River In Nikko

This is a photo of Daiyagawa (Daiya River) in Nikko-shi (City of Nikko) in Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture) in Japan that I took back in 1990.
A few minutes later I went skinny-dipping in this river. Stupid on so many levels, but mostly because I can't swim. Nicholas Strachan and Chris Rathbone convinced me and so we did. Three straight guys saying 'screw you' to convention.
I never would have done something like that before, but these two rapscallions were all about pushing the envelope - and for that, I thank them.
It was bloody cold - there was shrinkage - but no one noticed. No leeches. No horseplay. Just the soaking up of Japanese culture - Nikko - from a different perspective.
And if there were any Japanese folk to see three gaijin (foreigners) being foreign, we never knew.
At that point in time in my life, it was the most surreal thing I had ever done. Needless to say, I had not even begun to live yet.
Thanks guys for the kickstart.

Cheers
Andrew Joseph 

High School Students Charged In Death Of Classmate

Wow... WTF?

Four high school students have been arrested for their part in the drowning death of a 15-year-old classmate this past August 2011 in the Sakura-gawa (Sakura River) at Mito-shi (Mito City) in Ibaraki-ken (Ibaraki Prefecture).

The accused students who were 14- and 15-years-old at the time, had allegedly tried to extort money from the victim.

Refusing to give in to their demand, he was pushed into the river below.

At the time of the incident, the three boys and one girl initially claimed the boy had jumped into the river of his own accord.

“The river’s depth was about three meters (9’-10″) and also had a strong current,” says a police spokesperson. “Because of these circumstances it was easy to predict that he could lose his life.”

The parents and grandmother of the young victim had wondered: “We thought something was wrong from the beginning. Why would he jump into the river with his clothes on?”

Files by Andrew Joseph