Doing Their Best

More than a century after Robert Baden-Powell established Scouting, the movement continues to shape young lives, including at the Club.

It might be fiercely hot and humid, but the members of Cub Scout Pack 51 are all smiles.

After spending the day learning how to assemble and maneuver sailboats, they’re cruising the Tokyo Bay inlet at Wakasu Seaside Park on their own. It’s a fitting final summer activity for the Club-sponsored group.

“Being in the water, going on the boats and doing knots was a lot of fun,” says Pack 51’s Ruby Obara, 10, of the August excursion.

Affiliated to the Boy Scouts of America’s Far East Council, Pack 51 was set up in the 1970s and originally met in the gym of the old Azabudai Club. Since the local US military base had an abundance of uniform patches numbered one and five, and St Mary’s International School already had a troop designated number 15, Pack 51 was born.

From its early 20th-century roots in Britain, Scouting aimed to develop boys into good citizens with initiative and outdoor skills. Decades later, around 57 million young people from more than 200 countries and territories are involved in the movement. Pack 51 is open to boys and girls aged 6 to 10, with Boy Scout Troop 51 welcoming 11- to 17-year-olds.

For Club Member Walter Altherr, Scouting is a family tradition. Growing up in Bainbridge Island, Washington, he was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout. His elder son, Terry, was a member of Pack 51 two decades ago, and now his 8-year-old son, Dan, is carrying the torch.

But things have changed drastically since Altherr “promised to do his best,” as the Scout oath dictates. With girls now welcome to join, Scouting’s focus has shifted. Tech-related activities have replaced the skills like animal tracking that Altherr remembers.

Still, he praises Pack 51 for its back-to-nature approach.

Image: Area pack members at Ikego West Valley Campground in Kanagawa

“It’s one of the rare cases these days in Tokyo where you get into the woods, canoe on a lake, start a fire and do things that contrast with other activities where the whole idea is to isolate kids from any type of danger,” he says.

Safety, of course, is of paramount importance, and Cub Scout tasks and adventures equip kids with the skills necessary to take care of themselves, including during natural disasters.

Meetups at the Club on the second Friday of each month are complemented with monthly outdoor activities like camping, skiing, fishing and hiking. Other seasonal highlights include a “raingutter regatta” race of small boats on the Club’s rooftop terrace, and a pinewood derby, where Cub Scouts build and race miniature wooden cars.

The derby is a hit with Dan Altherr, who joined Pack 51 two years ago, and fellow Club Member Jerom Westerink, who says the crafting activities set the pack apart from his Boy Scout experiences in his native Netherlands, where the focus was on outdoor play.

The 9-year-old, who joined Pack 51 in April after moving to Japan last year, says he also enjoys the community service projects, such as making sandwiches for the homeless in Yoyogi Park.

Image: Pack 51’s Ruby Obara at Ikego West Valley Campground in Kanagawa

“If you just say hi, you’ve already got a friend,” Jerom says of the pack’s welcoming vibe. “And all the members, they’re all funny in their own way, all nice in their own way, all crazy in their own way.”
Another Club Member, Wolfie Pendleton, became a Cub Scout last year.

“We made marshmallow catapults, and I pulled the spoon back and threw a marshmallow into my mouth on my first try!” he says of that memorable first pack meeting.

A camping enthusiast, Wolfie fondly remembers staying up late making s’mores and “keeping the campfire alive” during the pack’s camping trip to Mount Takao last fall. And what he has learned over the year has helped him in unexpected moments.

“On sports day at my school, I kept remembering that motto,” he says. “Even though my team lost, I won my tug-of-war and my race, so I did my best.”