mr.sumo.snr wrote:

> Happened just down the road from me - it turns out that some nearby
> Australian rafting instructors were the first to jump in the river to help
> the students - none of whom were wearing life-jackets!  Yet another
> remarkable way Japan tries to kill off its youth!

Isn't this the run from just below the bridge at Tenryukyou down to 
Karakasa on the Iida line? All those boats seat about 25 or so, and 
nobody ever wears life jackets, myself included. I'm scratching my head 
thinking how the hell did they manage to capsize one of those things. In 
the upper portion the rapids are so low grade that most of the trips 
(I've done it about 15 times) are spent watching the standing boatmen 
catch then grill a few ayu on the way, before we stop at a moored "bar" 
enroute for beer refills, and them mosey on downstream clicking cameras 
and listening to enka for the remainder of the trip. If the boat 
capsized only a kilometer or so from Karakasa - then it would have 
capsized in almost still water due to the dam downstream. What gives?



-- 
"This is the dumbest, most ridiculous idea ever to come out of the 
International Rugby Board in its 2000 year history" - Phil Kearns on 
drop goal shootouts