Most people don’t envision themselves sunbathing on a slow flowing river in a bathtub and there’s good reason for that, but in Japan anything can happen. Back in the olden days many people would gather around the Matsukawa River to bath themselves and wash their clothes in round wooden tubs. Soon thereafter, they realized these tubs could be used as small boats. And because boys will be boys, they obviously soon realized they could race them down the river, and so the tradition began. It has been 54 years since this annual race first began to attract tourists, and this year there were 200 participants.