White Water Rafting in Mitake Japan

We all met up early on Wednesday morning, 22 SPOILED rotten expat wives------ rain pouring down in Tokyo, that looked like it would never end. We were still going, besides, we would get wet anyway, heck we were going on a river!! Some of us were scared, some excited, but we all were anxious to get this show on the road.

After taking 3 trains in an hour, we were in the lush mountains of Japan, with a river whooshing near by. Much to our delight a young, cute, American gentleman greets us with delight!! His name is Bryan, he is from California and has been running outdoor camps in Japan for about 5 years!! He is fluent in Japanese, but even HE was excited to be able to do MOST of the talking to us girls. He says usually it is his Japanese co-workers who have to answer all the questions, and explain just HOW to drive/steer/ hold-on while paddling down an angry river!! The rain had stopped by the time we all arrived, and Bryan is telling us all the steps we need to take.  We had all worn swimsuits under our clothes, so the first step was to go put  / pull / wrench up into wet suits!!! THAT was a hoot in itself----- seeing 22 expat wives, squirming into these wet suits, some just stepped right into them, some pulled, groaned, wiggled, and fell over laughing trying to put them on. We all eventually were in these suits, and boy did we look cute. Next step was grab a wet suit jacket to go over the top, and secure the neck, and sleeve holes once on---what??--precaution for what is to come---COLD water!!! Next is our helmets, that were oh so cute, and then of course life jackets.  So now that we are all snug in this 'gear', we have to WALK?? ha,,, We trekked down to the rivers bank, and were given really cool water shoes.  

There about 100 yards from the river sits 4 blue rafts. We had to flip these rafts, and carry them (4 girls and guide per) down to the water!! THAT was difficult in itself, I was of course stuck with a whiner, who says,,,,"my rotor cuff is injured, my foot is injured", and just DROPS what she is carrying, and leaves it to the 3 of us!! I am thinking,,, DAMN girl, why did YOU come if you can not use your shoulder??!!!  (reminder to me, to stay away from her, I do not want to be in her raft!!)... 

Bryan goes over the forward paddling and backwards paddling, tells us what to do IF we get 'bounced' out, (lay on your back and pull your knees up) and when our guide yells,,,,, OH SHIT!!! We are to plop our butts in the middle of the raft floor, and hold paddles in the air!!!  Some of us, (me included) are getting a little nervous here, as they come by checking to see if our life vests/helmets are tight enough!!  I am thinking---well here comes my demise---on a river in Japan!!! 

We are told to divide up, 5 in some and 6 in one----Me, Debbie, Sharon, and Beth all 'group' together, as do other ladies---all BUT ONE!!! YUP you guessed it MISS WHINER did NOT have a group--so she was in with us!!! Our guide in our boat was Yugchi-san, and he was amazing!! He chooses me and Beth for the front---(he said we looked strong, and had 'big' voices!!)  ha ha,,, Deb and Sharon in the middle, and Miss Whiner, back by him. We had not gone 200 yards until she decides SHE needs to be up front, because she has such LONG LEGS!!?? WTH??? She is tall, but you do NOT have more leg room up front, if anything it is LESS!! She keeps whining---being the good person that I am,,, I say, I will switch with you.  So we struggle to the embankment, rock back and forth changing seats.... THEN she says,,,,,"Oh yeah, I can not PADDLE from this side"!!! ha ha,,, Yugchi-san says in his polite voice, You can not paddle, then you can NOT sit up front, that is a MUST have skill!!! So we change back!!! By this time, I have about had it with her, and thinking, is there any way we can have just HER go overboard??  We continue on, and boy did we have fun,,,, the first time Yugchi yelled OH SHIT, I thought we were all going to die!!! We were headed for a rock--fast---but we slammed into it, and then all laughed!! So much fun!!!! But he had to yell OH SHIT about 10 times!! We would go through some rapids, then kind of meander on the water, looking at the others come through, splash the other rafts, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. TREES everywhere, I am sure that is a gorgeous place in the Fall.  

Suffice it to say---- it was a blast--- I would go do it again---minus Miss Whiner---in a heartbeat. You can see in the pictures, she is sitting the WRONG way in the boat, and just relaxing and not PADDLING at ALL?? I can not for the life of me figure out why she even CAME!! Oh yeah,, she was also the ONLY one that did NOT wear her swimsuit, (did not even bring one) nor did she bring a TOWEL!!!  Debbie knows her, and the next night when Sharon, Debbie and I were together, we had to laugh and bitch about this lady. Debbie says she is from Georgia, and has lived in Tokyo for 8 years or more!!!

After the boat excursion we were taken back to the base camp, where they had fired up a brick oven, and had a spread for us to make our own pizzas!! That was perfect, and it only took ONE MINUTE in this brick oven to cook a pizza!!! Of course we were all hungry----paddling works up an appetite---and dying of thirst!! I even had a couple of beers myself!! 

It was a fantastic tour, the first time TAC has done this particular event, and I think they were pretty skeptical of it-----because we had to sign about 4 WAIVERS just on TAC alone before we could go !! ha

I am sure we will be written up in the TAC magazine this month!!

Me and Beth up front, Sharon behind me, Debbie, and Miss Whiner, acting like she is the QUEEN! I actually had no idea she was sitting like that until I saw the pictures!!

I could not wear my glasses, but I was surprised at how well I could see after about 15 minutes. It would have been nice to have my own waterproof camera, however, I had enough to worry about!!

Some breath taking views, alot of these trees are maples, we saw a picture of it in the Fall, and it was almost glowing with red!!

Lisa is demonstrating on land how you 'flop' back in the raft if you are overboard!!

 ONLY one went overboard, but that is because she weighs about 80 pounds, and she literally bounced out of the raft, we were right behind them,,, she was fine.

This was on our way home, waiting on the train, at this lonely station. What started out as taking a few pictures here and there, ended up these 2 Japanese ladies offered to take our picture---sure we said, as everyone threw their cameras at her!!! ha,,, So they were great sports, and kept snapping away, of course with a million instructions, finally the lady stops----puts her finger to her mouth and says,,,"SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"  It was a classic!

 But this is what 22 spoiled rotten, expat wives do on a normal day in Japan, once they have their kids off to school!! FUN FUN and then some more FUN!!!
I had not seen a lot of these ladies since the beginning of the summer, so it was also fun to catch up with them.