Summer Retreat At Shinshu Bible Camp

About a week and a half ago I was able to attend the all Japan preacher’s retreat, which took place at the lovely Shinshu Bible Camp in Nagano Prefecture. It was a great retreat! Very encouraging and we were all blessed to have it at such a beautiful camp in an equally beautiful area. This camp was truly impressive – nice facilities, lovely location, delicious food, and a wonderful little chapel to do devotionals and the like. I thought it might be nice to share some of the photos I took from the trip. While I share my professional images over on Les Taylor Photo, sometimes I just want to capture a memory or simple scene without much thought beyond that, but I’ve not really known where the best place might be to share those. So with that in mind I thought I might try resurrecting this blog to share things like that. I might also bring a few theological posts now and then too. We’ll see. For now, enjoy the photos!

One quick note about the camp – apparently it was paid for (I think?) by a US minor league baseball player during the 60s. He was a pitcher and ended up being injured, and came to Japan to do mission work. However, his Japanese ability was exceedingly poor, so he returned I think to America, but became a big part of making this camp a reality. Pretty cool in my book!

Entrance to Shinshu Bible Camp, Nagano Prefecture

The path leading up to the main building of Shinshu Bible Camp. The lower lights are where the cafeteria is.

A cabin located on the Bible camp's land, seen through several tall pine trees. — A cabin located on the Bible camp’s land, seen through several tall pine trees.

Iwama san (the man giving the presentation in this photo) rode with me from Chiba to the camp. He holds a PhD in geology or something like that, and spoke on earthquakes, how future ones will affect Japan, and some of the significance of that for Christians and the church. I understood approximately 1% of his presentation, but thankfully riding in the car with him, I was able to get a bit more info.

Some of the mountains of Nagano Prefecture, adjacent to the camp.

The eating hall at the camp was plenty spacious, but more importantly, the food was incredible! Never had food that good at a Bible camp before!

Although it was cloudy for much of the retreat, we did have some nice colors on the first evening. You can tell how far out in the countryside this is - there aren't 5,000 houses in the shot, just 1! — Although it was cloudy for much of the retreat, we did have some nice colors on the first evening. You can tell how far out in the countryside this is – there aren’t 5,000 houses in the shot, just 1!

These are some good people. All except that guy on the left - he's pretty shady. — These are some good people. All except that guy on the left – he’s pretty shady.