09‏/11‏/2012

Bungee Jumping and Autumn Leaves

Wanna jump off a bridge? It'll be fun, I promise

By Bryan Baier

Community writer

The Tonegawa River, the Suwakyo Gorge and Tanigawadake Peak from the bungee bridge

Looking down at the Tonegawa River from the bungee bridge

This is more confidence than I actually felt

The next time somebody tells you to, “Jump off a bridge,” why not try it? Bungee Jump Japan’s 42m (that’s about 140ft) bridge in Gunma Prefecture’s Minakami-Cho is the only place in Japan that offers the chance to experience bungee jumping. Here under the careful supervision of professionals you can safely jump off a bridge.

Or can you? Jump off the bridge, I mean. There is nothing natural about jumping off a bridge. Even a jumper as eager as I was gets scared. How does one trust their life to a length of rope? The answer is to just do it. The more you think about it the more difficult it becomes. How do you do that? Take in the view. When I jumped the Suwakyo Gorge was covered in autumn leaves, and the peak of Tanigawa-Dake was freshly dusted with winter’s first snow.

“3... 2... 1... Bungee!” The fun you’ll have and the sense of accomplishment it will leave you with are awesome. And the next time someone tells you to, “Jump off a bridge,” you can enjoy their confused reaction when you say, “I already have.”