AGN participates in Fukushima MIRAI Juku
- Oct 21
- 3 min read
On October 11-12, 2025, 8 AGN staff (6 full time employees + 2 volunteers) took part in the 11th annual Fukushima Mirai Juku camp at the Bandai Youth Exchange House. 60 children and 18 Japanese volunteers from across the prefecture participated in the camp, as well as the Bandai facility staff. This camp was the last in a series of four camps for the Mirai Juku program.
On day one, AGN staff from Australia, Barbados, Canada, New Zealand, and the US greeted the children and hosted an ice-breaking game. During the "A or B" quiz, participants learned more about the teachers and their home countries. Some of the answers were quite surprising! After the quiz, camp participants, volunteers and teachers enjoyed lunch together in the cafeteria. The karaage was very popular!!
After lunch, everyone broke into camp teams for English Orienteering, moving through the Bandai camp facility to find 20 hidden questions panels. For this special event, the AGN staff prepared original questions for the event, and teachers hid around the facility to present their own questions. The fastest team came back in a very speedy 30 minutes, surprising everyone - it usually takes around an hour!
For dinner, the participants once again broke into groups and prepared chicken curry. Of course, being camp, this was all done outside over open fires that the students had to build themselves. For many, it was their first time building a fire or cooking outdoors, so there was a lot of excitement. The volunteers and teaching staff did a fantastic job of coordinating the teams and assisting, and everyone made a strong effort to communicate in English throughout. As a final special treat, the participants tried making smores! This was a first for all the participants, and ended up being a highlight for many.
To finish off the night, the participants moved to the gymnasium for the Candlefire event. Making a circle around a special display of candles, the students learned and sang campfire echo songs like "Boom Chicka Boom!" and "Everywhere We Go". For "Everywhere We Go", each team made their own lyrics and performed it to everyone. Despite it being their first time singing these songs, and in English no less, everyone did an amazing job and sang loudly with their teams. We finished off the event with a favorite of the Bandai camp staff; the fast food song!
On day two, everyone gathered early for Radio Taiso outside, where they were treated to a beautiful view of Lake Inawashiro. After breakfast, everyone headed back to the gym for our last event; a Finnish game, Mollky! For many of the participants it was their second or third time playing, so things got a little competitive! Lots of teams worked on strategy together and played very seriously. There was great sportsmanship all round, and everyone worked together to keep score and keep the game going. Rather than bowing to each other, students practiced a more Western tradition of shaking hands and exchanging a "good game" at the end of each match.
Before the conclusion of the English portion of the camp, everyone gathered together one last time to talk about their experience and what they most enjoyed, and things they'd like to try again. Previous participants who had returned as volunteers shared some thoughts on what the experience meant to them and why they had chosen to return. AGN staff also shared a few words on the camp, hoping that the children enjoyed themselves and made some new memories at camp.
The Fukushima Mirai Juku camps are held between August and October annually, with 4 camp sessions each. The first camp in 2025 focused on disaster preparedness, nature, and history, the second camp was a dance workshop, and the third focused on sports. The fourth session, which AGN participated in, had an English and international exchange focus, and on the final say the participants came together to summarize the entire experience and look towards the future of Fukushima prefecture.
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