Shonan Ladies Go Camping

The four Americans who organized today's Shonan outing set the bar high for those of us tasked with planning future parties.

We gathered at the Ikego campground on the Navy's satellite housing area in Zushi, about 20 minutes from Yokosuka. Our hostesses, wearing red bandanas, distributed blue, green, and yellow bandanas to divide us into groups.

We made friendship bracelets and introduced our Japanese friends to games like horseshoes, croquet, bocce, and basketball. We pelted each other with water balloons. We explored every corner of the campground on a quest to find six flags in our team's color.

We filled our bellies with burgers, baked beans, and pasta salad and then we toasted marshmallows for s'mores.

Just before saying goodbye until next month, we sang camp songs. Only one American knew the tune to "Happy Trails" (thanks to her brothers) but, sadly could not carry that tune past the first verse.

One of the organizers, pictured here accepting a thank you gift from the Japanese ladies, is a fellow Michigander. She is probably why people in Japan think people from Michigan are slightly eccentric.

It was another good day for international diplomacy.