Canyoning & rafting in Minakami, Gunma

Two of our friends had previously done canyoning and recommended it as a summer activity! We were able to make a reservation for our whole friend group (8 people) for a combination canyoning & rafting full day activity with Canyons.jp in Minakami in late July. 

We arrived by car nice and early before our 09:30 reservation (instructed to be at the site NLT 20 minutes prior to reservation time) thanks to little-to-no traffic and clear skies. I had paid online via credit card beforehand, so we all just needed to check in individually using the QR code at the front desk.

We were given a briefing by our canyoning guide as well as a quick intro to the facility and the wetsuits we would be wearing. There are small (free) combination lockers for valuables like any jewelry, phone, keys, etc, but otherwise, you can leave your towel/change of clothes in the changing areas downstairs. I stowed my phone in the locker for the whole experience, so I don't have any photos of my own, but an album of photos and videos are provided after the tour, once your complete their survey.

(Photos used in the rest of this post are provided by Canyons)

Canyoning

Luke and Dai were our leads for canyoning at Fox Canyon. Language/communication in English is no problem with the Canyons staff as many are from New Zealand. We boarded a small bus to get to the start of our canyoning route, about 10 minutes away. This day, the 8 of us made up the entire group which was really enjoyable for us. After a few tips an dos/don'ts, we all got in the water and were off. 

Luke had a waterproof camera he kept on hand and would occasionally pose us for photos or other moments depending on the activity, often getting photos for each person individually. First little slide down that I gracefully executed...obviously.

With everyone in the group being friends, it was fun to take advantage of the silly activities like this linked float. 

The water was chilled but refreshing on this hot day and flowing at what I would consider a pretty decent rate (where it wasn't static by any means but also not to fast that it felt dangerous).

The first larger challenge and probably one of the highlights of this route is being lowered by rope down the side of this waterfall before being released to freely slide down the rest of the way about 12-15(?) feet and launching into the water.  

A portion of the waterfall behind us here ^

The ropes and system required to lower us safely had a lot of prep and take down time (including for the leads themselves to traverse it), so we were also offered the opportunity to do some jumps from the rock walls where some small handholds were set up to help give you height to keep us entertained/with something to do. 

The second big feature was sliding headfirst "backwards". This is done when the pool of water you'll land in isn't deep enough to accommodating going feet first. The water in the bottom was flowing in a counterclockwise motion and Dai was waiting down at the bottom to make sure we could get out of the swirl as well lol. 

We slid down the small waterfall at the lower left of this photo ^

And then there was another small opportunity to slide headfirst near the end! 

We ended the canyoning in this area where the water contained and at an appropriate level to allow for lots of jumping opportunities. I'm not the biggest fan of jumping into the water, but everyone else went (and some people multiple times!) before we concluded.

While Luke did a great job at taking photos, there's definitely parts of the tour that aren't captured here. If any part of what we did seems interesting, consider looking into canyoning in Japan for yourself! I don't think we have anything like this (especially tours for beginners) on Oahu, so it was an entirely new experience for me. 

We loaded back onto the short bus to get back to the Canyons main building (again, about 10 minutes away) and then were shown to the upper deck area where we had lunch. When you book the full day itinerary, lunch is included in the price! It was a burger + fries and surprisingly delicious and filling. 

We arrived back at around 11:45 with our next activity wasn't set to start any earlier than 13:00, so we ate at a leisurely pace and relaxed until then. 

Rafting

Zane came to grab us at the deck area, and we started getting ready to leave at around 13:30. The group is much larger for this activity, with 22 participants and 5 leads. After everyone had their gear, we loaded onto a regular size bus to get to the starting point, about 10 minutes away where the rafts were already waiting at Tone River. Our group of 8 split into 2 rafts (we decided on boys vs girls) and Zane explained the rules and instructions to us directly in English while the other groups were briefed in Japanese. 

The girls boat ended up being lead by Adam (who arrived later with separate transportation) and Zane took care of the boys boat. 

By the time of the afternoon tour, the dam had stopped releasing water, so the river was a bit shallow for us. It meant that it was a little harder for the leads to navigate and worry about us getting stuck on large rocks that were difficult to see under the water. 

As paddlers, our job was to pay attention to the directions (forward, backwards, jump right, jump left, hold on, get down) and follow as instructed. Canyons staff Tetsu-san was following along the route and capturing photos of each raft at various points throughout the tour. 

When we got stuck lol ^

Not captured in photos were moments where the guides stopped and let us swim in the water (great for a hot day) and even slide down a small section of rapids which ended in catching the emergency rope to get back to the shore side which were both very fun. The views from the river itself were very nice as well. 

To end the tour, we all exited the rafts and took turns jumping from a high ledge into the water. There were 3 heights, and most of our group took the highest one lol. 

I am a weenie who didn't want to jump to begin with and jumped from the lowest one lol. Honestly, if we hadn't done the canyoning before (where it was practically necessary to jump into the water at some points), I probably would have tried to not jump at all lol. 

From here, the leads had taken most of the rafts themselves to the offload point, and we floated ourselves down the remaining part of the river on our backs. Our group was among the first people done, so we ended up helping load all the rafts onto the truck before heading back to base on the bus. 

Back at the base, we returned the paddles, helmets, life jacket, shoes and jackets before heading to the shower area where we removed the long johns and socks (all inside out). We held onto the same helmets, shoes, socks and long johns for the whole day, but had switched out the jackets between canyoning (thicker, with a connecting crotch like a body suit) and rafting (thinner and just like a normal jacket length) after lunch. The shower area does have warm water, soap, shampoo and something like conditioner, but I would consider it a good place for a thorough rinsing rather than a full and complete shower. We were all done at approximately 16:30 - a full day for us for sure! 

Would I do it again?

Canyoning - um, probably not. I had a decent time but I actually don't like entering the water like that (jumping, falling, sliding in at speed, etc) and was a little scared about it at times lol. The wetsuits, shoes and life jacket do help a bit (doesn't hurt when you hit the water), and I did feel safe with the guides, but you are responsible for your own body. Also, water went up my nose pretty much every time, which I hated. Again, that's on me, but just what made it a less ideal experience imo. It was absolutely worth doing once and a fun idea, and I enjoyed it as a group activity. If I did do canyoning again, I don't think I can do anything above a beginner level. 

Rafting - yes! I had a lot of fun with this activity even though the water was shallow and I didn't want to do the jump at the end. I enjoyed following the lead's instructions but still doing something - not needing to steer or make any decisions myself. Our group is hoping to go back in late spring for better water conditions. 

Minakami is about 3.5 hours from where we live (depending on traffic), so this made for a good weekend trip while still having Sunday to recover. I also appreciated the full album of photos and videos that were provided as part of the experience through Canyons since we can't reasonably bring out own phones (this blog post would be sad and nothing without it).