Satoko K-B. (Lifetime Girl Scout)

In 1978, Satoko when eight, the town neighboring hers started a Girl Scout troop. When her mother found the poster she signed Satoko up immediately and Satoko went to her first meeting. She remembers it well.

The first meeting was a sort of informational meeting. Besides one Brownie and her leader, everyone else there was as new as Satoko. Satoko remembers looking at the girl in the Brownie uniform and anticipating when she would get to wear that uniform. But before she was allowed to wear a uniform or say the promise, she and all the other girls had to learn what Girl Scouts was all about. They learned how to do a circle, as well as sing a few songs. One of the songs she learned that day was called Vista and she remembers it went something like “Free, Free Fly, Free Fly Flo, Vista, Kum-latta Kum-latta Kum-latta, Vista.”

Satoko’s new troop was called Troop 75 and she was part of it for almost twenty-years. She had to leave it because of a mishap though and she moved to a troop in Ebina, who accepted her. She has been with that troop over ten years now. All together she has been in Girl Scouts for thirty-five years. She currently lives in the United States, but she still registers as a troop leader in Japan. She is also currently on the board of the program Nobuko co-founded called GS-FOU Friends of US (FB). She joined a few years ago and she helps with Girl Scout camps, document translation and advice about American culture. Satoko is happy because even though she doesn’t currently live in Japan, she can still help the Japanese Girl Scout cause.

Satoko’s first Girl Scout camp out was in 1979. It was a spring camp and her troop stayed in a cottage. What made this experience special to Satoko was that is wasn’t only her first camp experience. All the girls with her were also having their first-time experiences. She also remembers her first primitive (tent) camping experience. It was like Kotoe’s experience in the fact that her campsite was on a hill with her tent at the top and the mess hall at the bottom.

When Satoko was a Ranger Scout (check bottom of index page) she applied for a Girl Scouts overseas program (called Wide Opportunity). She was selected as part of the delegation going to Pennsylvania. The main event of the program was called 1986 Arts Odyssey and it was hosted by the Talus Rock Girl Scout Council (now merged with the Girl Scout council of Western Pennsylvania). 1986 Arts Odyssey was a ten-day workshop. Each girl could take her pick of what type of classes she could attend (Dance, Drama, Visual Art, ect.). Satoko chose the visual arts class. She spent her ten days in painting classes, sculpture classes, design sketching classes and more. At the end of the program, her and the other eighty girls showed off their work at an exposition. After the program, Satoko spent four weeks in San Francisco.

During and after the program, Satoko was staying with a host family. At that time, Satoko couldn’t speak much English and understood less then fifty-percent of what the host family told her. Luckily her host family was generous and patient. They didn’t mind repeating what they said and they sometimes drew pictures for communication. At that time Satoko often carried a Japanese-English dictionary around. She is still in contact with her old host family and sometimes they visit each other or do Girl Scout exchanges together.

When Satoko was an active troop leader in Japan, she tried to share some of she learned in the United States with her troop. She played chain games, she taught them American Girl Scout songs by removing the lyrics and adding clapping, she taught them a game called “Merry-go-round” (description in comment at the bottom) and how to make SWAPS. According to Satoko, Japanese people are traditionally good with working with their hands so things like macramé pencil boxes and dog are really easy for them. However the girls were intrigued by the American s’more SWAP and marshmallow on a stick SWAP.

In 2000, Satoko’s host family invited her to help them run a camp with their council as part of the outdoor staff. At the camp Satoko taught girls origami and Japanese style writing. Another camp Satoko helped at in 2010 was a Japanese Girl Scout camp that was celebrating the 90^th anniversary of Girl Scouting in Japan. The camp had girls from over fourteen different countries. In the beginning the Japanese girls were very shy with the new girls, but by the end they were begging them not to leave since they had become such fast friends.

Satoko helps to encourage young Japanese Girl Scouts to branch out and have confidence in themselves. If Satoko had not become a Girl Scout her life would be very different from what it is today. She would not have moved to the United States, she would not have met her husband and she would not have many of the friends she has today.

Japanese Girl Scout Fact: They don’t have a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. Instead they have something called the B-P (Baden-Powell) Award (it used to be the B-P Trophy). To win this Award, Ranger scouts do a project and they send a report of their project in for a council review. If the council approves it they get the Award

Diana S. (Past Girl Scout, Age 10 - ?)

Many years after Diana graduated from high school and got married, she took a trip to Georgia. While she was in Georgia she got to see something that reminded her of her time in Girl Scouts, she got to see the Wayne-Gordon House or the birthplace of Juliette Lowe.

When Diana was ten, the group of friends she hung out with decided to become a troop and that was the beginning of her Girl Scout career. Diana’s troop kept themselves together throughout the first few years of high school, and then they disbanded.

From that time, Diana remembers earning badges for sewing and cooking, as well as getting her green vest and selling cookies.

Like most people, her favorite Girl Scout cookie is the Thin Mint, but she still fondly remembers the cookies she sold when she was a scout. She recalls the chocolate cookie with white filling (Oxfords/Chalet Crèmes) that is now retired and the ever-popular Trefoil cookies. Compared to the cookies that existed when Diana was a Girl Scout, today’s cookies seem healthier in comparison, but lack the same amount of butter and sugar that Diana remembers in her cookies.

She also remembers that her troop went camping. They started out in someone’s back yard, cooking s’mores over the fire. Later, they began to travel to the Girl Scout House in Catalina. The Girl Scout house was large dorm with a cooking faculty. The dorm was like a classroom with bare bunks. They would spend a lot of their summer there.

None of her children were Scouts when they were young, but Diana still remembers the qualities of honor and truthfulness that Girl Scouts taught her.

Nobuko A. (Lifetime Girl Scout/Leader)

When Nobuko was ten, she heard about a Girl Scout exchange program between Japan and Korea in the news. She was so impressed with the idea of an international exchange and having sisters abroad that she decided she wanted to join the Girl Scouts. Since her mother knew nothing about how to join, she used the phone directory to find the Girl Scout headquarters in Shizuoka.  When she told them she wanted to be a Girl Scout, they got her in contact with her local troop. That was almost fifty years ago.
In the time Nobuko has been a Girl Scout, the uniform has changed three times, Girl Scouts broke into different levels (Tenderfoots, Brownies, Juniors, Seniors & Rangers), the role of Girl Scouts in Japan changed and the words of the Japanese Girl Scout Promise changed (but they still kept their original foundation).

One of Nobuko’s favorite memories from when she was fourteen her leader planned international exchanges. Nobuko had an Okinawan Girl Scout (in an American Girl Scout uniform) come and stay at her house. They stayed in touch for a few years after that, but lost touch when the girl graduated high school and moved to the mainland. But that wasn’t the end of Nobuko’s international experiences. With the Ranger Scouts she learned of the Girl Scouts of the West Pacific. In the offices of the Girl Scouts of the West Pacific, she made a friend who invited her to a conference. At the conference, she got to meet some very active leaders, some of whom were American.

Comparing the Japanese Girl Scouts and the American Girl Scouts, Nobuko said that the Japanese girls more quiet, preferring to listen rather than talk. The American girls, on the other hand, have a lot to say. Nobuko liked the “American Way” - as she put it, and she kept in contact with the leaders. Together, they created a program where American Girl Scouts on military bases and Japanese Girl Scouts get to meet each other and have get-togethers and exchanges. The program that Nobuko is part of is called Friends of the US.

Recently, Nobuko’s Girl Scout troop had a tea ceremony with an American troop for the New Year’s festivities. They also invited foreign Girl Scout troops to their Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri) festivities.

Nobuko always starts her meetings with the song When E're You Make a Promise. Nobuko has taught this song to many of her American friends, and she is surprised that this song fell out of favor with younger leaders since it's that promise that is what Girl Scouting is all about. Nobuko also know the internationally famous Friendship Song, Taps, Smile Everybody Smile (lyrics in a comment under post) and the song Penguin Attention.

Nobuko plays many games with her troop. Two of the most popular games she plays are Kim’s game and Wide Game. Every year Nobuko’s troop competes in the annual badge design completion. On the topic of earning badges, Nobuko always tries to instill in her girls that even after the badge is earned, they must keep going forward and learning more.

If Nobuko hadn’t been in Girl Scouts, she wouldn’t be able to speak English; she wouldn’t have made as many friends; and she wouldn’t have such a deep feeling of sisterhood and camaraderie with all the girls of the world. In Nobuko’s eyes, Girl Scouts are the seed for world peace.

“In one hundred and forty-five countries, there are many Girl Scouts. So the Girl Scouts make world peace because we are sisters all together, no more war, no more fighting. That’s the value of Girl Scouting.”

Nobuko was especially touched when she watched Malala’s speech and immediately came to the conclusion that she was a Girl Scout (though, she isn’t). Nobuko feels that all girls should be like her and tell their opinions to the world.

Fun fact About Japanese Girl Scouts: They don’t actually sell Girl Scout cookies. Instead, three days of the year are spent gathering donations for the Red Cross and for things like nature conservation.

Nobuko has shared a story on the history of Girl Scouting in Japan elsewhere. The story can be found here.

Special Post: How Girl Scouting (and Guiding) Originally Started & Why Japanese Girl Scouts Are Not Called Girl Guides (An Extra Story From the Interview of Nobuko A.)

Boy Scouts started before Girl Scouts. It was founded by Lord Baden-Powell in 1907 when he took a group of boys camping on Brownsea. A year after that Lord Baden-Powell published his book Scouting for Boys and Boy Scouts took off.

In 1909, Lord Baden-Powell held a Jamboree for Boy Scouts at the Crystal Palace in London. He was surprised to see a group of girls marching among his Boy Scouts. He asked them who they were and they said they were Girl Scouts. Baden-Powell thought that scouting was for boys so he had his sister Agnes Baden-Powell help him found Girl Guiding.

At that time, Juliette Lowe had a company of Girl Guides in Scotland. She liked the idea of Girl Guiding so much she wanted to take it back to her home country (the USA) under the name of Girl Scouting. So she talked with Lord and Lady Baden-Powell and brought the practice home to the United States.

In 1919, Girl Guiding started in Japan. However it was banned during World War II. In 1945, it was was reinstated by General MacArthur because he thought that "Democracy must lead for the youth." He encouraged ex-Girl Guide leaders to start a new movement (as Girl Scouts) and that is why Japanese Scouts are called Girl Scouts and not Girl Guides.

Nobuko's interview is here.