2026 Japan National Scout Jamboree

This past week, something quiet and beautiful happened in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

The 19th Nippon Scout Jamboree brought together around 8,000 Scouts, leaders, and volunteers from across Japan and around the world for a week of adventure, cultural exchange, and friendship under the theme “Peace, Friendship, and Nature.” And tucked into the heart of that gathering was a booth that most attendees probably didn’t expect to find.

The Saints In Scouting exhibit.

The local chapter of Saints In Scouting in Japan organized and staffed the exhibit themselves – Japanese Latter-day Saint Scouters who believe, as we all do, that faith and Scouting belong together. And they came ready to show it.

At the center of the exhibit was a simple, honest conversation: what does it mean to do your duty to God as a Scout? What does Scouting look like when it’s lived alongside genuine faith? How do the values of the Scout Promise/Oath and the gospel of Jesus Christ point toward the same person?

Those are questions worth asking in any language. And the Saints In Scouting Japan chapter was there to explore them with anyone who walked through.

But first – shaved ice.

Because it was August in Japan. Because hospitality is one of the most natural expressions of a Scout being kind and friendly. And because there is almost no faster way to make a new friend than to hand them something cold and sweet on a hot summer day.

The shaved ice drew Scouts in. The conversations kept them there. And alongside the local Saints In Scouting volunteers, full-time missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worked the exhibit – young men and women who had come to Japan from the U.S. and Philippines to share the gospel and found, in this exhibit, a uniquely natural way to do it.

To every member of the Saints In Scouting chapter in Japan who organized this exhibit, staffed it, and served shaved ice – thank you. You represented Scouting, the Gospel, and the Saints In Scouting community beautifully.