Last summer I was fortunate enough to attend the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Japan. I was proud to be chosen as 1 of the 36 young people from Birmingham to go on this 3 week international camp. In order to be selected I had to go through a rigorous interview process as well as raise £3,500 (of which £250 was kindly donated to me by the school). The rest of the money was raised via endless bag packing sessions at supermarkets and creative ideas like carrying out Gold D of E in fancy dress.
We departed for Japan on the 25th of July from Birmingham airport, having said goodbye to our families we endured a 12 hour flight into Nagoya Airport. From there we travelled by coach to Okazaki where we stayed with a Japanese family for 2 days. In that short time, we visited a traditional communal bath house, visited Okazaki castle which is the birthplace of the first Shogun and we also made a visit to a local Japanese Scout group.
We then left our host families to travel to the Jamboree site on the Bullet train, the sheer speed was astonishing. When we first arrived at the campsite we found out that we had to walk 30 minutes to the other side of the campsite carrying our luggage. Our plot was effectively a field of bamboo shoots but it was soon flattened when we put up our tents. The next day all 40,000 Scouts flocked to the arena stage where the opening ceremony would take place, some of the entertainment included traditional Japanese drumming as well as J-pop. At the centre of the campsite was a massive air conditioned dome where there were always some sort of activities taking place. On one of the days a Japanese version of the sister act gave a performance. Every day we had to wake up at 4 am for food collection before the sun rose, at that time of year the sun rises at 6am and before you know it the temperature is 35 degrees. Each day had its own theme like Science where we learned about recent scientific innovations and discoveries. I was privileged to take part in an interfaith ceremony on the main stage representing the Sikh faith in front of thousands of people.
An unforgettable part of the Jamboree was when we had the opportunity to visit Hiroshima, which is where the first atomic bomb was dropped. We visited Hiroshima the day before the 70th Anniversary. Visiting the museum put life in perspective and made you realise the destructive potential of one of these bombs.
We packed up our tents and once again boarded the Bullet train but this time bound for Tokyo, one of the world’s megacities. The city itself was just vast, our hotel room reminded us of this every time we looked out the window over the Tokyo skyline. We visited the main tourist attractions in Tokyo like the “Tokyo Sky Tree” as well as “Electric City” which is the equivalent to Times Square.
Then our journey was over, making friends from all over the world, learning about many new cultures and traditions and developing me as a member of society. It was an unforgettable experience.
Taran Bedi
