Activities

Origami is a very popular activity in the Orient. Origami is the art of paperfolding. Mike S has told me that the swan is the most popular, followed by the box. You can go to your library to get books on Origami , I found one about Japan that has a swan called Library of Nations, Japan/915.2. Just call your library and give them the no. above, 915.2 and you can find out if they have it there. Or go to the following web sites

I found a site about Origami, which is the art of paper folding. Joseph Wu's site can get you started on this ancient art He has a wealth of information at his site including how to make paticular types of folds needed for the Cubs to create an Origami masterpiece. http://www.origami.vancouver.bc.ca/

Read a folk tale to the dens; There is a Chinese Cinderella; (just as most other cultures have this) and a number of tales that rival Aesop's Fables. I prefer Chinese folk lore, as their idea of humor and moral concepts are more readily understood by Westerners than are Japanese tales.

Music

I intend to bring in music from Japan, China, Korea, and Northern and Southern India to the den meetings, and have some music playing at the Pack meeting during the gathering timeframe; (Check local libraries for music)

- East Asians love to sing songs together in public (witness the Karaoke explosion).; a fun sing along is perfect for the Pack meeting. The word Karaoke is a combination of the word Kara-oke meaning empty orchestra.

Martial Arts
Mike S.

- I know this should not be the focal point of the cultures of Asia, but it does support the BSA ideal of building up the physical and mental abilities of boys. You might invite a local club/dojo over for a demonstration at the Pack meeting.

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Chris

I learned a little about the Japanese language. There are about 50,000 characters, some involving 40 different brushstrokes. Most of these are rarely used, but a child is still required to master 1,850 of them.

Mike from Pennsylvania put these words together for us.

Here are some Asian words and phrases that the boys can learn to say and even hear through the magic of the internet. If you have access to the internet and have a multimedia computer that can play midi files, many of the words and phrases are in audio form from the site where these were taken. Go to this site http://www.travlang.com/languages/search.html and search for the phrases that are identified below. When the search is complete, there will be tables of the words/phrases in lots of different languages. The ones that have "hypertext" (blue lettering with underlines) have audio files connected to them. Click on the hypertext and you will hear the word/phrase in the selected language.

"Hello":

"Bye"

"Please"

"Excuse Me"

"How Are You?"