This year I had the honour and the privilege to be a leader on a Girlguiding London and South East region international trip to Japan.
I was one leader of a team of four, leading a group of 12 Guides/Rangers/Young Leaders from across the region.
My story started by receiving a call offering me the opportunity to join a team for 2024. I had applied for 2025 but a space became available and I jumped at the chance to join the group. That weekend I headed to the region office to meet all of the leaders going on internationals and find out more about what I was taking on.
Stepping into an established team is always daunting but after that weekend I felt confident knowing I was taking on a role I have lots is experience in, first aider, and the team was made up of leaders with a variety of skills and experience.
In the February I had my first opportunity to meet the young members, on the groups second prep residential at Girlguiding Chigwell Row Campsite and Activity Centre. Our group was made up of incredible young women, they are the most caring, thoughtful, hard working group and good fun which made all of the work and responsibility worth it.
The cost for the international are covered by fundraising and grants. I was fortunate to obtain grants from Region, County, Division, District and a few external organisations which accounted for half of my total cost. For the remaining funds I ran our trips’ challenge pack for units in my county. Across 3 months I visited 21 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Ranger units. Visiting all the units was a great reminder that we are a part of a big Guiding family. The leaders also loved not having to plan a week and could relax watching their young members having fun doing the activities. Whilst I was at the units I also sold handmade crochet items and raffle tickets and it wasn’t long before I hit my fundraising target.
In the months leading up to August the leadership team meet regularly to discuss the planning of the trip, covering the risk assessment, itinerary, doing bookings and more. We did also involve the young members in this process. In the April we had another residential in Greenwich, where the young members did lots of research and planned our days down to the minute (they may have not kept to the timing on the actual day). These opportunities, built the anticipation for our upcoming adventure.
In July we had our last get together as a group, meeting in The Ramsay Scout Centre, the day included the young members bringing all of the items they intended to bring to Japan. We put their packing skills to the test plus their resourcefulness as they headed out into the city for a treasure hunt. It was a great day to see how ready the girls were for the trip, the young members will definitely admit it made them rethink a few packing choices.
After months of work, it was time to head to the airport. I never sleep well the night before I take girls away and it was no different this time. Not ideal when you are facing 22 hours of travel.
We meet at Heathrow airport, after goodbyes and group photos our journey as a group began. I had never flown with young members before or travelled that many miles. While responsibility can feel daunting, I knew we had a great group of young members and the excitement on their faces filled me with so much pride that I was one of the leaders making this happen for them.
The journey was long but was as smooth as we could have asked for. We landed exhausted but as soon as we found our transfer to the hostel, a buzz of excitement rose up as it sunk in we were really in Japan.
Our trip was for two and a half weeks and although we saw an incredible amount, I am itching to go back to do everything we couldn’t fit in.
We started off in Tokyo and jumped straight in with the hustle and bustle of Japanese cities by heading to the shibuya crossing. This is where we first learnt how confusing the public transport can be in Japan. It would test us the whole trip, including missing trains and boats and members missing a stop! We took every challenge in our stride and there are many more stories to tell.
Whilst in Tokyo we explored different areas of the city and did a day trip to Mount Fuji. We only saw the top for a minute as it peeped through the clouds, the one and only bad day of weather, typical! We also had the pleasure of being hosted by a girls scout of Japan troop for a day. We started the day meeting them at Sensoji Temple, where they showed us the practices of the temples and we all had our fortunes told. Unfortunately my fortune was not great so I tied it as quick as I could, to leave the bad luck behind.
Next we headed to the girls scout of Japan HQ, where they had laid on lunch and activities to teach us about their culture. Seeing the leaders and how the day ran highlighted this special connection we have with woman across the world. It felt like we were at a Girlguiding UK meeting and we all understood each other even with the language barrier. At the closing ceremony we sang taps in English and they sang taps in Japanese together, it was beautiful and a memory that will last with me forever.
On the next part of our trip we rode the bullet train to Kyoto, our base as we explored more cities in Japan.
We explored the vibrant city of Osaka, with the bright lights on the busy streets. We bowed at the deer looking to be fed at Nara and tried Matcha Mochi, still made with ancient techniques…I wasn’t a fan! We visited the bamboo forest and made friends with the monkeys in Arashimya, after climbing the mountain side in 33 degrees, which was a killer!
During our time in Kyoto, we took two days out and visited Hiroshima overnight. The young members had discovered through their research that it was the anniversary whilst we were in the country and planned our itinerary to be there on the day. The whole day was moving, especially taking part in the Lantern Floating Ceremony where we released lanterns with messages of peace. The magnitude of what we were seeing was felt strongly by the group and gave us time to sit and think whilst showing our respect.
Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Tokyo for our final leg of the journey. We had arranged another visit with a different Japan Girl Scout trip who again showed us incredible hospitality. They put on a range of activities for us and also did a tea ceremony for all the group. After both visits the leadership team were incredible proud at how the young members represented Girlguiding and interacted with the Japan Girls scouts. They are still talking to some of the girls they meet via social media, very special friendships.
The trip was action packed, we had so many more amazing experiences including visiting Fushimi Inari Shrin – thousand Torii gates, Hakone Ropeway, Torii gate on Miyajima Island, Osaka Castle, Disney Sea and even more.
The group came back exhausted but full of amazing experiences and memories that will last a lifetime time.
It was sad to say goodbye to all of the young members as they had been an absolute pleasure to take away and they had built some very strong bonds. It was lovely to reconnect with them at our reunion weekend in October and hear about their experience after some time to reflect. They were all in agreement that it was an experience of a lifetime and would recommend everyone to sign up for future trips, as do I.
Jennifer Maidment, County Commissioner