Camping in Fukushima

Last weekend, we took the high school students to camp at Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture. The first thing most people think about when they hear the word Fukushima is the nuclear disaster that devastated    Japan and sent panic across the ocean. What most people don't know is that Fukushima is a beautiful prefecture with a rich history and breathtaking landscapes (cue the Japanese pipe music). Last year, we were supposed to go to Bandai for 3rd grade summer camp but the widespread fear of anything Fukushima kept us away. Even today, most people are hesitant to buy fruit that was grown in the prefecture. Where we were was far out of the exclusion zone and had nuclear readings at or below normal levels.

Saturday after waving off the buses and cleaning our rooms, we jump right on a bus with 30 high school students for a 3 hour journey to Bandai. I had one of the biggest groups with 8 of my 11 8th grade boys coming. Our first activity was to go canoeing down the river. All went well until one of the students riding with me thought it would be smart to stand up while splashing the girls on the river. Luckily we didn't tip. There were several others that did.

at the hostel

From there, we went headed to our hostel up in the mountains. The view all weekend was amazing. We were right up among the clouds. The hostel itself was, much like any other in Japan, is about as inviting to look at as a prison cell. Saturday night was full of marshmallow roasting and basketball. I had one of my smallest student eat 11 hot dogs. I called him Kobayashi  for the rest of the weekend. 


Sunday, we woke up at 6 AM, did our morning stretches (cracks me up everytime) and headed to a nature hike and park golf. We hiked with our kids through the woods to this beautiful waterfall and at the end of the hike was our golf course.


Park golf is a pretty big deal in Japan. Its basically chipping with a smaller club shaped like a driver and a big ball that almost looks like it belongs on a pool table.  Its pretty tricky to get the right power to  make it in the whole. I ended up +5 for 9 holes and got beat by kobayashi, who claimed to be left handed only to dominate right handedly.

the ball and club

the course

All in all, it was a great weekend to bond with my students and see a little bit more of Japan. I'll be heading out again at the end of the month with my 3rd graders.