eventful as one would expect a thirteen hour trip to be--meaning, of course, approximately ninety percent of it was spent infringing on one's neighbors' personal bubble in a futile attempt to sleep, or fiddling with the in-seat movie selection. I personally spent my time establishing a mobile command center using the live flight progress screen, snapping the occasional picture of our friendly maple-loving neighbors to the north and the Russian coastline through my hard-fought window. Others I know spent their time marathoning the Matrix trilogy...repeatedly.

Home Stay Day 2: 7/18/09

Some general observations: 1) things made in Japan cost more in Japan, 2) there's a lack of soap because you're not supposed to touch anything, 3) Japanese bathrooms are so technologically advanced in an attempt to make things simple that they're more complicated, and 4) Japanese doves sound like toads.

Today our home stay family took us to Kawagoe, a town known to Westerners as "Old Edo" because of its traditional buildings and temples. There, they demonstrated the proper way to make a Shinto prayer. At each temple we visited, they had us toss a small monetary offering into a box, pray briefly before an idol/symbol of some sort, then ring a bell in order to draw the gods' attention to our presence. A majority of the temples had shrines to Inari, a shape shifting rice god who had kitsune (foxes) as his messengers--I presume this an homage to the history of the region. Later, we visited a museum of the Kawagoe Matsuri, a local festival featuring hand-carved wooden floats, musicians, and dancers dressed as demons and gods. We filled out a quick survey for a student volunteer from Tokyo University about the English amenities in Kawagoe, then went to lunch at a traditional restaurant where I discovered that Japanese sweet potato juice tastes like fruit punch.  (See pictures from 7/16 through 7/18)

Seikoji Temple: 7/20/09

We’ve experienced many technical problems with phones and internet, so I apologize in the delay of contact. Everyone has enjoyed the first few days with their host families immensely, from electronic city in Akihabara to Gundam in Odaiba to troop camping far outside the city. Today we left our host families and visited Seikoji Temple and participated in a traditional tea ceremony. The crew learned how to prepare and receive the Japanese tea with the help from wonderful Japanese Cub Scouts! I happened to have an linen postcard of Wrigley Field and decided to give it to the smallest of the group. He insisted that the entire group sign it. After hearing them sing with their Cub Scout Leaders, we had photos taken. K.C. Hara laughed as we piled 21 cameras for a group photo. He is very good at taking pictures now.

After Seikoji we walked to Asakusa and ate lunch. The scouts were very grateful to receive vouchers for McDonald’s as they’d had enough Japanese food for the first few days. K.C. Hara and the other two leaders took Gary, Craig and I for Japanese lunch. The tampura was excellent! After lunch we had an exclusive tour of Sensoji Temple, enjoyed various artwork that had been donated to the Shrine. Tours are very rare at Sensoji, so the Japanese garden was exceptionally peaceful. The crew wrapped up some shopping, swords, candy, fans, etc. and we departed Tokyo for Camp Yamanaka. The drive was beautiful and camera batteries were depleted before we even arrived.

We were able to see the lake before nightfall and we walked to our campsite, many of us expressing it was nice to get some exercise for Mt. Fuji at the end of the week. Tomorrow we are going to Fujikye Highland, and hopefully I’ll be able to send yet another exciting update. (See pictures from 7/19 through 7/20)

Camp Yamanaka Day 2: 7/21/09

This morning started beautifully with our first traditional flag ceremony. We've been joined by four Taiwanese Scouts as well as our Japanese Troops. Highlight of the day: Fujiyama. Not the mountain like one might think (it's a bit too foggy to see much of anything), but the rollercoaster at Fujikyu Highland. I found it astounding that I didn't know Fujiyama was (once) the tallest single drop rollercoaster in the world until I was half way through the line for it. The mascots of Fujikyu were like some PowerRangers rip-off, but man did watching them on the flat screens help pass the time. Everyone was counting meters as the coaster climbed the track (260 feet converted). Our two bigger groups dwindled into smaller patrols as everyone favored different rides. The Rich W.'s stayed away from the large coaster, and particularly enjoyed the Tea Cups ride :). The Park was experiencing slight difficulty, and a couple rides were closed down, but everyone had fun regardless. You should ask the crew about the Haunted Hospital, it was a treat.

On the way home, we all finally saw our first glimpse of the base of Mt. Fuji. While we haven't experienced much rain, there has been quite a bit of cloud coverage. When we arrived we were welcomed by the Japanese scouts for the first time. They introduced an icebreaker game of Japanese Pictionary with Kanji, which everyone loved! Anything for a little competition.

For dinner, we said an American Grace, followed by the traditional Japanese, "itadakimasu," finally perfected for tonight with a little practice. Immediately following dinner, Camp Yamanaka had its opening ceremony campfire. We heard from all three leaders (Japan, USA, Taiwan) followed by the Japanese SPL and Mike Castillo, and enjoyed songs from each group. The Japanese taught us their cockroach song and dance (with heavy scout participation), John Anderson and Rich Wegner led everyone in Purple Stew (Everybody was participating), and the Taiwanese taught us their Chicken song (I have video footage of everything. The evening ended on a very pleasant note. I think the magic of the campfire has done its work in bringing everybody together.

Camp Yamanaka Day 3: 7/22/09

Cold in Japan is apparently the equivalent of a mild Chicago autumn, wherein the swimmers are still swimming and the girls are still out getting fake tans. Granted, the cold was forty-something feet beneath the surface in an ice cave, ironically, formed from volcanic rock.

This morning, we couldn't stop talking about last night. After dinner the Japanese Scouts pulled out two Anime shows, one including Gundam (the famous Japanese Robot), and everyone stayed up late playing games and making friends. This morning we had a traditional American breakfast. The crew loved it, especially the orange juice. We left camp at 9:00 for the Sea of Trees and ice caving. Before we arrived to the National Park we had a rest stop, and filled our water bottles with the famous spring water. Upon arrival, we equipped ourselves with sack lunches, flavored amino water, and yellow hard hats. Fuji-san was still hiding behind heavy cloud coverage.

The newest additions to our Camp are Mike and Steve. Mike is a native Californian who has been living in Japan for a number of years, fluent in both languages. Let's just say that communication has been extremely easy today. Steve is his eight year old son (born in Japan with dual citizenship), "Rabbit" rank in Cub Scouts, and proud mascot/member of the Gorillas patrol and proud of it, and as Craig told him, "you're bringing in quite a haul." Every hour he's been given a new patch or gift, slowly filling his backpack, including a Japan Crew 050 Hat from the Crew President.

So when the patrols departed one by one (they spaced everybody apart by five + minutes to provide a quieter setting for each group), Mike stayed behind with the leader group as Steve proudly walked with the Gorillas. (Rumor has it that they'd like him to help with the flag ceremony tomorrow).

The Sea of Trees is so peaceful, and the light forest drizzle only added to everyone's amazement with the National Park. As the group of leaders neared the end, we could hear the group singing, "Here we sit like birds in the wilderness waiting to eat our food."

Once we got to the caves and descended, there was a thirty degree temperature change long before we even entered the cave. Once inside, everyone was "ice skating," it was quite the experience. Upon exiting Rand H. asked K.C. Hara why the cave was so cold, to which K.C.'s response was, "you should ask Fuji-san."

A quick ride home and the scouts ran to showers before flag retirement and then dinner. The Japanese Scouts enjoyed the Superman Grace tonight. Now we know we'll need to do that one again. (See pictures from 7/22)

Camp Yamanaka Day 4: 7/23/09

Today we started at Lake Yamanaka! I have burns on the backs of my legs to prove it! The Lake looked absolutely beautiful, it started out sunny and everyone watched in awe as a low cloud of mist and fogs rolled in and over the Lake. The five patrols worked very hard building their drum rafts. It was very interesting to see which scouts actually knew their knots and lashings. The first patrol who finished building their raft was the Wombats . After lunch, the patrols ran into the water. The first patrol reaching the opposite shore was Epic Flail in only 50 minutes. The Gorillas had the most beautiful raft. Da Bears (or Ichi-Ban "Number One") came in fourth, despite John A.'s attempt jumping in mid Lake to kick behind the raft. The crew was extremely tired coming back as they walked back around the entire lake and back up the hill to Camp (all in good preparation for tomorrow, of course). Tonight we had a preparation meeting, so we're all praying that everyone shows up prepared at inspection in the morning. I won't be emailing tomorrow as we will hopefully be nearing the Summit of Mt. Fuji!!! (See pictures from 7/24)

Mt. Fuji: 7/25/09

Well we just got back from Mt. Fuji. I'm happy to say that all three leaders made it to the summit (We were the first ones through the gate), and all of the youth made it to stage 8. Unfortunately, half of the youth woke up with altitude sickness (most of them started hiking anyway, but after a couple hundred meters, the Japanese Guides made them turn around and go back down. We were extremely worried about weather, but we were able to experience the perfect variety. While climbing it was mostly sunny until we had 400 m to stage 8. And this morning at sunrise, we had a scare with a cloud of fog that descended upon the mountain, but it cleared at the precise moment. Even though some of the scouts weren't able to make it to the summit, they still all hiked 1200 m to stage 8 and were able to witness the amazing sunrise. Afterwards they were more than happy to enjoy the spa, and now we await dinner and our international campfire (hopefully we'll all be awake for it.) The photo has most of the youth who made it in it. (See pictures from 7/25)

National Youth Center Day 1: 7/26/09

There is something oddly hilarious about watching a bunch of boy scouts taking cover from a rampant washing machine. It's even funnier when the remaining scout sits back casually, in full range of the potential explosion and says "It's okay, I have fire training." The group has moved into a new home, though not one that is entirely unfamiliar. The National Olympic Youth Center is at once similar and yet completely different from Camp Yamanaka, with the same away-from-home feel but with the added charm of mint green couches and Aquarius (or God Water as some have come to call it) stocked vending machines...Then there's of course the fact we're in the heart of downtown Tokyo. It's corny to say, but it seems that just as we'd grown accustomed to the rules and routine of Camp Yamanaka, we're spirited off to this new location complete with its own quirks; such as the need to power up the room's electricity Gundam style, or how to open a window when Ciara scrambles to open it so she can get the Taiwanese scouts' attention. (See pictures from 7/26 through 7/27)

And finally, the contents of a postcard I sent on our last day. Stamped: Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan 7/29/09:

Greetings from Japan!

As my trip draws to a close, I find myself already missing this place I have already come to view as familiar. Japan is a land of cosmopolitanism and mysticism, where one can just as easily find a ramen shop as a 500 year old shrine between skyscrapers. In my short time here I've done everything from climb 3,700m mountains, raft across a lake at the base of Mt. Fuji in a raft of my own construction, and see a life-size Gundam. My experience of this culture, in which each person has a spark of discipline and tradition centuries old, is something I will never--ever--forget. Love you, and thanks for the memories. (See pictures from final days.)

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