The summer camp was located in Japan's "Northern Alps". There are Southern and Central "Alps", as well, all located in Nagano prefecture. I've yet to see the real "Alps" but these are pretty remarkable.
What a park!
Post-suikawari (watermelon smashing) contest. The cabins competed against one another to see who could best demolish their watermelon. When I was younger I remember competing with my friends in watermelon seed-spitting contests but I'd never heard of watermelon-smashing. While blindfolded, each camper and counselor walked up to the watermelon and did his or her best to strike it with a mallet. Afterwards, we nibbled on the inerts! Quite a fun game.
Shodo, or Japanese calligraphy, class - I went in utterly unqualified to assist with this class, but I wound up learning a lot!
On the final night we had a glorious campfire lit by the eldest campers who were all 17 or 18 years old. We sang and danced together, reflected on our favorite moments of camp, and shared our dreams to match the theme of this year's camp, "dream big".
Fujisan from afar! Taken on the train ride back to Tokyo.
All in all, I had an amazing week with the campers and counselors discovering new ways to connect across language and culture and relishing in the great outdoors.
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