(U.S. Army)
CAMP ZAMA, Japan – Children from the U.S. military community and Zama City gathered for a cultural exchange event at the Camp Zama Youth Center March 2 to deepen their international friendship through sports and games.
The event was hosted by the Government of Japan’s South Kanto Defense Bureau and Zama City in conjunction with U.S. Army Garrison Japan.
Nearly 40 youth, ranging from 9 to 12 years old, were divided into small teams for free throw competitions, dodgeball battles, and the classic “Red Light Green Light” game.
Members of the Keystone Club, an affiliate of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America at Camp Zama, and Soldiers from the Camp Zama Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program, or BOSS, served as volunteer staff to support the children’s activities.
Billie Hogan, school liaison officer for U.S. Army Garrison Japan, said the event allowed the military community to work with their Japanese hosts to foster friendship and sportsmanship through friendly competition between children from both countries.
Hogan said the Japanese children were a bit reserved when they arrived, but as soon as the activities started, they smiled, did their best to communicate with each other and enjoyed the friendly competition.
“Activities and sports transcend language barriers,” Hogan said. “They are out there having a time of their lives.”
Hogan said she hopes the children who participated will realize that they are not so different and have much in common.
“I’d like to have a reciprocal exchange to where we learn more about each other’s cultures and spark interests to want to learn more,” said Hogan. “This has been an amazing adventure.”
Waka Ishiguro, a Japanese participant, said she was very nervous at first because she couldn’t communicate with American children in her group. But for her team to win, they needed to understand each other quickly using gestures and simple words.
“It was a very exciting and fun experience, especially when we finally started to understand what each other was saying during an activity,” she said.
Ishiguro said communicating with American children wasn’t easy but both sides did their best as a team and came up with words each might know.
“I really enjoyed the teamwork to achieve the same goal,” said Ishiguro.
Ishiguro said she would like to participate again if the opportunity arises.
Bruce Crispell, an Arnn Elementary student, said he had the most fun with the dodgeball activity because it didn’t require much explanation or words.
Crispell said simple gestures helped teammates communicate with each other, although he felt a little bit of a language barrier during the other activities.
“It was really fun today,” said Crispell. “At the end, everyone won.”
