Yasugawa river

Up and out super early today to go with classmates from the outdoors club to Yasugawa river, near Moriyama train station in Shiga. It was about an hours ride and we had to be there early to prepare for a rafting event. This was no ordinary rafting event, but a sponsored event where participants construct their own vessels, are judged, then float down the river to end at a mini festival atmosphere. There were about a hundred groups participating, a lot of scouting groups, schools groups, and other community organizations. There was also a video crew roaming around documenting, and they went around taking closeup shots of everyone.

Our rafts were made of PET bottles (plastic), a painted wooden panel and little bits and pieces for decoration. We did most of the work over the last few days, but constructed them on site. There were eight of us in the group, so we had three rafts in total, a big, mamma raft, and two smaller baby rafts. We had chains and hooks to try and keep them in line, with fins for decoration. We were provided PFDs and rafting helmets like this was a real rafting trip, but in reality the river was somewhat low and we bottomed out in areas.

With everyone ready, we were called up by number and presented to a group of judged. I was the only foreigner anywhere in sight, I think that was why everyone was especially interested about our group. A short cheer and we carried our rafts down to the launch point. The river was alive, little fish swarming about everywhere I looked, and the distinct smell of river (you know what I mean). The early parts we took turns having someone pull us along, not much current and shallow, but farther ahead the river widened and deepened and we all got on our rafts and floated ahead. It was a hot day, but nice riding on the water. I wish the river had had more water, would have made it even more fun without having to stop at a few points and walk.

About 50-minutes onward, we came to the end, and a big crane was there to lift the rafts to the bank where we took it apart and recycled the components (plastic bottles at least, rest of it just went into a common 'burnable' dumpster). There were a number of food stands around, but somehow I was not able to find a bottle of water anywhere and I was really dehydrated from the river. The river had also washed away the little bit of sun screen I had put on my legs and I was sunburned. But food was good, one area had bins of fish swimming around, order one and the japanese man would grab it, skewer it right in front of you, roll it around in some salt and throw it on the grill. Tasty and fresh, if you could get past the eating a whole fish, head and all thing. There was an award ceremony, and we won! From what I could understand, it was a popularity prize, and came with a grill for cooking takoyaki.

As part of our participation, we were given free passes to an onsen in the area. One of my classmates parents had driven up with the raft materials, and they gave us a ride to the onsen. It was nice, connected to a big hotel and resort. The hot water scalded my burnt legs, but the cold water did wonders. On the way out I purchased some milk from a vending machine. These are especially popular around onsen and sento, and for good reason! A ride back to Nagaokakyo and pretty much ended crashing for the rest of the night.