This is traditional log rafting in Japan. It’s also a good way to scare the hell out of yourself. Guides who’ve studied the art take tourists downriver as they stand on logs with rails for handholds three hours from Osaka on the Kitayama River. The guides use wooden oars and steer the strange craft–that’s actually a collection archaic wooden rafts tied together like a train–downriver without lifejackets. The tradition is from Japan’s logging industry as workers would tie sawed timber together to steer it downriver. The technique was used for some 600 years in pre-industrial Japan. It became a tourist attraction in the 1970s and today, costs about $53 for the newbie to take a ride down Class III-IV rapids. Notice the caboose is outfitted with a stretcher. You know, just in case.
This is What Traditional Rafting in Japan Looks Like; And It’s Way Gnarlier
