1 Night 2 Days at a hidden location in Kagoshima
Dynamic Lab presents; Summer Seaside Survival Camp 2018
Summer season is right around the corner, and one of Dynamic Lab’s popular annual seasonal offering is back! From starting a fire, setting up a tarp roof, diving into the ocean to spearfish, there are so many exciting and unique activities you can experience through this camp. For the first time ever, Dynamic Lab is offering this wilderness experience in English this year! We are now open for reservations. Please check the details below and fill in the form at the end of this page to participate.
Summer Seaside Survival Camp 2018
１． What is Summer Seaside Survival Camp about?
Summer Seaside Survival Camp is instructed by Environmentalist and writer, Tender, who studied primitive skills at the Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School, and Yoshihiro Fujiwara, an outdoor writer and champion of Spearfishing Japan Cup 2006.
・Learn about 20 skills in 2 days
・We select a camp location in Kagoshima that is least affected by typhoons
・The experience will be balanced with challenging activities and easy activities
You can check our previous blog posts on the Summer Seaside Survival Camp. (The blog language is in Japanese only as of now.)
２． Summer 2018 camping details
Why Camp?
-A Message from Yoshihiro Fujiwara-
I’ve been involved in the outdoor world for over 30 years ever since I started collecting bugs as a young boy. Now at this stage I believe that was all a lesson for me to learn how to utilize “freedom” in the most natural sense.
We never think about this while living in the city, but if we dissect what we do in our daily lives, it’s not that different from way back during the primitive times. As in, we walk around and gather food, eat, sleep, defecate (Sometimes we can add our function of mating and raising children), and in that sense we are not that different from our hunter-gatherer phase. Instead of gathering food we go to work, earn money, buy food with that money, and live the same form of a cycle in a very indirect way.
We are now so good at living in convenience, that most of us living in the city have no clue how to gather food or prepare our own sleeping space without the help of civilization and pre-made products. However, sometimes natural disasters and political incidents push us into situations where we don’t have access to these resources that have become part of our lives. Natural disasters, political corruptions, wars, these are all things that can happen at any point of our lives. Only certain people and countries are able to take advantage of buying food instead of growing or gathering their own. When all collapses, we will need the skills to gather our own food, just like our ancestors did.
If you know how to skillfully gain what you need from nature, you can survive when a crisis hits. You won’t need to depend on a third person to stay alive, and more than anything, no one is in control of your life-or-death matters and your mental freedom. Gaining a few basic outdoor survival skills can help anyone to survive for a week with a backpack full of essentials. A longer duration, such as a month would even be possible with advanced skills.
With a deeper understanding towards animals, plants, and simple physics, anyone can create tools necessary for basic survival. Having the capability to utilize resources available from our natural surroundings can eventually expand to owning a refrigerator constantly full of food or having a comfortable bed no matter where you end up.
On top of that, spending time in the wilderness naturally forces us to face our own mind and body.
How long can I walk? How much luggage can I carry? What is my body like and how aware is my mind? What are the important essentials in my life? Utilizing limited tools, the body, and mind, you become aware of your true potential; what you are incapable and capable of as a human being.By knowing thyself, one learns how much they need to maintain their own life. By knowing how to live off the earth’s offerings, one becomes free from man-made systems. That’s where I think the deep meaning lies in survival camping.
Requirements for Participation
・It is recommended that the participant is over 12 years old and can walk on their own. ・If the participant is a minor, participation should be under their own will, not under their parent’s wish. ・The tour is best for a group of up to 5 people. （If you wish to participate with more than 5, please consult with us beforehand.）
Instructors

Tender
Chairman & CEO of Dynamic Lab, one of Japan’s largest fab labs located in Kagoshima.
An environmentalist and writer who has been featured on a Japanese national TV documentary special. His attempts to live in sync with nature has been influential to the public. His primitive skills were gained through the standard course at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School in the US.

Yoshihiro Fujiwara
Outdoors writer and editor for various outdoor magazines. Champion of Spearfishing Japan Cup 2006. Specializes in spearfishing and casting nets to capture sea life, and considers collecting and utilizing what he captures as his lifework.
Date / Time
1 Night 2 days: Between 2018 July to end of August.
Please propose us your desired dates and we will adjust with the instructor’s schedules accordingly and get back to you.
Location
A secret location along the sea shores of Minami-Satsuma City, Kagoshima. In case of extreme bad weather, we will gather ay Dynamic Lab.
Program / Skills Taught
- Basic knife skills for survival camping
- Starting a fire
- Building a fire stove
- Bonfire cooking
- Japanese military style rice cooking
- Creating a rope from gathered plants
- Basic ropework
- How to set up a tarp
- How to set up a tent
- How to snorkel properly
- Diving techniques for spearfishing
- Breathing techniques and the body
- Spear hunting
- How to butcher a whole fish
- How to differentiate edible and non-edibles around the beach & ocean
- How to gather water
- Filtering and sanitizing for clean water
- Using the wilderness as your bathroom
- How to butcher a chicken
- Etc.
Depending on the weather conditions we may modify some of our teachings. In the case that we cannot swim in the ocean due to weather restrictions, we will offer a tour and conduct lectures at Dynamic Lab. Talks at Dynamic Lab will include topics such as how to treat your gray water with a trench system, how to build a DIY compost toilet, how to built a DIY solar wall heating systems, etc.
Fees
1 night 2 days for one whole private group for ¥100,000 (JPY) .
*Maximum capacity for one group is 5 people.
The fee includes 4 meals, insurance, skill teaching, and assisted translations.
３．How to arrange for your reservation
Pre-Arranging Phase:
- Adjusting schedules Please suggest dates between 2018.7/23 – 8/31 so we can coordinate with the instructors schedule.
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Consulting requests and details Please be specific with your requests so we can accommodate as much as possible so that we can best tailor the program for you. We want to make sure that your group can gain what they want most from this camp. ie.) We would like to participate with family, I want to concentrate especially on spearfishing, I’d prefer to sleep in a building instead of outdoors during the night, etc.
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We will share necessary information for your camp trip accordingly after the consultation.
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On The Day of Camping:
1. 1st Day / Gather at Dynamic Lab in Kagoshima around 10:00am
-Depending on weather conditions, we will go to the beach or lecture in a classroom.
-Lunch
-On-site skill teaching, practicing, and swimming.
-Dinner
-Camp on the beach or sleep at Dynamic Lab
2. 2nd Day
-Lecture and overview of the entire course and other skill lectures
-Butcher a chicken (We grow our own Japanese hens at Dynamic Lab)
-Lunch
3. The course finishes after lunch
4.Reservations & Further Inquiries
Please fill in the form below for reservation and further inquires.
» Group Representative’s Name (required)
» Group Representative’s Phone # (required)
» Group Representative’s Email Address (required)
» Desired Dates （Between 2018.7/23 – 8/31 ）
» Transportation (You can check how to access us here）
How do you plan to get here? Plane, bus, etc.
» Desired Difficulty level
* Beginner Level
（A step by step instruction on-site）
* Mid-Level
（There will be homework given before the trip. We will go over the skills you practiced as homework on-site)
» Will you have a vehicle with you in Kagoshima?
* We will have more than two cars with our whole group
* We will have one car with our whole group
* We plan to travel by public transportation
* Other
» Message body (comments and requests are welcomed)
5. Disclaimer
- Everyone taking part in the Summer Survival Camp activities does so at their own risk. The group works on the same basis of being a group of friends (or family) who go out camping together with the instructors.
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For long distance travelers; in any case that your means of public transportation (airplanes, trains, and bus) stops due to unforeseen incidents and you cannot reach our location, we may cancel the trip. We fully refund in any case of an incident due to weather conditions and natural disasters.
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If it rains hard, we will modify the program to something feasible within the premises of Dynamic Lab. However, if the instructor decides that your group can still camp under the rain, we may go out to the ocean and proceed the program.
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