National Eco Club Gathering in Mie Prefecture
--Eco Club Summer Camp--
A total of 290 children from 35 Eco Clubs across Japan gathered for a two-day summer camp in the town of Daio, Mie Prefecture, in late August. The event was sponsored by the Eco Club, the Environment Agency, and the Mie and Daio governments.
It was the first meeting of its kind since the Eco Club was inaugurated in 1995. There are 3,100 Eco Clubs around the country today with nearly 4,800 members.
The two-day ecology camp took place in Tomoyama Park, located on hilly terrain overlooking Ago Bay. On the first day participants spent the afternoon becoming familiar with the park's beautiful natural endowments. They were given a list of activities that they could choose to perform, like riding on a raft from cape to cape by pulling on a rope, observing the region's vegetation, and separating recyclable plastic bottles and milk cartons from a heap of trash.
In the evening, the kids and volunteer supervisors treated themselves to an outdoor BBQ of fresh seafood. The kids cleaned all the dishes by themselves, being careful not to pollute the area.
Before they went to bed, the children enjoyed gazing at the stars. One girl said she was surprised she could see Jupiter so clearly. "It was so beautiful. I wonder if Earth looks like that from Jupiter," she said. The participants spent the night in 80 separate tents.
The second day began at 5:30 in the morning. A hundred participants visited a local fishing port and learned how a fish market works, from the unloading of fish to its auction.
Another 70 members traveled to a nearby lighthouse, and everyone visited Jiro-Rokuro Beach to engage in a range of activities, like making a crab trap, painting stones, and finding pearls in pearl oysters.
Oyster shelling was very popular with the kids. "Shell meat is a lot gooier than I thought," one kid said. Participants made necklaces and brooches with the pearls they found.
Throughout the event, the children did their best not to leave any litter. They made sure there were no leftovers from lunch on the second day--the camp's final activity--and did all the cleaning of dishes on their own.
A third-grader from the industrial city of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, said she really enjoyed the event. "It was such a beautiful place," she said. "It's so different from where I live."
Photos: (Top) The opening ceremony for the summer camp; (second top) raft-riding in Tomoyama Park; (lower middle) studying a Fish Market; (bottom) getting tips from an Eco Club leader. (Japan Environment Association)
