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Contents

Nature Experience Camp
Year Around Sansonryugaku
International Relations Project
Business Consulting about the Urban and Rural Areas Relationship
Research of Outdoor Activities' Educational Effect
Management of a Volunteer Group
"Sodateru" Magazine

Nature Experience Camp

After its establishment, the Sodaterukai launched nature experience camps that are short terms camps happening during the summer vacation, the winter break, the spring break and weekends. These camps' particularities are as follows:

• Activities are selected based on the age and interest of the participants.
• Possibility of continuation
• Activities linked with the lifestyle and culture of the rural area and the contact with nature.
• Kids have many occasions to draw out their will to learn.
• Usage of facilities designed for a communal lifestyle.
• Strong collaboration with locals
• Emphasis on time to think and learn from one's own mistakes

Course description

summer vacation	15 different courses varying from 3 nights to 12 nights, about 500 participants per year.
winter break	6 different courses of 4 nights, about 250 participants per year.
spring break	4 different courses of 4 nights, about 150 participants per year.
weekend	1 or 2 nights course, about 120 participants per year.

Examples of activities

Kindergarten and 1st-2nd grade students group	Availability is determined by seniority. This program includes lodging, group activities and nature experience.
Survival group	It is a specialized course aiming for kids that already participated in a nature experience program. After feeling comfortable with camping techniques, children in small groups try to hold 4 days in nature without the instructors' help.
Homestay group	It is a course to learn the lifestyle and interact with local people while doing a homestay in a cultivator area.
Alpine group	It is a course to learn ski techniques while familiarizing with nature in winter. Certification obtained from the "Ski Association of Japan (SAJ)".

Year around Sansonryugaku

Sansonryugaku is a program that was first launched by the Sodaterukai that would allow children to spend time away from their parents (in 1 year units) to learn about the nature's abundance and rural life by attending to local schools and participating in group activities and nature related activities. This program helps kids to develop with a healthier body and mind.

Target: Grade 2 to grade 8
Period: 1 year unit with a possibility to continue

The Sansonryugaku experience content

• The place of the Sodaterukai-only variety of nature experiences
  Half of each month is spent at the dormitory where kids learn to live in a community in a regular lifestyle. They participate in various activities with their instructors.The other half is spent in small groups where they do a homestay at a local family private house. Through their homestay, they can enjoy a different atmosphere as well as experience the unique culture of the locals.
• Learn to walk by oneself and play in nature
  The kids living at the Sansonryugaku facilities go to school by foot every day. The length of the process allows them to fortify their legs and constitution. They also learn a lot from playing in nature.
• Everyone learning to live as a community under one roof
  By living everyday together as a group, kids will create brotherhood-like bounds without noticing. They will learn to express their feelings and develop patience, traits that will bolster their communicative abilities.
• The work in the fields, nature experience, culinary culture, traditions, etc. are all varying along the seasons
  These activities show the uniqueness of the land which gave birth to all of them.
• Learn a wise lifestyle from a local household
  Children learn the area's agricultural culture through contacts and homestays in the local community.
• Appreciate the food without being picky
  The food is one part of the fun during Sansonryugaku. The everyday walk to school empties the stomach allowing for seconds. Kids learn to be appreciative of the food and avoid being picky.The cooking is done by a specialized instructor or a local who carefully thinking of the nutrition balance uses ingredients according to the season.
• Taking advantage of an education in a small group
  While exchanging with local kids in smaller groups, they can benefit from closer attention.

Sansonryugaku sites

• Yasaka-Miasa Campus (Yasaka, Omachi-City, Nagano Prefecture)
• Urugi Campus (Urugi-Village, Shimoina-gun, Nagano Prefecture)
• Ooka-Hijiri Campus (Nagano-City, Nagano Prefecture)
• Sanbe-Kodama Campus (Oda-City, Shimane Prefecture)
• Kamikawa-Yamabiko Campus (Kamikawa-Town, Hyogo Prefecture)
• Okawamura Furusato Ryugaku (Okawa-Village, Kochi Prefecture)

International Relations Project

The Sodaterukai believes that by inviting foreign juveniles and teach them about the Japanese climate and nature as well as techniques of the past and dispatching Japanese juveniles overseas to learn the same about foreign countries, Japanese and foreign juveniles will learn to collaborate and understand one another. Therefore, Japanese juveniles, who will one day lead Japan's future, will be more fluid in a global environment and gain from growing international relationships.

Current partners: Australia, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and more.

Business Consulting about the Urban and Rural Areas Relationship

With all the activities and "know-how" the Sodaterukai has created and accumulated over time, it has been helping many rural municipalities with exchange programs all over Japan .

Examples of suggested menus

• Plan of study of the lifestyle and outdoor activities of juveniles living inside or outside a certain area.
• PR support for local project relations
• Usage of idle facilities
• Training and dispatching the task force

Research of Outdoor Activities' Educational Effect

The Sodaterukai performs research requested by the government or private organizations to study about the meaning of juveniles participating in our program as well as the educational impact such as attitude adjustment.

Management of a Volunteer Group

The Sodaterukai created the "WALK" volunteer group. It targets members from high school students to adults, to have them participate as leaders in nature experience camps to help us promote juvenile activities.
Registered volunteers: 600

"Sodateru" Magazine

Since 1968, the Sodaterukai has been publishing a monthly magazine called "Sodateru" as its organ. This magazine features themes related to kids and contributions from parents, teachers and others. It also contains information about Sodaterukai outdoor activities and recent updates about every campuses.