#28 Canoeing and the beauty of Japanese rivers
Examining the factors that are key to the expansion of Japan's canoeing population.
Have you thought about committing yourself again to some sports which you put all of your energy into your life when you were young? There are various ways to commit, and canoeing is one which came back to my mind this autumn. I have played all different kinds of sports in the past, such as basketball, Kendo (Japanese fencing), tennis, mountaineering, skiing and canoeing. After graduating from the university, I have never thought about committing myself again, but supporting for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a volunteer in the Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre was a trigger to think about coming back to paddling world.
It was a kind of coincidence that a friend of mine from the same university asked me to help canoe slalom competition in the National Sports Festival at Tochigi Prefecture this autumn. It is not fair to compare the popularization of canoe slalom and other sports such as football, but everybody agrees that canoe slalom is still an under-recognized sport even though it is an Olympic event for many years. This week, I will write about the current situation of canoeing in the general and potentiality of river sports for overseas tourists from my point of view.
Supporting the National Sports Festival as a competition official, it was an amazing experience to see the expansion of the age range of participants and their levels. I was so much impressed with the emergence of young generation and their level competing on a national level. But I strongly felt that canoe slalom should be recognized more as a lifelong sport.
When you look at the topographical map of Japan, you will understand the river system in Japan is so complex and detailed. There are 109 first class water-based rivers in Japan and this 109 has lots of branches. Considering the distance from the source of the river to the coast and numbers of rivers in Japan, Japan is one of the ideal countries for canoeing. Steep rivers provide experienced paddlers heavens of white water on upper streams and downstream rivers offer suitable exercise places for beginners.
“Easiness” is one of the keys when it comes for all sports to start from the beginning. From that point of view, canoe slalom has a little bit of disadvantage since you need to have a kayak, a paddle and above all the transportation to carry it to the river. I always ask myself what the difference between advancing canoe slalom countries in Europe and Japan is. I haven’t come to the answer yet, it has been a long unsolved question. It is so easy to come to the conclusion using a word “culture”, but there must be an answer why.
It is just my assumption, but the more people engage in a certain sport, the more keen and serious competitors emerge in general. When I was a small boy, most of the boys played baseball and there were a few boys playing football. But there have been a huge move on football after the establishment of professional football leagues. Now it is amazing to see lots of Japanese players are achieving results in European leagues. Japan is not a country like the Middle East and we have beautiful rivers. So there must be something which may change the move dramatically.
Let’s think about how many promising fields or places to entertain people, including tourists from overseas. Why don’t we provide and share wonderful experiences with local people and visitors? The view is completely different depending on where you look from. The view from a river stream is completely different from the view we see every day. It starts with the height of the view, and it is inaccessible by car in many places. There must be great value as tourism resources to attract foreign tourist.
In Japan, there is a tourist attraction called Rhine rafting, which is a simple ride of 15 to 20 people in a large stable wooden boat down several kilometres of rapids. It provides a certain excitement as you descend the rapids, as well as a refreshing coolness in summer. Famous ones are Nagatoro in Saitama Prefecture and Kinu River in Tochigi Prefecture in Kanto area. If you go to the Kansai area, Hozu River in Kyoto is very famous, and it provides you the combination of historical city Kyoto and river cruise at the same time. Hozu River is very beautiful in autumn. Well, what I would like to emphasize is that the scenery of Japanese rivers could be better utilized in the area of tourism.
The National Sports Festival, wild water and slalom competition took place in Shioya Town, Tochigi Prefecture two weeks ago. The competition was held on a part of Kinu River where it only takes 30 minutes from the world famous historical city of Nikko. This venue in Shioya Town needed a careful preparation since the existing courses were not in town. The national Sports Festival is an annual sports event which the host province rotates in turn. It means that the host turn comes nearly once in half a century. It is needless to say that it is once in a lifetime event as a host. In addition to that this event was suspended due to the pandemic and it was held for the first time in three years. They have built a fantastic course consisting both the technical and physical part and it was very enjoyable to watch even though I had to do my duty for the competition official.
If you compare the canoe slalom venues with European countries most of the venues in Japan are allocated for natural rivers and the venue needs substantial construction with heavy machinery sometimes. Unfortunately, the only artificial slalom course in Japan is Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre in Tokyo, which was newly constructed to host Tokyo 2020.
The issue of how to broaden the base of the canoeing population and develop athletes who can compete at world level after the Tokyo Olympics must be troubling those who were involved. There won’t be any shortcuts, but by reviewing the beauty of Japan's rivers and combining this with tourism measures, there may be a chance to expand the base of the canoeing population.
The Japanese Government has stated that it will continue to set a target of 60 million foreign visitors to Japan by 2030 as a tourism-oriented country. If the number of foreign visitors increases that level, there should be tourists who are keen on Japanese rivers.
In any case, as a person who enjoys Japanese rivers and their scenery by paddling on my own, I sincerely hope that an environment will emerge in which we can discuss these issues from such a perspective.
One Stop
"One Stop" of this week has nothing to do with the main theme. It is about the broiled eel served over rice in a lacquered box. It is a rather expensive dish, but I strongly recommend to try if you haven't. "Kogure-ya" is located out of Tokyo in Chiba prefecture, but it's worth visiting and waiting on the queue if you have a chance to the north east of Tokyo. The eel is so soft and tasty that it melts in your mouth. There are some bones, but you can eat them all. You really don’t have to worry them. This restaurant is highly evaluated in many gourmet sites. No reservation is accepted and the best is to be there at least 30 minutes before the shop opens. I can talk a lot about this food, but I will cover some other time.
KOGURE-YA: 4-2-22, Tennoudai, Abiko-city, Chiba