Iruma River 8/18

We started our day by heading into West Tokyo not knowing what we were going to do exactly as the weather was quite unpredictable. As we made our way to the countryside the rain really started to pour down making visibility worse, and apparently causing some accidents up ahead. With a two hour traffic jam forming, we decided to reroute from the highway, taking low roads which got us to the riverside in good time.

After arriving we were pleasantly surprised to see the river at normal levels, and people were beginning to set up for their day at the river. After setting up and talking to the locals about the state of the river, we had our snack before going over the safety protocols and making our way to the jumping rocks. Everyone did amazing and although they said they were slightly afraid, after jumping a few times, they couldn’t get enough. We spent the rest of the morning there swimming, jumping, and floating down the rapids on the boogie board.

Around 12:30, we headed back to our camp, and made preparations to make a fire. Again, the wood at the river was wet due to the heavy rain, but after talking about what we needed to make a fire, the scouts helped to make a tinder bundle using some twine which they separated and fluffed up. Using a flint and steel we lit the fire and let it burn down to embers as we ate our lunch. As we were finishing our lunch, the fire was just right, so we started roasting our hotdogs and marshmallows to make s’mores. Everyone had a different technique to roasting their marshmallow or making their s’more, and it was fun to discuss and talk about the different outcomes when we do things differently.

When we were finished, we wanted to do some fishing for crayfish, so we used some bits of leftover sausage and meat that had fallen to the ground as bait, set up our lines, and went looking for crayfish in the creek near the river. Although we had seen some crayfish previously, we were not able to catch any and moved on to attempting to catch the small minnows that we could see.

After a short while we decided we wanted to get back into the water, so we headed back to the rocks for some more diving and jumping. As we arrived, we found there were more local children playing at the river and the boys got into a big water fight with them. They had lots of fun as the Japanese children were shouting random words that they knew in english, and as Tomo was helping to translate, they were able to play for a while together. We continued to explore and play around the waterfalls as well.

By this time our day at the river was nearing its end, so we gathered up the garbage we had cleaned from the beach and headed back to camp. We then packed up our things, and made our way back to the car. On our drive back, we stopped at the service area, and the scouts picked out some snacks or things they thought their parents or siblings would want and enjoy. We finished it up with buying some ice creams, and made our way back to the drop off points. This river day was so much fun, we had so many good conversations and laughs, and we look forward to seeing all of you again!

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