This Month:

• Caching in the Land of the Rising Sun, By Hasegawa Masayuki aka le_mans_2
• Geocaching in Japan, By Rooksana Noorai, aka TokyoBlossom
• Canadian Caching Can Pay With Prizes, By Richard Niles aka sept1c_tank

Caching in the Land of the Rising Sun

Hello, my name is le_mans_2, and I live in Tokyo, Japan. I enjoy Geocaching in this area every weekend. I bought a GPSr (Geko201) and joined this great game last year.

In Japan, Geocaching is a still minor game, and many of the caches are concentrated near the base of the U.S. Forces, such as Yokota base. Some Japanese citizens place caches there too, which many foreign tourists visit. There are many places where you can view the Japanese traditional architecture represented in Kyoto and Nara. These cities also have the virtual caches. Since it is an important cultural area with mostly private property, it is hard to hide a regular cache.

I think the reason many Japanese do not participate in this game is because it requires English for user's registration and record of Log. Japanese people (overall) are not very good at English... My caches are hidden near my home. The caches are small Tupperware, with some toys and I place a travel bug in the box. Many Japanese cities have the 100 Yen Shop. There the Geocacher can buy Tupperware, logbooks, pencils, toys, and other items for all around 100 yen (about $1).

Many caches that I have found are traditional caches near the U.S. Forces bases. In those cases, military personnel and their families own the caches.

I participated in HANAMI Event cache on the other day. It is cherry blossom festival held in the park near the Tokyo station. It is a party serving alcohol outside, under the cherry flowers. About ten people showed up, half of which were foreigners. We had a pleasant time, snowflake-like cherry blossoms danced on the people seated there. However, the Japanese enjoying Geocaching realized a few things. Although it is a still minor game, cache numbers and participants have been increasing.

I think the reason many Japanese do not participate in this game is because it requires English for user's registration and record of Log. Japanese people (overall) are not very good at English, as I have some trouble too. We would have more people in the game here if the registration were in the Japanese language.

I discovered Geocaching game last summer. I need the GPSr for motorcycle touring. I searched the Internet web, so found this nice game. My GPSr is geko201. This model is small in size. For motorcycle touring everything needs to be small. This model just fit. I like the Geko model.

My favorite cache is Nara Palace Site. This cache is placed in the Nara prefecture in Japan, it is a world heritage site. I went there at night. Suzaku Gate was lit up very beautifully. The gate is very big. The cache is small micro cache with only a logbook. My GPSr had full reception. I followed my GPSr and found it easily.