Day 4: Good Bye Mt Fuji, Hello Yaizu!

It was an early rise and shine for the participants. Immediately after getting up at 6am, the participants proceeded to clean up and pack up their mattresses, furnitures and room. It is unique as the place of accommodation here requires guests to do so as opposed to our regular hotels. Although it is tedious, it teaches our cubs to be independent and clean after themselves. Then it was time for breakfast!

Packed and ready to go

Last meal here

Full and fuelled, we bid goodbye to the wonderful Asagiri Centre as we embarked on our bus ride to a mandarin plantation. There we were allowed to pick mandarins and eat them one at a time. The moment the green thumb was given, the ecstatic cubs rushed into the lush shrubs to sample this popular winter fruit.

Japanese Mandarin

Plucking Mandarins

The trick was to pick darker coloured and smaller mandarins. This was because those were more ripe and sweeter. Overall, it was an exciting moment for many cubs and teachers alike especially when they picked and sampled a "Vitamin-C" rich Mandarin fruit.

Stop first, it's too sour!!

Next up, we boarded the bus and headed to a high way parking area. Many curious faces alighted the bus and into the mart. Upon entrance, the smell of curry rice and food stung our noses and our mouths were starting to salivate. Matsuda-San brought us over to what appeared to be two vending machines and explained that this was how food is ordered in a Japanese cafe. There was a menu nearby that displayed the dishes on sale, ingredients, prices and even the calories!

Menu

We would then pay cash to the vending machine, press the menu item number and receive a number slip to collect our food. What an interesting system indeed!

Collecting orders

Curry Rice

Yet another Curry Rice

Not only did we not have to queue, the moment we ordered from the vending machine, the order would be sent to the kitchen to prepare. After a short 3-5 minutes of waiting, our hot food was ready for collection. After lunch, we did a little grocery shopping at a mini-mart beside the cafe before heading back on our journey.

Next up, we alighted at the entrance of the tea museum. At the entrance, we were greeted by a guide and proceeded with the tour. We were introduced to the different types of tea leaves, how different countries prepare their teas and the tea culture in Japan.

Tea Museum

Different Teas from around the globe

Everyone's favourite part: Tea Sampling

After the walk about, we entered a replica of an olden day Japanese tea house. It was used in the olden days for royalty or the high society people as a place to entertain guests and special visitors to ones houses. We were then treated to a sweet Japanese treat and a cup of the green tea from tea powder that we helped to grind earlier.

Tea brewing

Being served desserts

Freshly Brewed Green Tea

It was definitely a relaxing experience with the scenery of the teahouse garden. Next, we left for the Shizuoka Prefecture Office Building. There we had a glimpse of the police office dealing with about 600 calls a day and the disaster crisis department HQ.

Trying out the comfort of the VIP seats

After that, we returned to the bus and headed to the Yaizu Youth Centre which would be our accomodation for the next few days. Dinner was cafeteria style and we ate with other guests at the centre as well. Although we were supposed to take our own food, we were taught by Matsuda-San that the culture here is to be mindful for others and take a small amount first. Second servings are allowed only after everyone has taken at their first serving. It was definitely an eye opener and an important take back for many.

Dinner is served

Cafeteria style dinner

Dinner Set

Demonstrating Games of The Olden Days 

After eating our fill, we headed to a meeting room to prepare for the combined activities with the Japanese Scouts the following day. Traditional games such as 5 stones, pick-up sticks and "Chapteh" were taught to the young cubs by their teachers. Then, we proceeded to the debrief & reflection, room allocation and briefing for the hectic day to come. Finally at last, we headed to the showers and bed!

Stay tuned for Day 5's blog!