Paradise on Earth
By Emi Tsuruta

Note: this is one in a series of posts about my life.  If you'd like to know more about my friends and me, please drop by my home page at:
http://www.asstr.org/~emitsuruta/


A couple of years ago during my summer vacation in August, I headed back to Japan to visit my family and friends.  I was happy to see my mom again, but she had hoped, I guess, that I would just spend a couple of quiet weeks at home with her cooking, grocery shopping and telling her about my life studying abroad in the United States.  I really love my mom of course, but she can be a bit overprotective at times, not letting me go out, and do the things I really want to do.

That's one reason why I was so happy when my mom's younger sister, Aunt Sachie, gave me a call.  Even though Aunt Sachie is the same generation as my mom, she is a bit more of a live wire, joking and laughing all the time and really enjoying her life.  I've always felt a bond with Sachi, and she sounded really happy to see me.  She told me that her husband, Uncle Yuuzou, had a vacation coming up.  They'd made plans to go on a day trip to a mountain in the western part of Tokyo, and she invited me to come along.

"Mom, can I?  Please!" I pleaded.  Even though mom and Sachi were so different, they got along really well.

"Um, yes, I guess that would be alright," my mom nodded.

"Yay!  I can go," I told Sachie, all excited now.

The day of the trip, my uncle came by to pick me up in their car.  I thought 'oh no,' when I first saw my uncle all dressed up in his best mountain climber's outfit, complete with knee-length shorts and a cap with a feather in it.  I guess people in Japan want to look authentic no matter what the activity, but I didn't really have a hiking outfit with me in Japan.  Most of my clothes were still back in California.  Anyway, they didn't seem too worried when I came out in a pair of white sneakers, khaki cargo pants and an orange and white striped hoodie.  Luckily, Aunt Sachi and her son Hideki were dressed more normally too.

I climbed in the back of their SUV, and we set out on the long drive to Mount Takao in the wild bushy parts of western Tokyo.  They were all anxious to hear my stories of my life in America, so I did my best to tell them, but Hideki kept interrupting with his silly wise-cracks.  They were all in a good mood though, and we had fun joking around and singing along the way.

Eventually, we arrived at Takao-san-guchi, the entrance to Mount Takao.  Uncle Yuuzou unpacked his mountain-climbing gear, but as it turned out, not far from the base there was a cable car that takes you half-way up the mountain to Takao Monkey Park.  This was all a bit too developed for Uncle Yuuzou, who was looking for adventure, so back we went to the car where he looked for a more interesting place nearby.  I had my doubts, but he explained he had this special map made by surveyors that point you to secret beauty spots where tourists don't usually go.  He told us that there is a waterfall not far from there, and so off we went in the car again.  When we got to the park entrance, he parked, got out his camcorder, and filmed the scenery along the hike out.  It was mostly babbling brooks and cedar trees along the winding trail which led us through this valley with mountain slopes or cliffs on either side.  I was surprised when we passed all these other hikers, but I guess it was the high season for travelling with the summer vacation and all.

We must have been hiking for at least an hour when we finally came to the falls at the end of this narrow valley.  It was a beautiful waterfall, very high with a thin curtain of white water spraying down through the dense tropical jungle.  There was a pond at the base with beautiful deep blue water.  It honestly looked like something out of a movie.

I guess I must have looked disappointed because Sachie looked over at me, narrowing her eyes, waiting for me to say something.

"No, nothing," I assured her.  "I was just wishing I'd known we were coming here.  I would have brought my swimsuit."

Sachie looked over at Uncle Yuuzou, and Hideki was gazing off into the distance, as if they all shared some kind of secret.

"We could go in swimming," she suggested, turning back to me.

"But none of us brought swimsuits," I protested.  Both Uncle Yuuzou and Hideki continued to avoid my gaze, but it was obvious that there was something they weren't telling me.

"It shouldn't matter, should it?" Sachi continued.  "We're all family here."

It sounded like she was hinting that we should all go skinnydipping together!  I have to say I was more than a little surprised by this.  I'd known Sachi my whole life, and I knew of course that she was more open-minded than my mom, but even so, at first I thought it would be seriously weird for the four of us to get naked out here in the middle of nowhere.  Was she serious, or just teasing me?  Still not sure, I let out a nervous giggle.

"Ha!  Yeah, right!  That would be pretty funny!"

The expression on Sachie's face was quite serious though.  Maybe she isn't joking.  Uncle Yuuzou was ignoring us, absorbed in filming the waterfall.  However, I could tell from the way that Hideki was playing with the stones at the waterside, not quite looking at me but ears half-cocked, that he probably knew that his mother was going to suggest this.

"Um, what?  Do you mean..." I shook my head, still trying to get my mind around this.  "Skinnydip?"

"Sure, why not?" Sachie beamed, all smiles.  "It's no big deal really, is it?"

Sachie is actually one of the few people in the world who has a pretty good idea about how I feel about getting naked.  For one thing, she'd been there the day I was coaching her daughter Namie on how to spark Namie's new husband Ryoichi's interest in love-making.  I guess I'd gotten a little carried away, and ended up convincing Namie to strip naked, and phone Ryoichi to invite him to come home early.  I thought that might shock Sachie, but she hadn't really reacted much at the time, and now I better understood why.  Maybe she was - or they all were - closet nudists.

"Um, have you... um... ever done anything like that before?" I asked cautiously.  Now this really wasn't what I intended, but actually, they'd all gotten a hint of my tendencies various times at their house, and perhaps even heard stories about my antics with Namie during our hot spring trip.  It must have sounded like I was challenging them, demanding that they provide genuine nudist credentials before I would accept them into the club.

"We've been to co-ed hot springs.  Hasn't everybody?"

I guess part of the problem was I'd kind of forgotten about how relaxed people are in Japan about nudity, at least in the springs.  In America, people seem a lot more uptight in some ways.  For Sachi, and probably Uncle Yuuzou and Hideki as well, getting naked perhaps wasn't such a big deal.  But even so, I still felt weird.  I wasn't exactly a little girl anymore, and both Hideki and Uncle Yuuzou were adult men with presumably healthy sex drives.

Yuuzou finally set down his camcorder, and moved to take off his shirt.

"Yeah, it is kind of hot today.  It would be nice to cool off."

Hideki just kind of sat there quietly at the pond's edge not saying anything while his parents got undressed.  My uncle and aunt aren't exactly spring chickens, but they didn't seem ashamed about their bodies at all.  They'd probably been to many a hot spring, and I guess they must have taken Hideki and Namie with them.  Namie had turned out quite shy, and Hideki certainly seemed in no rush to get naked in front of me, but apparently, their parents were quite at ease with their bodies.  One thing that was bothering me about this whole skinnydipping idea was the other hikers we had seen on the trail on our way out.  Probably many of them knew about this waterfall, and so someone could show up at any minute.  Neither Sachie nor Uncle Yuuzou seemed too concerned though.  They both stripped naked, and waded into the water for a dip.

"Oh it's wonderful in here," my uncle cried out.  "Nice and refreshing."

I still felt a bit self-conscious about stripping in front of Hideki, but his mom and dad seemed so at ease with the whole nudity thing that I began to wonder if I was the one who was being too prudish.  I kicked off my sneakers easily enough, and took off my socks, but when I went to lift up my creamy orange and white hoodie, Hideki's eyes shot over this way.  He was surprised I guess that I seemed willing to strip in front of him.  I must admit that the thought of taking off my clothes with him watching was giving me butterflies in my stomach.  Over the years, I had devoted a lot of effort to making sure that he didn't catch me naked.  It was so strange to think that here I was contemplating getting naked in front of him 'for free.'

I let go of my hoodie, glaring at him, trying to get him to stop watching me, and get undressed himself.  He scrunched up his face I guess to signal that he didn't want to, but I wasn't really so keen on being the first of us two.  We stayed there for a while watching each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

In the back of my mind, I felt a bit annoyed at my uncle and aunt for bringing me here, and not telling me that we might have a chance to swim.  Had they been planning on going skinnydipping right from the start?  Were they trying to lure me into getting naked in front of Hideki for some reason?  Or maybe I'm just overthinking the whole thing.  The more likely explanation was that I'd gotten so used to the negative attitudes towards nudity in the States that I'd forgotten how relaxed people in Japan were about it.  This wasn't some devious trick on their part, but just a natural response to my comment about how nice it would be to go for a swim.

Slowly, I began to worry that if I didn't go in swimming soon, other people would come, and I'd miss my chance.  My uncle had already come back to shore, and headed for where he'd left his stuff.  My aunt was still happily swimming away, so I finally made up my mind to go for it.

Since moving to lift up my hoodie had gotten such a big reaction from Hideki, this time I undid the belt on my khaki cargo shorts first.  Hideki stayed facing away from me, but I could tell that he was kind of watching me out of the corner of his eye.  Trying to act like I didn't care, I undid the buttons that run down the front of my shorts, and peeked down checking what kind of panties I was wearing.  Luckily, I had on plain white cotton panties that day instead of slinky lacey ones, but they were panties I'd bought in Japan, and so the weave was slightly loose making them ever so slightly see-through.

I didn't really want Hideki to see what kind of panties I was wearing, so I ended up pulling my panties down at the same time as my shorts.  Unfortunately, this just got me really excited as suddenly there I was standing there naked from the waist down in front of them all.  It's a bit hard to explain why I was getting so excited - they were my family after all - but I guess in my mind there's this connection between stripping naked and sex.  Also, it seems to me that there is something kinky about wearing just a top, but being naked from the waist down.

Leaving my shorts and panties on a rock, I carefully picked my way across the pebbly bank down to the water's edge, and stuck my toe in the water to see how cold it was.  I glanced over at my uncle only to find that he was videoing me with his camcorder.  Placing my hands on the bare cheeks of my bottom, I glanced down at my pussy, a bit embarrassed to be filmed like this, wondering if I should cover up.  My uncle motioned for me to ignore him, and get on with what I was doing.  I did think it was a bit weird for him to be filming me - his own niece - half naked like this, but Sachi didn't seem concerned at all, so maybe it wasn't that strange.  I guess he just wanted to record the moment for their family album, but to tell you the truth, being filmed wasn't making it any easier to calm down.

I turned back to Hideki to see what he was doing.  He quickly turned away from me, and skipped a stone across the surface of the pond, but clearly, he'd been staring at my bare bottom, and was feeling guilty about it.  I did feel a bit strange receiving so much attention from the two of them, but it wouldn't make sense to chicken out now, and get back dressed.  Still acutely aware of the two of them watching me, I reached inside my sweatshirt from below, and pulled my other arm in getting ready to lift the shirt off.  Almost without realizing it, I arched my back to accent my bottom and breasts as I lifted the shirt over my head and off.  I looked even sillier with just my bra on, so I quickly took it off, and placed it on a rock with the rest of my clothes.  I was stark naked now in front of the three of them, and boy did it feel strange!

"Hideki, aren't you going to come in?" I taunted as I made my way down to the water's edge.  It seems my show of bravery had finally shocked him out of his stupor, and he quickly peeled off his clothes to join me.  My uncle was right about one thing - the water was cool and refreshing.  Within a minute or two, Hideki was naked, and followed me in, splashing me from behind.  I splashed him back, giggling, happy I guess to be doing something that seemed so playful and innocent after the sex-charged tension of my initial strip.  I kept backing up to get away from Hideki's splashing, but soon he was almost splashing his mom, so she motioned for us to back off.  So as not to bother her, we moved off to the side and into the deeper water where you could swim.

The water nearest the falls was quite deep indeed, so I began to wonder if I could go up the cliffside, and make a dive from above.  I climbed out of the pond onto the bank near where my uncle was sitting, but the cliff was too sheer on that side to climb up.  I looked across the pond to the other side, and there seemed to be some flat stones that led to a trail up the cliffside.  I was shivering a bit from the cool air after my dip, but rather than go back into the water, I walked along the pebbly shore towards my uncle intending to walk all the way around the pond.  My uncle - never the shy one - pointed his camcorder right at me, as I walked up to him dripping wet and naked.

"Uncle!" I squealed, a bit embarrassed to be filmed in all my naked glory from so close up.  He just laughed though obviously delighted that I felt confident enough to show them my body.  I'd been swimming a lot in Oceanview, and so was actually pretty proud of how I looked at that time - slender waist, washboard stomach, firm calves and hips.  I dabbed my fingers at my sensitive nipples which were shining a nice shade of cherry blossom pink in the strange jungle light.  My pussy was tingling too, but I didn't dare touch it with all of them looking on.

After I passed him, my uncle turned to video me my rear end as well, so I gave my booty a little shake just to tease him.

"Uncle, stop it!" I giggled pretending to object to being filmed.  He just laughed though seemingly realizing how much I was enjoying it.  Hideki was staring somewhat dumbfounded at how I could flaunt my body like this, but his mom didn't seem to mind.  She just smiled, as I made my way to the path, and then disappeared up the trail.

"Hey!  Where are you going?" Hideki shouted after me.

"I want to see if there is a place you can dive off from," I said, turning to explain.  The slope was quite sheer, but there was a sort of zigzag path leading up the side of the cliff.  I kept slipping in the mud, but I slowly managed to make my way up to a diving platform of sorts higher up the cliff.  By the time I got there though, something was going on down below.  Uncle Yuuzou was rushing to put his clothes back on, and Sachie had gotten out of the water to get dressed as well.  I scanned the valley trying to figure out what was going on until finally I saw them.  It was a group of four or five hikers coming down the valley this way - one youngish man and a group of middle-aged ladies.

Looking down at my naked body, I despaired.  Now what do I do?  I guess I could just hide somewhere until they move along, but who knows how long that might be.  I couldn't see Hideki, but he too must have gotten out of the water to get dressed.  What on earth am I doing up here - buck naked - anyway?  How do I get myself into these situations?

My uncle was all dressed by then, but rather than gathering up my clothes and bringing them to me, he continued to point the video camera up at me watching to see what I would do.  Their whole family is like that I swear.  Every time I get myself in a fix like this, instead of doing something to help me, they all just sit there almost as if they want to see me embarrassed.  I guess their daughter Namie isn't like that, but unfortunately, she isn't here today.

Anyway, I backed away from the edge of the jump-off trying to keep out of sight as the hikers came up to the pond.  Over the roar of the falls, I could vaguely hear what sounded like my uncle greeting the hikers.  Oh come on, guys.  This isn't funny!  Bring me up my clothes!

I put my hand between my breasts willing my heart to stop beating so loudly.  I was terribly worried that the hikers might come up the same path I did because it did seem to lead upward deeper into the park.  After I'd been standing there shivering and naked for what seemed like an eternity, I heard the rustling of bushes as if someone was coming up this way.  I braced myself for the worst, but luckily, it turned out to be my aunt with my clothes.  She motioned for me to stay quiet because the hikers were still down below, but she finally handed me my hoodie, so I could get back dressed.

Once I was all dressed again, we climbed back down the cliff.  Hideki had this impudent smirk on his face, clearly having enjoyed my torment.  My uncle was still chatting happily away with the hikers, seemingly unconcerned by what had happened.  Anyway, the hikers eventually moved on, but none of us felt like skinnydipping anymore, so we headed out on the long hike back to the car.  On the ride home, everyone was pretty quiet, perhaps thinking about our little adventure there.

Of course, I didn't tell my mom or sister about what all had gone on that day, and I don't think Sachie told my mom either.  Eventually, my vacation ran out, and I headed back to the U.S. to my life in Oceanview in California.

I think the next time I saw them all was that New Year's when I headed back to Japan for another visit.  My uncle and aunt hosted a big holiday celebration at their house.  My mom and dad were there, my sister Norika and her British boyfriend Evan, Hideki's sister Namie and her husband Ryoichi, and also this businessman Mr. Kato and his wife who were neighbors of Uncle Yuuzou's.  We were all spread out across their living room in little groups chatting.  I was sitting on the sofa with Namie listening to her talk about her job at the jewelry store and how her married life with Ryoichi was going.  I was so wrapped up in our conversation that honestly I didn't really clue in on what happened next for quite some time.

What I think happened is Aunt Sachie set up a laptop on one of the sidetables, and was showing videos of their travels to various places.  I thought she'd said something about them going to Vietnam or Indonesia, and so I wasn't too surprised when the video showed what looked to be a jungle somewhere.  I turned back to Namie, and started telling her about things in Oceanview, not really paying attention to what else was going on.

As we were talking though, from the laptop, I heard the sound of splashing water, and Hideki laughing.  I turned to look at the screen, and suddenly, recognized that this wasn't some jungle in southeast Asia, but rather the falls we'd visited in the summer!  On the screen, there was Hideki running in after me naked, and then, a few moments later me getting out of the water - buck naked - and walking straight towards the camera!

I looked around the room.  Up until then, everyone had been focused on their various conversations, but now with me there naked on the computer screen, people were starting to perk up, and take notice.  My aunt rushed in from the other room, apparently finally realizing what video it was.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed, putting her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.  There were a few shots of my aunt naked as well, so I'm pretty sure she was genuinely embarrassed, and hadn't planned on showing this video at all.  Now everyone looked over at the computer screen as it showed me walk up to my uncle, and then pass him shaking my bare booty as I walked away.  Mr. Kato and Ryoichi and especially Evan are obviously all wondering why I am there naked.

"Oh I didn't mean to show this," Sachi explains.  "This is from our trip to Mount Takao with Emi last summer."

"What are you doing?" Ryoichi asks, staring right at me, obviously pretty shocked.  I covered my mouth, my face getting all hot from the embarrassment.  Luckily, in the video, I disappeared into the jungle, and my uncle's camera panned back to the falls, but I'm pretty sure that they all saw me naked.

"There didn't seem to be anyone around, so we went in skinnydipping," my aunt explained, as she tried to figure out how to stop the video.  Unfortunately, Sachi isn't very good with computers, and she couldn't seem to get the mouse working to stop the video.  If Hideki had been a gentleman, he would have lept up, and showed her how, but instead he just sat there with this goofy grin on his face letting the video play.  Sachi looked over at me apologetically, but clearly, in her flustered state, couldn't figure out how to stop the video.  I would have gotten up, and stopped it myself, except I didn't really know how their laptop works either.

In the video, I finally reappeared at the top of the cliff still standing there naked as my uncle zoomed in on me.  The Katos and all my family were watching now in fascination as I flit around in my bare scuddy.  Let me tell you - I was so embarrassed!  I know that my aunt probably didn't mean for this to happen, but how on earth could she not realize which video this was?

After the segment of the video with me in it finished, the room went silent.  Ryoichi and Evan peered over at me, I guess comparing in their minds the naked me they just saw in the video with the real life clothed me.  I did my best to smile, and pretend it was no big deal, but I felt so embarrassed - honestly.  Even later when we went to the dining room to eat supper, I could feel all of them staring at my backside and breasts wondering what it would be like to see me naked in person.  I hung close to Namie, but she was more than a little annoyed at me because her husband Ryoichi seemed so excited at seeing me naked.  This time at least I hadn't done it on purpose, so I didn't understand why she was so upset at me.

After supper on our way home, my mom kept lecturing me on how I shouldn't have gone skinnydipping, and shouldn't have let my uncle video me, as if the whole thing was somehow my fault.  My dad didn't say much.  He knew how Sachi was I guess, and could well imagine how it had started.  One good thing to come out of this was it did sort of make my mom more aware of the kind of stuff I get up to, so maybe next time, she won't be so shocked.

Emi Tsuruta
http://www.asstr.org/~emitsuruta/
