Day 80 to 81 - First Gasshuku (club camp)

Hey everyone!

This post is about the first gasshuku that I got to experience! A gasshuku 合宿 is a circle club trip lasting 2 or or more days. Activities vary depending on the circle but it can range from practice, talent shows, nomikai, sightseeing and group activities. 

This gasshuku was an ichi nensei gasshuku first-year camp so the people going were all exchange students and first-year club members.
This gasshuku was an overnight camp in the Yamanashi prefecture from the 30th of November to the 1st of December.

Yamanashi prefecture is around 2 hours from Waseda by car so we all met up to take a coach to the ryokan Japanese-style inn that we would all be staying at.
The rooms we would be staying in and the people we would be staying with were all chosen for us before the trip.　

We met in Toyama park and we assigned partners for the coach journey. There were two sets of coaches, one in the morning and one slightly later as even though it was a Saturday, some people had classes (me being one of them!).

自己紹介! Self-introductions!

While on the coach one-by-one we all gave our self introductions, as is the norm for Japanese circle events! They even had a microphone for us to use! I always find self-introductions really nerve-wracking but somehow I managed to survive! 

There were some pretty nice views from the coach but it being winter, the light started to fade pretty quickly so I wasn't able to get many good photos. The pairing system was a really good idea as it meant you were able to meet someone new. It would be especially good for people who don't really know anyone and are perhaps a little shy. There were some pretty interesting conversations that popped up amongst groups of pairs. One of them being the age-old argument between the "American team" and "English team" regarding the proper pronunciation of certain words. Which of course led to me being asked how I say certain words by the Japanese members. 

During the drive we of course had one or two rest stops for food and bathroom breaks.

By the time we had arrived, the first group had been around for a while and were able to partake in a few interesting activities! It's no wonder that this coming term I won't be taking any Saturday courses!!

The ryokan we were staying at had a big Japanese-style room with tatami flooring and sliding doors. Perfect! When we arrived we were given introductions by the circle leaders and set up in pairs for a night-walk that would take place later on. Cheekily the pairs were all boy-girl with one Japanese student and one exchange student. I was starting to wonder if they were trying to play cupid! The pairs were split into a few groups that would go on the walk at different times. The groups went to dinner and the walk in rotation.

Calling out couples

After the introduction we were allowed to go to our rooms to dump our bags and get changed into room clothes. I opted for the comfy Waseda hoodie and sweatpants with my hello kitty tabi-style socks that I bought in Hakone. I was truly feeling the Waseda spirit!

When we came back down we were allowed to pull out some duvets in the main room to roll around on and enjoy some good conversation.

We waited around until it was time for our group to go to dinner or our pair's time to go on the night walk. Unfortunately the night walk was cancelled just before the end so I wasn't able to go. Apparently -as is tradition- the couple's night walk was supposed to be a scary night walk with the club leaders scaring the couples on the way. I heard that there had been some complaints due to the noise (no doubt due to the shrieks of scared students) and that was why it was put to a halt.

Thankfully we were still able to go to dinner though! Dinner was held in two dinner halls. Luckily I was able to eat in the Japanese style room where we could sit on cushions on the tatami flooring. It may not be the first choice of some but I really enjoy sitting in seiza kneeling.

The dinner was more of a banquet! We had multiple dishes to eat from Oden a Japanese winter dish heated by candles to Tonkatsu and Gyoza.

Although with the waiting our food had gotten a bit cold (with the exception of the Oden) I think we all enjoyed it.

Some of us gathered again in the main hall to wait for the night's events. It was pretty cold so some of us huddled around the heater which occasionally let out some rather gassy smells which resulted in us having to scarper away every so often. 

Playing around in the main room

Band practice!

As part of the nights entertainment some people were putting together some acts so some groups were practicing in preparation!

As the exchange students were allowed to, some of us had brought drinks to enjoy. 

The night's entertainment kicked off with some music from a mixed group of Japanese students and exchange students.
At the start we were all mixed up into groups and given some snacks to share, before the performances started we were able to do another round of self introductions and get to know each other a bit. But it wasn't so strict, people were also talking amongst nearby groups and moving around as the evening progressed.

Circle leaders dancing along to the music

 There were also competitive games which we played with our groups acting as teams. One of the games was a kind of charades but the funniest was Shirimoji!!

Shirimoji is a game that is bound to incite hilarity. From each group one person was elected to play. Each player was given a Kanji Chinese character to write and everyone else has to guess it. Sounds relatively straight forward right? Well there is a catch! The players have to write the Kanji with their bums! Shiri means bum and moji means Character/letter so the game is literally called "bum-characters"!

Fuji-san!

When we got up in the morning there was Japanese style breakfast available and then we had a bit of free time to walk around the area and hang about the ryokan.

Yamanashi prefecture is pretty close to Mt.Fuji so we were able to get a great view of the mountain from across the lake near the ryokan.

The gasshuku was really fun. It was a great opportunity to meet new people and there were lots of fun activities. It was also a good chance to experience some Japanese student life through the games
etc. If you have an interest in anime I am sure you have seen the couple's night walks carried out in a high-school anime at least once!
All-in-all it was a really good experience and I can't wait until my next gasshuku!

'Til next time!