Bodies of two missing canoeists found in Chiba river

Why in the world would anyone have gone out canoeing in yesterdays winds?

Wasn`t this the same river where a bunch of high school kids capsized in sudden strong winds a few months ago?

Urayasu? Isn't that a builtup industrial area? At least it was when I drove thru there a few years back. Canoeing? And given yesterday's freezing, super windy weather as well, I'm having a hard time imagining what these people had in mind.

Me too, no idea who in their right mind would even think of going out into a river in such strong cold winds, but they are dead so RIP.

I suppose anyone might be in 'their right mind' to attempt what might appear to be impossible to others. - Perhaps they had superior skills in canoeing - that had already taken them through much more testing weather conditions. Everyone makes mistakes, whatever their ability. The police report says that the winds were strong in the afternoon - perhaps in the morning when they set out - it was calmer, and quite different. Very sad, can imagine the anxious mothers waiting for news, when they were so late.

I've canoed often enough to know that If they had no lifejackets on they were inviting disaster. Sad but foolish.

I grew up canoeing in northern Canada. People look at the ease of it on TV and say hey let's do this. It's a art and second nature to those of us that do this. We read the wind the currents the feel of resistance on our paddles and canoe. It's not just some novelty recreation and has to be taken with the utmost seriousness. Anything can happen suddenly and there isn't room for panic. A few lessons by some "instructor" isn't going to suffice.

Hopefully the message of the dangers involved sinks in with people and they don't step beyond their capabilities.

Sad to see this . RIP

Why do the Japanese call kayaking canoeing?

Ossan, In the 1970s I used to go to canoe school in the UK. We used what you call kayaks. What you call canoes, we called Indian Canoes. At that time, for us, a kayak was a type of canoe, not distinct from such. A quick web search proves that this is no longer the case and that they have become distinct species, but I reckon Japan had a similar understanding of the word. Back on topic, how do you know that the sadly deceased were in kayaks? They could have been in (Indian) canoes, no?

I am sorry to read this, i tipped in a canoe once and it is very hard to get back in if you fall out...or it tips over. I hope their spirits rest in peace.

AGAIN! Life jackets are made to be worn, not thrown in the bottom of the canoe. It doesn't matter what type of boat, wear the life jacket.

Here in the United States both Kayaks and Canoes are very popular and described as Kayaking and Canoeing. I'm sure most people outside of Japan are aware they are different designs originally created for different purposes, and operated entirely differently. Additionally the need to be specific exists from a maritime law enforcement perspective as we now have a multitude of water-borne vehicles, from sailboards to jetskis (Personal Water Craft) in the mix of recreational vessels subject to various rules and regulations. Perhaps Japan should update their wording. Frankly I didn't know which type of boats were involved in this incident, but I remember seeing footage of the last big incident involving multiple students and the term "canoeing" was being used by the media. It seems to me that Kayaking is far more popular in Japan than canoeing.

Life jackets and calmer waters would have made a difference in this case. So sad.

TV news footage taken from a helicopter clearly showed a 2-person sea kayak on a stony beach, broken into two pieces, with policemen standing nearby.

Crap. That's terrible news. R.i.p. thoughts go to the families.

If the water was really cold, life jackets would not have done much good thermally. Still, it is foolish (if this is the case), not to wear one. The instructor would also be negligent in not requiring his client to put one on. Maybe we'll get more information later. RIP.

I wonder if they even knew how to swim well. Even with life jackets on, we should have some ability to move towards shore.

all it takes is one bang along the banks or rocks, and you're done for, lifejacket or not

I dont know, seems these types of accidents are TOO common, especially since so few actually take up these activities!

I used to canoe/camp all the time before I washed up on these isles, opening of trout season we would often be out on lakes that still had ice, remember one lake we were crossing, wind changed, it wasnt strong but the lake was still half ice & the ice drifted across, within about 10min we realized we were going to be hemmed in so we picked a spot on shore & hauled our canoes(not kayaks) out on shore & made camp, why, because even thought the ice wasnt thick we knew if you didnt GET OUT the ice would crush your canoe, so we did, got out, spent the night, no choice, next morning we moved on.

Another time we were finishing a trout opener, paddled up the last river, then a 10minute paddle to where our cars were, aaggh NO, the winds were strong, the lake was shallow 5-6ft but with the wind kicked up wicked waves, so we stayed on the beach, tipped our canoes to block the wind & waited 12-14hrs until the winds died down to paddled the last 10minutes, if we didnt wait some of us likley would have died.

Moral of the story JUST because you planned to canoe/kayak on a specific day DOESNT mean you should! You have to know when to sit mother nature out, or else!