Forest Adventure courses seem to be going well in Japan with over 10 sites popping up around the country. I recently tried the one in Yuzawa-Nakazato and can see why. It is ridiculously good fun and just the right amount of scary.
You spend a short induction session in the beginner area where a guide shows you how to use your safety equipment and introduces you to the obstacles you will face: Tarzan swings, ladders, high wires and zip lines. You quickly get the hang of how to use the two different tools attached to your safety harness, remembering always to have at least one clipped onto a safety wire. Graduate from this course and the real fun begins. You head out around the Discovery Course and Adventure Course with things getting progressively higher and more difficult.
It is really exhilarating, and even though you know you are safe, it still takes quite a bit of courage to throw yourself off the platform and into the cargo net a couple of meters away with the ground far below. Long zip-lines have you whizzing into piles of soft leaves, and some of the balancing traverses that take you from platform to platform in the treetops take real concentration.
The views are quite good too but you might not notice as there are other things to think about.....
