Portal:Scouting/Selected biography/November

Michiharu Mishima (三島通陽 Mishima Michiharu) was a novelist, playwright and drama critic born in Azabu, Tōkyō. He was a member of the House of Peers and the House of Councillors and was parliamentary vice-minister to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. His pen name was Shōdō Mishima (三島章道 Mishima Shōdō). Mishima formed the nationwide Boy Scouts of Japan with Count Futara Yoshinori in 1922, with Shimpei Gotō at its helm. He was elected as Associate Board Chairman at age 25. He became the first president of the Boy Scout Association of Japan and also served as the head of the central training grounds. In 1941, he was awarded the Blue Ribbon Medal for philanthropy. He held a Scouting exhibition in February 1946, the first of its kind since the end of World War II. In 1950, he transferred the Boy Scouts Association of Japan headquarters to his villa and home in West Nasuno, Tochigi Prefecture. This site is now a permanent camping grounds for the Boy Scouts of Japan known as the Nasuno Camping Grounds. In 1961, he was awarded the Bronze Wolf by the World Organization of the Scout Movement for exceptional services to world Scouting.