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