Kirisute Gomen

Kirisute Gomen is the first episode of Survivor: Japan - Civil War.

Challenges
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Eight members of each tribe must paddle from the beach to a small island nearby, where they will have to dig through a large sand pit to find five bags of puzzle pieces. Once they find all five bags, they must paddle back to the beach, where the remaining two members of each tribe must solve the puzzle.

Reward: Flint and a clue to the hidden immunity idol.

Day 1
A motorboat docks at sparsely populated southern Shikoku in Japan. One by one, twenty castaways leave the boat and stand on a large mat a few meters away from Jeff.

"Jeff Probst: Welcome to Survivor: Japan."

"none"

- I've been a huge fan of this show as long as I can remember. To be here right now and to hear Jeff say that in person just gives me this feeling like, "Oh my god, this is really happening! I'm really on the show!" I'm so psyched about this, man. This is going to be great.

"Jeff Probst:For 39 days, this is where all of you will compete for the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize that comes with it. But first, the tribes. If I could get the oldest man and oldest woman among you to step forward."

Lawrence and Donna step forward, flanking Jeff.

"Jeff Probst: Lawrence, Donna, by virtue of age, you will be the captains, or daimyos, of your tribes. In Medieval Japan, lands were governed by daimyos, who answered only to the shogun. Likewise, you two will lead your respective tribes. You will decide who plays what role in certain challenges and around camp, and you get two votes at Tribal Council, instead of just one. Your first task as daimyos is to pick your tribes. You two will rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets to pick first."

Lawrence chooses scissors at the same time Donna chooses paper, giving Lawrence the first pick.

"Jeff Probst: Lawrence, your tribe will be called Ashikaga, and you will wear black buffs. Donna, your tribe will be called Kamakura, and you will wear teal buffs. Here's how this is gonna work; starting with Lawrence, you two will do a schoolyard pick, alternating genders until each tribe has five men and five women. Lawrence, who do you choose first?"

"none"

- So it turns out that from the moment the game begins, I'm already one of the most powerful people in the game. I mean, Jeff literally handed me the title of daimyo, which comes with a second vote privilege. And I get the first pick in the draft, so to speak. I couldn't have asked for a better way to start the game.

Lawrence: Shannon.

Jeff Probst: Shannon, come on up and claim your buff. Donna, it's your turn to pick.

"kamikura"

- From the moment Lawrence picked Shannon instead of the strong-looking black woman whose name I can't remember, I knew I would win this schoolyard pick and end up with the better tribe. The only thing better than being the leader of a weaker tribe is being the leader of a stronger one. That instantly puts you in a great position going forward.

Donna: Chuck.

Jeff Jeff Probst: Chuck, come on up and claim your buff. Lawrence, you know what to do.

Lawrence: Kyle.

Donna: Emma.

Lawrence: The woman with a perm. Sorry, I've never been the best with names.

Jeff Probst: Beth. Come on up.

"none"

- I understand that my third selection may have been somewhat of an eyebrow-raiser, but after watching every season over the course of just over a year, I've seen what happens when people deliberately choose younger tribes. I thought taking an older contestant earlier on would help to circumvent the possible immaturity and laziness a lot of the youths I'll have to choose from. Muscle will only get you so far without elderly wisdom.

Donna: John.

Lawrence: Bryce.

Donna: Reyna.

Lawrence: Jasmine.

Donna: Tyler.

Lawrence: The balding man in a collared shirt. What's your name again?

Patton: Patton.

Lawrence: I choose Patton.

Donna: Lisa.

Lawrence: Phoebe.

Donna: Dave.

Jeff Probst: Lawrence, there are now two more men remaining unpicked. Whichever one you don't choose will automatically go to Kamakura. Donna, same with the women. Whichever one you don't choose will automatically go to Ashikaga. Lawrence, who is your final selection?

Lawrence: The young man with long hair.

Jeff Probst: Landon, take your spot with the rest of Ashikaga. Patrick, go join Kamakura.

"kamikura"

- Personally, I have mixed emotions about not actually being picked. On one hand, I feel slighted because Lawrence chose a really young and probably immature liability over me. On the other, I'm glad I landed on Kamakura because I feel that Donna did a better job picking her tribe than Lawrence. I really think that Lawrence's decisions will come back to haunt him in the near future.

Jeff: Donna, remember that whichever one of the final two women you don't pick will automatically go to Ashikaga. Choose wisely.

Donna: I can't keep their names straight because they look so much alike. Um...The one in the green tank top.

Jeff Probst: Katie, take your spot with Kamakura. Hannah, you're now a member of Ashikaga. Go over with your new tribemates.

Katie and Hannah join their respective tribes and claim the last of the buffs available.

"none"

- Being the last person available in a schoolyard pick really makes you feel worthless when you're a kid. When you're on the game of Survivor, it can either put a target on your back or lead people to dismiss you as a non-threat if you do enough around camp. Either way, I have to prove myself if I want to stick around.

"Jeff Probst: Alright, now that tribes have been chosen, it's time for you to go to your new homes. Waiting for you at your respective campsites will be a machete and a bag containing a few pounds of rice. About half a mile to your right, each tribe will find a canoe and a map to your respective campsites. Make sure you take the canoe which has stripes coinciding with the color of your tribe. Get going."

Both tribes begin walking to their canoes, arriving at them after roughly half an hour. They board their respective canoes and go their separate ways to find their campsites.

Ashikaga
Ashikaga arrives at their camp after paddling through the ocean for a couple of hours. After a minute of taking in their surroundings, Lawrence starts assigning tasks to his tribemates.

Lawrence: Let's split up into two teams. Six people working on shelter, and four on fire. Kyle and I will try to start a fire by focusing the sunlight through our glasses. Two volunteers will try to create a fire by causing a lot of friction between two pieces of wood.

Phoebe: I'll help with the fire.

Beth: Me too.

Lawrence: Alright, everyone else get started on that shelter. The last thing we want is to end up without a shelter when it starts raining like crazy.

"none"

- I'm not certain how I feel about Lawrence's leadership so far. Although I'm glad he isn't too militant about it, I think he could have had a couple of the people assigned to work on fire to try to find some food. That rice won't last us very long at all, no matter how we ration it.

After digging a small hole and collecting twigs, Lawrence and Kyle take off their glasses and attempt to create fire by reflecting sunlight through them. However, it is too overcast outside for this to work. Fortunately, after about half an hour, Phoebe manages to create a few sparks using wood, and soon enough a small fire is burning. Landon, Jasmine, and Shannon, who are returning with wood for the shelter, applaud when they see this.

"none"

- I created fire for my tribe! This is literally one of the best things that could have happened to me, because it'll pretty much guarantee that I stay off the chopping block early on.

Meanwhile, Patton takes advantage of his position further away from the campsite than others to start strategizing.

Patton: Hannah, I noticed that nobody picked you to join their tribe. Well, for what it's worth, you would have been one of the first people I chose.

Hannah: You really think that?

Patton: Absolutely! I think we should team up. People will target me for being a used car salesman, and they'll target you because you weren't chosen. There's strength in numbers."

Hannah: You know, that's not a bad idea.

"none"

- I'm not entirely certain that Patton's the most trustworthy person out there. His compliments before asking to create an alliance were very out of the blue. But I probably have a target on my back for being the tenth person the tribe got stuck with, so I really need allies. Beggars can't be choosers.

Little do either of them know that Bryce has been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"none"

- So I was just going to ask Patton for the machete back, when I noticed that he wasn't chopping wood. He was trying to create an alliance. It's the people who try to take control of the game really early on who become the biggest threats. Patton's got to go before that can happen.

Bryce quickly heads back to the camp and finds Lawrence discussing plans for the shelter with Kyle and Beth.

Lawrence: You know, Kyle, slanting the floor slightly is probably a good idea. That way it won't flood during - Yes, Bryce?

Bryce: Patton's trying to create an alliance. He may or may not be trying to take your title. I dunno who he wants gone, but he's trying to get numbers, man. He could be a threat very soon if we don't do anything about him.

Lawrence: It's pretty common for people to start playing the strategic game right off the bat, Bryce. It's not uncommon for their plans to fall flat, so I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet.

Bryce: I know it's common. And that's exactly why we need to do something about it.

Lawrence: Bryce, we've got a shelter to build. Just focus on that for now and stress out over strategy and conspiracies later if you must. We can't let this tribe immediately plunge into a state of paranoia. Just keep chopping wood, okay?

Bryce: ...Alright. But I'll keep you posted if I hear about them targeting specific people.

"none"

- Bryce seems like a good young man, and I really think he'll be an asset to us in challenges, but he's a bit paranoid and skittish. He'll have to get that under control for the good of tribe, or else I may have no choice but to get rid of him. I can't have him spreading fear and paranoia to the others in the tribe.

Kamakura
Kamakura arrives at their campsite around the same time that Ashikaga does. Donna does not hesitate to assign tasks to the tribe.

Donna:First things first. We need to get started on a shelter. Katie, you have glasses, so I'd like for you to try using them to start a fire, that way we can have quicker access to clean water.

Katie:What does having glasses have to do with anything?

Donna:If you try to shine the sun through them, you can burn stuff. You can start a small fire by focusing the sunlight on a few twigs and stuff like that. I want everyone else to start collecting trees for the shelter.

Chuck, however, has other ideas. After helping a bit collecting wood for the shelter, he goes over to Katie to help her out.

"kamikura"

- I don't think it was right for Donna to exclude just one person from the main group collecting wood for the shelter. Besides, I spend most of my time outdoors, hunting and fishing. Naturally, I know a thing or two about starting a fire. Probably a lot more than Katie does.

Chuck:Hey Katie, let me help you out.

Katie:Why? Aren't you supposed to be collecting wood with the others?

Chuck:Well yeah, but I know how to make a fire. Could you hand me those two sticks?

Katie:...Sure...Here you go.

Chuck begins to vigorously rub the two sticks together, quickly conjuring sparks, and, soon enough, a small fire.

Chuck:Just one of many ways to make a fire. Using glasses probably wouldn't have worked in this weather. It's too overcast.

Katie:That's really cool, Chuck. Where did you learn that?

"kamikura"

- So far, Chuck is probably my favorite person on my tribe. He seems to know his way around this outdoors stuff, so we'd be stupid to get rid of him.

Donna spots Chuck at the fire instead of helping with the shelter, however, and is quick to confront him about it.

Donna:I assigned you to help with the shelter. The fire was Katie's job.

Chuck:I know. But I practically live outdoors. I go hunting for days at a time on a regular basis, so I know how to start a fire. It may not have been what you told me to do, but I'm still contributing and making myself useful.

"kamikura"

- Kirisute Gomen. These are the two words that gave the samurai authorization to strike down commoners for disrespecting them. Likewise, I can get Chuck voted out because he challenged my authority. He had better watch himself.

Meanwhile, Patrick's incessant chattering is starting to get on the nerves of some of the other men.

"kamikura"

- I've had a lot of girlfriends over the years, and all of them had deeper voices than Patrick. I've just met the guy and I already don't like him. And it's not because he's obviously gay. He's just annoying. He won't shut up.

Patrick:...And then I said-

Tyler:Here, can you take this load to the campsite?

Patrick:Urgh! Yeah, I got this. And no, that is not what I said.

"kamikura"

- Patrick was getting on our nerves, so I just gave him a heavy bunch of wood to take to the camp. With luck, he'll get distracted and chat up the girls. Bother them for a while instead of us.

Patrick arrives at the campsite and drops the wood on the ground near the rest of the stockpile.

Patrick:Hey Donna, do you think we have enough for a shelter now?

Donna:No, not quite. Maybe another few bundles and we'll be good. ...You know, it'd probably do us a lot of good to find extra food sources. If you could search the area for some fruit or whatever, that would be great.

Patrick:You can count on me.

"kamikura"

- I was the last guy left in the schoolyard pick, and it seems like nobody wants me around. Why do they hate me so much? Ah well, once they realize how much work I'm doing around camp, they won't want to get rid of me. I grow on people after a while. That'll be my main strength in this game.