Nihon 2015-nen ni sunõbõdo

So I was extremely fortunate to be posted in Tokyo for work this year so took advantage of the location to chase down more of Japan’s famed powder.

I am writing this post after around 25 days in a handful of Japan’s hundreds of ski resorts mountains. Some old, some new but all good times. Sat in the corner of a huge hotel room with its own hot tub and sauna on the 19th floor with a 3 meter long window overlooking an incredible mountain in Tomamu that we rode yesterday.

A little sad because I was hoping for one last ride of my season, but the winds are too strong and the top lifts (where all the good stuff is) are not open.

Sad also because my assignment here has come to an end and as soon as I head back to Tokyo this evening I will be packing my things and returning to London. At least until I can get my affairs sorted for my next assignment in HK.

So I have spent every weekend since the new year snowboarding. Starting with an extended 5 day trip over new year in Nozawa Onsen, which just never disappoints. More weekend trips to Nozawa and Myoko Kogen with a long weekend in Niseko filling the rest of the weeks.

Days trips to other mountains included Togari Onsen which had loads of untouched yet not patrolled side country action accessible off the lifts. A short bus ride from Nozawa made a nice change of scenery to explore and a bit of variety.

Seki onsen again a short bus ride but from Myoko this time. Seemed to be a small family run mountain with only one 2 man lift. We arrived here just as it opened and looking up the mountain the visible face only had a couple of lines down it. By the end of the day there was more touched than untouched snow on the face. A great location for laps and laps of side country. My friends will tell you (or rather gloat) that there is even better fresh line action. Payload for this is a hike which I was not equipped for at the time. Next time Seki, next time.

Myoko

The fun this year has definitely got to go to this last trip. A 10 day tour of Hokkaido including Rusutsu, Niseko, Kiroro, Furano and Tomamu.

Rusutsu was as fun as it was last year, but more chances to explore the actual resort’s runs an side country as I was here for more than a day trip. A nice long hike up the main ridge, plenty of bowl action, but you do kind of feel you are always traversing in the bowls rather than gunning it down the mountain.

‘The Meadow’ as we nicknamed it, just off the main piste through a short section of trees opened up to a massive field where you could always go that little bit wider and find fresh lines. Only down side is it required a 10 minute walk back up the road to the gondola. Worth it every time. Staying in a Japanese style ski resort in itself is an experience. A self contained complex with various dining options, indoor way pool and water slide, but with staff uniform and decor that made you feel like you were in a 80s time warped. Everything is well maintained and runs smoothly, but just like it had been intended in 1979. You can’t knock the fact that it just works, but as the location becomes more popular with international skiers I do wonder if they will bother to refurbish the complex or not. The fast food options were pretty terrible, but the Bavarian style buffet which had all the snow and king crab you could stuff your face with was a highlight.

Niseko just increasingly feels less and less Japan. The modern Canadian architecture is really nice and luxurious, but its that what attracts the masses of gaijin to the point that nearly all service staff are not Japanese and can’t even exchange basic Japanese formalities nevermind understand what nama-biru is.

Limited amount of lifts were open when we were there, but always enough to have fun. What we did benefit from the Niseko effect was the access to good restaurants. Quite common in Tokyo, but less so for the ski resorts of Japan.

The Barn – Niseko

La villa Lupicia – Niseko

Kiroro – What an absolute gem of a resort. A more modern take to the Japanese resort compared to Rusutsu. Still a little chintzy in Piano hotel where we were staying, but the main hotel looked pretty modern. We had arranged a local transfer from Niseko which to be honest I had expected a coach. A mini van turned up and the guy got out the van to look at the masses of luggage we had and scratched his head wondering how it was all going to fit in. We took over and a bit of tetris later, packed the van to get all our luggage and us into the van. Arrived late afternoon and after checking in and hit the night ski. And oh what a night. It had been snowing most of the day and even the piste was ankle deep, side of piste was up to my thighs. Loads of natural terrain to play with under lifts and side of piste, made for one of the fun filled four hour runs with the crew.

The next day the gondola had opened after a number of days closure. We arranged a guide, who took us too all the different secret stashes of side country. So many options for runs and plenty for everyone so much fun with varieties of big steep powder fields and technical run outs (having to dodge holes that drop into rivers).

Some hiking routes which I will need to explore next time I come back here.

Furano – a bus back to Sapporo to pick up the hire car and drive to Furano. We had booked into what was a pretty cool modern business hotel. We only had one day skiing in Furano as we extended our Kiroro stay due to the good snow conditions. I opted to take a hike option up an old ski resort. It hadn’t snowed for a few days which was a shame, but the hike was fun up a solitary, but not imposing mountain. Cost benefit was still pretty low as the snow was ok, but not amazing. We decided to play about and build a kicker.

We drove over to Tomamu the following morning which took about 3 hours. It was a bit overcast but we were all keen to get out. What we were presented with was an incredible couple of super steep powder filled faces with lots of natural features to play with. Unlike Rusutsu we didn’t really have to be conservative with dropping height as there was just so much continuous steep face.

Despite being kitted out with all the essential avi gear (except airbag) doing some basic avi training and research, a couple of avalanche stories early on made me pretty apprehensive and risk adverse most of the season. Except for some very sketchy moments I was glad to get out of I’ve had a great season of powder filled runs that I will always remember. I have definitely shifted from a flocking mentality depending on the knowledge and judgement of others to make my own assessments and decisions which has allowed me to enjoy my boarding with more piece of mind.

It’s certainly is sad to finish another season in Japan, but I will definitely be back. Hopefully to Kiroro and Tomamu

Sapporo, Hokkaido

So I’ve decided to travel back to Tokyo slowly by train. I don’t have all the time in the world so can’t travel too much of Hokkaido, but plan to make use of my 7 day rail pass to do a bit of exploring and make a few stops on the way down. On the morning of departure from Niseko, Simon dropped me off by the Welcome Center / Bus station.

I Takkubin my snowboard back to Tokyo. A god send of a service where for $10-$20 USD you can send your luggage anywhere in Japan. It only takes a couple of days, but takes the pain of trying to drag your snowboard to and from the airport at both ends. Even more so when travelling around the rest of Japan. This may be a good point in time to tell Ben he might be expecting a snowboard at his apartment on Monday morning 🙂

We are informed the bus to Sapporo has to take an alternative route due to the adverse snow conditions and they tell us it will take 3.5 hours as opposed to the usual 3. Ironically it actually only takes 2.5hrs. The bus is due to make 5 stops around Sapporo and I’m booked on the last stop. I do a quick look up on the map from my phone and I’d much better get off at an earlier drop.

As with the way in Japan the drive insists I stick to the plan and assures me the last stop is near my hotel. Oh how wrong he was. I was now off the bus 5 km from my hotel and running low on battery. I stand outside the bus for 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do when the driver opens the door and says its all ok and he’ll drop me off at the main station near my hotel. He must have made a call because he had two English speaking reps waiting for me to make sure I could get to my destination. Obviously my Japanese is not anywhere near the ability to explain myself, and no doubt there will be more of these situations to come.

I find my way to the hotel and drop my bags and have a wonder around the sights of Sapporo. By this point the winds are incredible strong blowing the fallen snow to make visibility terrible.

Though throughout the day I think I experienced all four seasons. The roads are covered in a powdered snow that resembles that of the stuff you get in indoor snow domes. Its a good few centimetres deep on the roads and falls away as you walk on it, but the temperature is so cold it doesn’t want to melt. It makes crossing roads a challenge, but I see hunched over old ladies manage fine, so just tell myself to man up and just get on with it.

I make a trip the clock tower and learn a bit about the history of the town. Still amazed how early on the Americans were here.

Then I head to the Sapporo Factory. Part of the old beer manufacturing estate turned into shopping mall that seems to specialise in mountain sports gear.

A little misnavigated walk later and I’m in the Sapporo beer factory – surprisingly interesting learning about the history of Japanese brewery.

Catch a bus back into the city centre and walk around the fish market. Humungous crabs bigger than my head! Had the fortune to try some back in Niseko. Chunkier than lobster and oh so sweet.

I find the Soup Curry place my friend recommended. I thought Japanese didn’t do spicy, but this brought on a good sweat.

Walking back to the hotel the city seemed to liven up at night. I walked past the TV Tower and decide to venture up to the observatory. The storm was taking full effect and though I could see as far as the famous Ski jump, the photos came out terrible as the camera couldn’t decide what to focus on.

Though against the norm I caved in and bought the souvenir photo of me with the background of Sapporo in better conditions.

Niseko, Hokkaido – The final snowboarding chapter

After 2 weeks in Niseko I can truly say its changed my perspective on snowboarding, both in the different pleasures it can bring, but also educated me in the dangers the fun can bring. (Don’t worry Mum it was all done safely).

Over the past 2 weeks I’ve managed to experience the joys of riding through the gated areas of the Niseko resorts. Ungroomed and unpatrolled areas which are only opened when the conditions are good and safe enough to do so. Steep and deep in snow with lots of trees to meander through. Incredible, just incredible.

Physically challenging both when you have to dig yourself out the powder if you have fallen and mentally challenging for having to plan your line down and respond to the terrain in front of you.

I’ve hiked more times than can remember this trip. Sometimes through marked gates, other backcountry routes to peaks (with friends with significant backcountry experience) and other times with organised guides. I’ve had to dig deep as I’ve found both stamina and mental determination are both essential, but also learnt a great deal about equipment and clothing. Whilst here I borrowed or rented various bits, but I’m definitely investing in some avalanche gear before I return to Japan to snowboard (which is a certainty). More so for the piece of mind and knowing your own gear when it matters would be critical. I wanted to do an avalanche course, but time and overall exhaustion from the trip didn’t really allow.

Most of the time it was to find those mountain faces which haven’t been touched of if they have only the few who were willing to invest the hours to hike to the drop points. Some of the most mind-blowing runs in my 14 years of snowboarding that I will continue to dream about.

The mountain face we conquered

The ridge we walked up. Photo Credit: Sayaka Takano

Mt Yotei

Photo Credit: Sayaka Takano

At the top! Photo Credit: Sayaka Takano

Photo Credit: Sayaka Takano

Other times it was just as much for the hiking experience – a great physical workout which still probably doesn’t net out the insane amount of food I’ve eaten.

A finally by no means least of the new experiences is cat skiing. Not cheap at $300 USD, but given a lift pass is about $50 a day I think you get what you pay for.

We managed to fit about 7 runs in on the day. We got picked up at 8am for briefing and equipment hire. The operator took us to a disused resort where the cat would drive us up to various points on the mountain and we would ride down through completely untouched runs given we were the only people on the mountain. We were lucky with the weather as it had dumped the night before and were told it was pretty tracked out with previous 5 days tours where it had not snowed. A pretty awesome bento lunch was provided as was a collection of videos and photos as part of the package. Great fresh track runs and some interesting chutes out which aren’t too dissimilar to the boarder cross in the olympics. Only single filed, much more narrow and unfamiliar turns which you need to be prepared for. I’ll let the photos do the rest of the explaining, but something I would definitely factor into my trips in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwGj8OP__Tw

I also lucked in on accommodation. I stayed for a good few days in the normal lodge set up with the Tokyo Gaijins group but got the opportunity to share an amazing 17 sleeper chalet through Shane’s network of snow junkie friends. Kasetsu which was run by The Niseko Company was an insane set up that combined Japanese style with Canadian build quality. It was being in an episode of MTV cribs for 4 whole luxurious days. Would highly recommend doing this if you can.

To complement this it was a complement of extremely considerate and fun people from all over the world and varying walks of life.

So many laughs, snow experiences and one epic house party. I will forever be grateful to Shane and Xue for introducing me to the group, Hugh for dropping out (sorry dude but you missed out big time!) and most of all Don and Rochi for organising it all.

The money shot

Prior to this my Niseko experience had been very different. The massive influx of tourists, so much so it was so far removed from the Japan I have thus far experienced and grown to love. A popular destination for the Australians and Chinese made for a weird combination where staff would typical speak to you in English because they either couldn’t speak Japanese or were expecting you not to try.

The experience was particularly marred when walking down the street a young Australian walking towards me who thought he was being smart in front of his mates shouted out to me “Ni Hao” in an attempted comical Chinese accent. His ignorance was somewhat thrown back when I replied in English to point out his comments may have been of racist persuasion. I would like to point out that I don’t bare any grudge against that great nation. Firstly because some of the best people I’ve met in my travels have been Australian and secondly it’s no different to the British contingents the bring such a great reputation to our nation in the various Mediterranean islands destinations. I sound like an old man, but where is the sense of pride in representing your home nation.

And finally a note of thanks to Simon who kindly put me up in a bed for a couple of nights while I sorted myself out on my slow journey back to Tokyo. Not only did he offer to put me up for a while, he carted me and my luggage around, showed me some pretty awesome parts of the resort runs I hadn’t really explored properly and offered an interesting local insights into Niseko. Thank you.

He had mentioned one evening as part of his tenancy agreement he was required to clear the balcony of snow, so after he left for work one morning I spent about an hour shovelling the snow and compact ice off. More as a small gesture of thanks but it turned out to be quite a satisfying job. Hilariously as Simon returned from work I had cleared the balcony his house mate was responsible for and he pointed to the other balcony he was responsible for which was still caked in a meter of snow and compressed ice. Oooops.

Walking back to Simons one afternoon I was met by 4 open back trucks and some huge piece of machinery that picked up the 2 stories worth of snow at the side of the roads. I recalled a conversation with friends another evening where they said they had that much snow they have to take the snow away. Crazy! And this was suppose to be a rubbish year for snow!

Apologies for the long post, but it’s been a big two weeks of my life that will remain the best (and possibly most exhausting) 2 weeks of my riding career.

Zao, Myoko, Nozawa – Snowboarding the next chapter

Finding it difficult to collate and write about the copious amounts of food I’ve eaten in Tokyo so I’m going to keep that on the back burner for now and carry on with my other updates.

So after my last snowboarding post I’ve returned to Myoko Kogen, Nozawa Onsen and also went to Zao Onsen for the snow monster festival.

Myoko and Nozawa brought much the same back country and tree run riding pleasures as they did before and now seems a distant memory. Fun times with friends.

Zao was a change of scene and the annual snow monsters festival provided the ideal opportunity to ride a new mountain range. This time we went with Tokyo Snow which also provided an opportunity to meet other people. My recently expatriated friend Jolyn was also here with people from Google so there was a fresh set of people party with. Ben and I managed to get up to the snow monsters after navigating our way through what I had worked out to be the quickest route. Those plans were quickly scuppered when we were told at one of the main lifts there was a 40 minute wait.

We eventually made our way to the top of the resort on a beautiful blue sky day to see the natural beauty of the Snow Monsters. The fir trees, that typically catch a lot of snow, are also subject to heavy snow filled winds which cause the trees to be encapsulated in a crusted snow. These are so heavy they cause the weaker parts of the trees to bow and eventually form what looks like monsters. An amazing freak of nature when a whole forrest turns into something out of a fantasy novel.

Snow conditions weren’t great for riding, but they were ideal for a hike to the top and taking some beautiful photos of Ben within the snow monsters and others of me with Ben’s finger.

Might have been a bit cheeky, but rather than walk down we rode down by the side of the monsters.

On returning back to Tokyo a friend who will remain nameless snowed me a video of them riding through the snow monsters.

Myoko Kogen

On New Years day we make a transit to Myoko Kogen which is about an hour away. The resort is even more primitive than Nozawa, but I’m promised good snow and runs and I’m not disappointed.

The lodge was pretty basic and seemed almost industrial except for the rooms. Food was again a wide array of dishes, but most of the gaijins were not that impressed, more due to the repetitiveness. I however was amazed with the spread

Breakfast was an experience to say the least. My first introduction to Nato. A fermented soya bean dish that is mixed with soya sauce and rice. One of the gaijin warn me, but as most of you will know I’m a pretty adventurous eater and brush the comments to the side. I’ve eaten plenty of fermented dishes in my time and loved them all. Not so much with this bad boy. Slimy, stringy and the stick of rotten flesh is the best way I can describe it. I ate it, but it wasn’t something I’d rush back for if I’m honest. Ben however hoovered it in 10 seconds flat. I’d put the slowness down to the time of day rather than anything else.

The first day riding was pretty much constantly snowing which doesn’t help much on the visibility but was amazing for the slope conditions. There are no piste bashers in Myoko so the pistes ride like off piste runs. I’m told that when conditions are extremely heavy they just have to close the runs because there is too much snow.

There is a pretty large group of us and its a great day’s riding with the sun coming out toward the end of the day. There is a huge queue for the top lift which only opens at 11. We hit some amazing knee deep powder on what is ordinarily a mogul field which we only determine after hundreds of people have flattened out the fresh snow by the afternoon. Ben and I get stuck in powder a number of times and its a fair work out to get out again. I soon get to grips with the ‘bum shuffle’, ‘backward rollie pollie’ and ‘roll lots till I build up enough momentum to stand up’ techniques. Combined with the dig like a gopher they work out to be pretty effective techniques. However managing body temperatures in what are probably -10c and digging for England to get free, turns out to be more a challenge. Next objective – don’t fall over in the powder so much!

The next day we hit a neighbouring resort which is supposed to be a 15 minute bus ride away. Hope the 3 amigos that morning managed to get off a stop too early. We only realised when we tried to redeem our lift passes to which we were clearly told we were in the wrong place. We proceed to wait 40 minutes for the next bus to arrive but were met with the most amazing blue sky back drop

Shane takes Hans and I through some drop off the top lift which is basically follows the chair down.

We meet Zuma for another couple of runs. A great challenging number of run down, but a bout of flu has got the better of me so I stop for a ramen lunch in the hope it will sort me out. I decide to call it day and head to the cafe at the bottom and wait for the others to finish to get the coach back. Mainly because I had no clue which one to get and didn’t want a repeat of this morning.

I spend the next couple of days trying to recover and work my way through my entire paracetamol supply to only discover its quite hard to get anything in this pretty remote and basic resort. I do discover that pot ramen here is amazing though. It’s pretty tough staying in whilst seeing the copious amounts of snow falling outside.

Various people make their own way back over the next couple of days due to scare stories of previous 8 hour delays due to snow storms. We make our way back on the chartered bus which after all that noise takes just shy of 3 hours. Ben and I then navigate our way back to his apartment on the JR train network and head out to an izakaya (Japanese bar) where small dishes are served. An incredible experience. Firstly because the draft beer here are incredibly smooth, more so with the Yebisu Premium which I discover like all beers here are always served perfectly chilled and like our continental counterparts with a hefty head. It was a thing of beauty. We accompanied that with some grilled tongue (cow I think), asparagus and some beef brisket. An amazing end to a great ski trip.

New year in Japan

Very randomly Zoe, a friend from London had moved to Tokyo and was also in Nozawa Onsen with her friend and mother so we caught up over a few drinks.

Luckily not too heavy a night as it was pretty eventful new years eve boarding that followed.

I decided to join some of the significant better riders to try improve my skills. One of the regular boarders decided to switch to piste skis for the day, but the pack had opted to hunt for some back country powder anyway.

A few runs in and we had to walk a fair bit at the bottom so we looked for some other routes down. Unfortunately this untracked run ended in a twisted skiers knee. She wasn’t able to walk out the pretty steep entry we just dropped in on and the walk out was definitely too long. The snow was about waist deep, so between the other snowboarder and skier we made a makeshift sledge with snowboard and two ski poles. I attempted to flattened what felt like 100m of steep and deep snow so we could haul the casualty up. Two of us pulled while the other pushed from behind. An hour and a half later, and a few renditions of eye of the tiger to keep spirits up, we managed to finally get back to a tracked route (see video below) and then the piste where we were able to call the piste patrol for medical attention and skidoo ride to the bottom.

I caught up with Ben for a very late lunch and a couple of afternoon runs before the obligatory onsen, dinner and nap to try shake off the jet lag before the New Year celebrations.

Dinners continue to be a massive spread of assorted Japanese and J Style western foods

The locals put on a firework display at the base of the gondola every year. As we arrived some people were night skiing down and the announcements over the speakers was only hurry them off the mountain.

A great atmosphere and pretty impressive firework display and champagne helped us see in the new year in style.

I sincerely wish you all a great 2014 and that it is full of things that will make you lives more complete and happy x

First taste of Japanese Snow

After a pretty boozy night out getting to know the rest of the tour group we are woken at 7am by a tanoy announcement in Japanese for what I think is the breakfast call.Still pretty jet lagged, but the thought of hitting the mountain gets me up. I fuel up and get set up.

Discover the most amazing honey and butter combo disposable dispenser. I’ll let the photos do the talking: I had been pre warned about the dated infrastructure here compared to Europe/US and low and behold there was a 2 man calf chopper waiting for us. Most of the regulars shoot off by I spend the morning with Ben while he finds his feet. We hit some pretty cool piste runs and a bit of park and it definitely as great as everyone said it would be. Wide pistes with nice dusting of snow.

We hit a late lunch by the top of the gondola and have the most amazing steak and rice and ramen for lunch. All the steak in Japan seems to have incredible marbling which makes it just melt in your mouth (and probably solidify in your arteries).

Another cool contraption is the auto beers dispenser that pours the perfect head:

We catch most of the others at lunch. Ben sticks to the piste for the afternoon whilst I follow 3 others including Ricky the organiser on some back country runs. I stack it a few times getting used to the thigh deep powered and dodgy small branches of trees, but have an incredible time. Getting out of such deep snow when falling is a challenge, but I soon get the hang of rolling and getting up. Starting to feel the jet lag a bit more, knowing full well I have the season ahead of me and not wanting to over do it I decide to call it a day. Lifts close early here (3.30pm) so had a decent innings. We head for the onsen when the others return which was an experience in itself. For less than 3 quid you get to soak in some amazing natural hot springs which have a pretty powerful sulphur smell. There are some free onsens in the town, but the temperature is not regulated and the facilities are pretty basic. A quick rinse before opting for the outdoor onsen and a nice long soak with all hanging free relaxes the muscles after a hard days boarding.On reflection a very interesting cultural difference. On one side you have a very conforming, obedient and fairly private society that rarely appears to break the rules that thinks nothing of baring it all in front of strangers; in comparison back home you have a pretty liberal and more controversial society that covers up all modesty without fail. Even in a changing room.

Tokyo Gaijin – Nozawa Onsen

So I learn Gaijin is anyone who is not native Japanese and the group we are joining will be mainly Gaijin who live/work out of Tokyo. Should be a good opportunity meet some people and expand the social circle.

The first destination we are heading to is a Hot Spring (Onsen) town where we will be joining the tour 2 days late. Just the thought of a nice hot soak after a long hard day’s boarding has got me excited. Can’t f-king wait!

Still 100% dependent on Ben getting us there we need to some how get to the Tokyo JR Station which is on the mainline rail network. We can either drag our now reduced luggage through the metro network or try find a cab that will fit our snowboards.

We head out to look for a cab, but everything that drives by seems the same jazz as at the airport: inadequate to cope with the sizeable boardbags.

We test our luck and flag one of them down. The same trial and error protocol is executed with the driver first trying to fit the board bags across the back seats. Ben and I look at each other as if to say “where the hell are we going to sit?”. Ben tries to suggest dropping the seats down, but the taxi seems to be LPG and has a jock off tank between the trunk and the back seat. He tries to angle one of the bags into his trunk and to be fair wasn’t far off. Then as if by magic he whips out a random length of strap and proceeds to tie his boot lid down.

I acknowledge Ben’s comment from earlier about just letting them get on with it. I was pretty amazed at the lengths this guy went to just to ensure he was able to service our needs whilst in the middle of the main road (taxis seem to pull in anywhere!). The first of many experiences where the Japanese will go to any lengths to try and accommodate you.

The taxi drops us off right outside Tokyo JR station and we buy tickets for Nagano from there a bus transfer to Nozawa Onsen. We miss the next train by literally minutes, but doesn’t seem so bad as the next one is in 30 minutes. At Nagano we realise that we’ve just missed a bus by 15 minutes and the next one isn’t for another hour and a half!

We are in no real rush so Ben manages to locate a tiny little restaurant that specialises in Unagi a short walk from the station.

We drag our bags over and the proprietors move mountains so we can be seated and our cumbersome luggage accommodated. I try to sit down on the tables which appear lower than normal western standards and struggle to fit my thigh between the top of the chair seat and the underside of the table top. A nod of acknowledgement from Ben from the other side of the table that he is having the same issue puts a smile on my faces and I make myself as comfortable as possible. The owner brings over a menu of which there appears to be 2 options, regular or large. Ben orders us 2 large and they proceed to bring over the standard, hot flannel, tea and little dishes of pickled vegetables.

The main dish arrives and its first of many amazing eateries Ben takes me to. Never had such soft, flavour packed and plentiful Unagi. The side dish of softly poached sweet apple pieces balance out the flavours really well.

We head to the coach stop a little early to queue for seats and Ben assures me the coach will leave on schedule. The coach driver got on the bus after loading everything with 30 seconds to spare. With 10 seconds to go he pokes his head out the door to see if there are any passengers running for the bus and pulls off smack on time. Amazing. Though I will always wonder if we would have still left on time if someone had been running for the coach with 10 pieces of luggage.

Managed to sleep most of the journey so didn’t take any photos, but what I did see, as I drifted in and out, was a crisp sun lit flat landscape with a mountain range in the distance, all of which was covered in snow. We arrive in Nozawa Onsen and located our lodge and sleeping quarters. Was fairly surprised that it was basically a room with tatami mats laid out with futons and blankets by the people who were already staying there.

We are soon joined by our roomies: Mai-Chan the crazy, but adorable Swiss educated Japanese girl, Xue the German Chinese with a very British education and Shane the Ozzie snowboard extraordinaire.

I get to hear their adventures from the days riding which get me excited for tomorrow. I get the call of nature so venture to the gents and get more than I bargain for in my first J toilet experience. The actually facilities in the lodge seemed fairly basic with the cold mountain air coming in through an open window. Thought this was going to be primitive. But when I sat down and was greeted by a nice warm seat. I definitely need me one of these!

When I was finished I couldn’t find the flusher, but did notice a Knight Rider like console to my right. I surveyed my options and though the icon with the flowing water might be my best bet. A warm jet of water then proceeded to clean my poo poo hole. Genius really! I continued to sit there thinking this may come to a predetermined end when the water started to get cold and thought I better do something here. I then hit the button with the person’s head (don’t ask the logic behind this decision, because I have no idea). As another jet of water then proceeded to target my testicles it dawned on me that the image on the button was that of a women and this feature was to clean women’s bits. I sort myself out and head back to the room to share my water closet adventure with my room mates who are in stitches.

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