16th Nippon Jamboree/ 30th Asia-Pacific regional Scout Jamboree

The Jamboree was held in Yamaguchi, on a section of re-claimed land. Well, some of the land was still claimed by water birds and water plants.

Japan is planning to use this site in two years for a world Jamboree. If this was a test of the site, there is still a lot of work to be done.

There had been heavy rains in the area less than a week before and much was still wet and muddy. The guide got lost leading us to our tent-site so we walked through lots of tall grass, looking as something hopped left and right and ahead of us. Hey, those were not grasshoppers. They were FROGS! Lots and lots of frogs. What does that tell you about the area?

Port-o-potties and a water supply were between site areas. Unfortunately, many troops decided to do their dish-washing at the water source rather than carry water back to their site for the purpose. The patch of gravel did little to keep things clean.

The opening ceremony was held in an open arena. It took a long time to walk everyone there so there was a loooooong wait in the hot sun.

There was a "fly-by" and a parade of country flags as well as prefecture flags... plus the usual speeches.

One day's activity was a trip to Hiroshima.

We visited the park and the A-bomb museum.

At one point we were to have a visit from the Crown Prince. We were told to get dressed in out uniforms and wait in our campsite.

Instead, we got a super wind and rain storm.

The kids hung on to our "rain fly" and got soaking wet.

So much for the "class A's".

Our area was left wet and muddy.

A bucket-brigade was formed to bail out some of the sites.

When we asked about the "show" that was scheduled, we were told to wait in our sites for information.

Finally, the word filtered down that we should line up to walk to the arena and didn't have to wear our "class As"

However, by the time we got there, the Japanese Scouts were all there in their uniforms and the main part of the program with the Crown Prince was already over.

Not much to see, as the crowd in front was standing. I think one scout on shoulders got a picture of the leaving motorcade.











We had one more trip for "culture" and visited an elementary school and the Bridgestone Tire Factory.

I was happy the next day to find my friend, Mr. "T". He was in the "culture" area doing leatherwork. It wasn't long before he put me to work.

I have worked with Mr. T at many Jamborees so that was a highlight for me.







I have no pictures of the closing show. It was so loud that I had to leave. I could see the fireworks from our campsite as we began to take things down, preparing for the next morning's departure.

All was done in a timely fashion and we were off to the bus departure site to wait...

and wait......



and wait.....

A long way off from the by-now .... very dirty, smelly,
facilities.

No one asked our group for feed-back but it seems there is a lot to improve before adding a few thousand more Scouts to the equation.

The best part?

Doing this with a group of Scouts.