Happyraft — Attraction in Otoyo

My friend and I booked a half-day rafting tour after spotting Happy Raft in the Japan Lonely Planet guide and checking some pictures on their website. We were looking forward to it from the start of our trip around Shikoku, but were completely blown away by the experience on the day!

The staff are absolutely incredible, ensuring that from the moment you step into their base you feel welcome, relaxed and prepared for the fun ahead. All the necessary safety precautions are provided and a thorough briefing (in fluent English and Japanese) is given before your toes even touch the water.

Once you're out on the water the real experience begins; you can tell the guys running the day love their jobs by the fun they have with their colleagues and customers alike, letting you participate in open water swimming/ diving where safe to do so, pulling pranks on one another and showing people the thrill of rafting. Everyone is included in the action and I didn't see one person without a smile on their face.

At the end of the activity you head back to the base for some lovely and inexpensive home made bagels, whilst you chat amongst the friends you've made and check out the pictures from the tour. I cannot recommend this experience enough, my only regret being that we didn't book onto the full day tour. If you're reading this and deliberating between the two, perhaps because your schedule is already packed, move some things around and make time for it! It'll be one of the best decisions you make on your trip to Shikoku! :)

My only recommendation to Happy Raft: ditch the photo CD's, watermark your pictures and stick them up on Facebook! You'll make way more from the free social media exposure than the 1000yen discs, and you guys deserve the biggest crowd...

Everybody was super friendly. Including the excellent raft guide and picture taker (in a kayak). I did the half day ride with my son, because he is not old enough for the full-day ride. We both totally loved it. Felt safe (even when it was a little scary). Will definitely do this again and highly recommended to anyone else - whether with small children, or those with older children ready for the challenge of the longer/bigger ride, which I will do as well.

I went for the third time to HappyRaft with family (wife, 11-year old son, 5-year old daughter). We had a fantastic time on the family tour. Izzy was our tour guide, and she was equal amounts serious (when needed), funny (always), professional (for safety and knowledge), and awesome (as a person).

I can't recommend enough, give enough stars, to HappyRaft - everytime (well, the three times I've been here), everybody is so friendly and nice. I keep thinking, oh that must be our guide because he's/she's so friendly... nope, they're all just so chill and nice.

The rafting it'self, I have total confidence in these folks, and I'm not looking for too much adventure, and I have to say, even the family ride is just so awesome... granted, I have been blessed with nice weather, and when it's nice, it's absolutely beautiful floating down the (chilly) water beween green-walled mountains and a blue sky.

Anyhow, HappyRaft - these guys are awesome, the rafting is awesome, and I can't say otherwise enough nice things. ...

I went on the full day tour after staying the night in the Happyraft lodging. We met at Happyraft base at 9:50 to change into wetsuits and various gear with plenty of sizes. The entire staff from start to finish was kind, hospitable and professional. Everyone spoke English as well, so if you’re worried about a language barrier, don’t!

I had Tero-san as my boat guide who has over 26 years of experience and you can tell! He made the 3 hours on the water extremely fun and safe. There were 5 people total on the boat: myself, my friend, a couple we befriended, and of course Tero-san. We made a great team! We went in early spring (March 26) so the water was very low, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying quite a few rapids. We even at one point got to jump off a small cliff to swim in the river!

Once we finished up (around 14:30), we headed back to the base to enjoy the most delicious all you can eat bagel lunch! After we finished, we said our goodbyes and Tero-san was so nice to drive us to Oboke station. Thank you to everyone at Happyraft! Amazing and...