Greater Manchester East Scout County (GME) is organising a 15 day trip to Japan in August 2010 which will involve 140 young people (14 to 18 year olds) from the Greater Manchester area.
The trip starts in Japan with Home Hospitality where the Scouts will stay with the families of the Japanese Scouts who visited Manchester in 2007 before the World Scout Jamboree. These Japanese Scouts were provided with accommodation within Greater Manchester and are keen to return the gesture. After several days with the Japanese families the explorers will be attending the Nippon Scout Jamboree for seven days, which is the large Jamboree (25,000 young people) which takes place in the Far East every four years. After the Jamboree the explorers will go to hostel accommodation as a base for seeing some of the sights and sounds of Japan, in particular Tokyo.
Arrangements have already been made for:
- Home Hospitality with the Scouts who stayed in Manchester in 2007
- Attendance at the Nippon Jamboree
- A reception at the UK Embassy in Tokyo hosted by the British Ambassador
- A ride on “The Bullet” train
From the outset this venture was set up to be for anyone who wanted to go and the organisers expressed a wish that it should not just be for the “better off” sections of scouting in Manchester. That has been achieved with several of the participants coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, single parent families and the poorer areas of Manchester.
This is a unique opportunity to be part of an adventure to Japan that cannot be bought anywhere else, it is exciting and it is character building. The young people who attend this International event will experience many new and varied things, they will try new and adventurous activities, and they will meet new people, learn about different cultures, religions and ways of life. The young people will have their horizons broadened; their tolerance of different cultures and traditions increased by understanding and their lives’ enriched by their experiences. They will gain confidence from that understanding which will provide them with a sound basis to take them forward into the adult world as better citizens. These young people will provide GME with a group of young people who have experienced a truly International Experience. They will, by their enthusiasm, encourage their peers to become part of the Scout Movement thus providing the movement a chance at reaching more young people and helping to prepare them to be better citizens of the future and hopefully giving them the opportunity to have similar experiences.
