Rots and rots of monkeys!

Went on a tour to see the 'snow monkeys' yesterday. The only problem at the moment is there is no snow, so they're just plain old monkeys!! They still hang out in the hot springs though so thats pretty cool.

We got there just in time for feeding and there were 3 or 4 hanging out in the hot spring. This bloke who looked as bored as hell came out and threw round a few seeds and about 100 of the buggers came out of nowhere for an easy meal. They are not scared of humans at all, and just ran around in between everyone, and let you get really close too.


The day trip also took us to one of the oldest and biggest temples in Japan. It contains the first image of buddha to arrive in Japan. They never show it though. And they only show a COPY of it once every 7 years WTF??!! The fact that they have it is enough to make the place a bloody national monument. How do we know they aren't just kidding :p


At last, the hell that is Hakuba is coming to a close. I get to go back to Tokyo tomorrow.
The snow has gone from bad to worse. I only went skiing 3 out of the 5 days i had tickets for and sold the other two. Very disappointed. Tokyo to end the trip will be sick, should end things on a good note.

Rain rain go away!

Well, now it is bucketing down in Hakuba. Big fat heavy rain. I swear, this has got to be the worst place in Japan right now. There is shit snow to start with, but this rain is just killing it. Absolutely no chance of anything good.
The problem now is, if it gets cold enough to snow, all this rain will just ice up. So the choices are slushy, or icy. Remind you of anywhere in particular.... Australia maybe??!

Sold my lift pass again today. It's not worth skiing at all - so may as well make a bit of coin!
The only problem is, there isn't much to do here other than go up the mountain. It is just a ski town, and a pretty crap one at that. The brochure looked so good! Everyone is saying this has been the worst season in 40 years here. Not happy.

Yesterday we explored the town a bit, such that it is. Not much around. I have no idea how they managed to get the winter olympics here. Then we went to an Onsen, one of the Japanese hot spring baths and chilled out there for a while. So good and relaxing. Afterwards felt like I could sleep for about 24 hours straight. Instead we went to the pub and had a decent feed. Western food. A burger, salad and home-made wedges. So so good. Getting slightly sick of all the salty, soupy, noodle things, with no fresh veggies etc.

2 days to go till I get to leave this hell hole. Tomorrow I've booked myself onto a tour to go and see the snow monkeys that live in the natural hot springs, that will be cool, so that just leaves friday to find something to do. Hopefully there will be some snow of some description. Might have to make a sacrifice to the snow gods, or do a snow dance or something, getting pretty damn desperate.

Mmm Slush!

We got some fresh snow and rain yesterday so we had fresh slush to ski on! It was fun for a while, then just got ridiculous.
Today, not much has improved. Our ski pass is such that at the start of each day we take this piece of paper to the ticket office and they give us a pass for the day. This works out particularly well cause today we got our passes and then sold them to some other people for more than we paid, but for less than they would have to pay to buy a day pass. Works well, its a good deal for everyone, and we get back about 4000¥. We'll use the money to go and visit an onsen, check out the local town and go to the pub tonight for a good feed.

The one good thing about the package deal we have, is that we got one included dinner. It was at a mexican restaurant last night and was delicious! Was great to have some 'western' food. Getting slightly sick of all the salty noodle/soup combinations. Was craving some fresh veggies etc. Apart from that, the company looking after us are still pretty shit. Just found out last night that they are primarily a surf tour company in Australia, so really have no idea whats going on over here.

Looking forward to getting back to Tokyo. This place has been a sour note on an otherwise fantastic trip!

All good things come to an end...

I guess it had to happen, there is finally something to bitch and moan about.
Got to Hakuba last night at 3am, no less. The company which organised our package out here are an Australian company who really don't seem to give a damn about anything much at all except for the money. I tell you what, the Japanese way of doing things is sensational compared to this. Pretty poorly organised.
The hostel/lodge we are staying in (which is owned by the same company) is terrible. Most of it isn't heated, there are no kitchen facilities for preparing meals, they won't even let us use cups from the kitchen they use for breakfast (which is provided, cereal and toast) for a drink of water or a cup of tea. The only thing they provide outside of breakfast is a source of hot water and some disposable chopsticks. Also, the lodge managers don't really give a shit, and are less than helpful.
On top of that, the snow conditions are absolutely terrible! Up on the mountain today, it was a nice enough day, but there has obviously been no new snow for a while - the ungroomed runs have moguls the size of cars which are pretty much un-skiable. The groomed runs are either pure ice, or pure slush. Mmmmm lovely.... NOT.

I'm currently 'borrowing' the wireless internet from the hotel next door by sitting in the corner of the main lounge room of the lodge, really good set-up eh?! The up-side is I managed to get some good sashimi from the local supermarket (which is a 45 min walk away) and am quite enjoying that with a few beers. So all is good!

Fingers and toes and everything else crossed for some fresh snow!

Last day in Tokyo..

Heading to Hakuba tonight for another week of skiing.
Today; hung around Asakusa in the morning, then Shibuya again in the afternoon. Did a bit of shopping, ate a bit of sushi (which was delicious!), got lost wandering the streets which is all part of the fun. Found another apple store - this is becoming a habit so it seems.
Unrestricted internet access to check all those emails, cool toys to play with, good music to listen to. The pick of the crop this time around is the Mac Book Air. A very impressive machine despite the lack of processing speed. If they bring out a new one with a faster processor I'll be very very tempted! I think more realistically a 3g iPhone is on the near horizon.
I'll drive the current powerbook g4 till it dies though. That will be a very sad day.

Listen to me talking about Mac hardware! Not much to talk about today.
Our time staying in Asakusa has been great. A cool little corner of Tokyo with about a billion little alleyways to explore and not as many bright lights as some of the other areas. We were literally just round the corner to the subway station and the hostel was really good. The beds and the doonas were long enough for us taller western people! In Niseko, the doona was way to small! You either covered your feet but not your shoulders, or vice versa. Quite frustrating.
When I get back to tokyo on the 28th, I'll be staying in Shinjuku which is (one of) the big business districts, and big flashy light districts. Should be a good time.

Not sure if the lodge where we are heading has internet, so this might be it for a while!

Clean As

For a big city, Tokyo is remarkably clean. The air is clean, the streets are clean, there are no cigarettes lining the streets. They have designated smoking areas and apart from them it is frowned upon if you smoke elsewhere. There are no bins on the street cause its considered bad form to walk and eat (except for ice cream!). The recycling system is so complicated that people mostly take home any rubbish so they do the right thing and recycle appropriately.
The inner city has way less cars, than even Melbourne I reckon. Everyone uses the metro cause its so good, and/or rides bikes. There is no industry anywhere near the inner city, and will minimal amounts of cars, the air stays clean. The culture is just so responsible. Go figure. How can a city of 35 million get it right, and Melbourne struggles with the most simple of things.


As you walk into a shopping centre, or museum or some indoor area they even have complimentary umbrella bags so you don't drip water on the floor!


Today; wandered round Roppongi, then a couple of smallish museums/art galleries. It was raining most of the day, so a good one to spend inside. Did a tad of shopping in Ginza, ate some delicious tempura and sushi, and also did a load of washing!
Fairly relaxed day all round.

We head to Hakuba tomorrow at around 6pm, so tomorrow morning is the last time we have in Tokyo, until I come back after this next lot of skiing! Not sure what to do in the morning - too many options not enough time!

Like a moth to the flame...

It's hard not to get caught up in all the different street scenes in Tokyo especially at night. The next one always looks bigger and brighter and better. But I guess in the grand scheme of things they're all reasonably similar. I find it particularly disorientating. Its really hard to navigate around with all those lights. They are always in your face and its hard to know if you've seen a particular street before, or if its a new one!

Yesterday, checked out the biggest/busiest crossing in Tokyo (there are a few!) in Shibyua, which is a pretty cool shopping district.


Went to Ueno Park and wandered around amongst the shrines and temples, then visited the Tokyo National Museum.
This particular one has survived all the wars and destruction most of the other temples have seen over the last 100-200 years making it one of the few 17th century Edo era buildings still intact.


As the fires are still raging in Victoria, and the north of QLD is flooded, the cherry blossoms are beginning to emerge - about a month early no less. If thats not climate change, I don't know what is!


Japanese fire truck


And yet another street scene!

Wow!

Visited 3 different areas today.
Shinjuku, the busy sorta main business area of the city where we walked around the huge buildings and made use of the free observation decks to view the city! Also dropped in at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art which happens to house Van Gogh's Sunflower painting! Played with more toys at the Epson and Canon show rooms!

Headed to Harajuku for lunch in this really cool artist/graffiti space. Had all you can eat Okonomiaki. This part of town is the 'young' scene with heaps of clothes/music etc shops and loads of Japanese teenagers shopping for just about anything you can think of. Shoes, clothes, trinket things, bling etc. Pretty cool - might have to head back and explore a bit more. Only had limited time here.


Next stop: Akihaba Electric Town. Lights, cameras and action! Every electrical good under the sun is available here and the stores often span 6 or 7 levels of just electrical goods. It also has a very big Manga scene (Japanese cartoon/comics). Quintessential Tokyo!


The subway system here is so easy to use. The passes we bought you just swipe past the machine as you go in and it deducts the minimum fare. As you leave at your destination, swipe again and the system will automatically calculate if it needs to charge anymore than the minimum, and if so deducts that amount. Simple and easy. When the pass runs out of cash, just top it up again.
The subway map looks confusing, but its super easy to navigate. Find out where you want to go, the station you want to get off at and then decide which line(s) to take from where you are. Trains pretty much come every 10-15 mins and so far have always been very very punctual. You snooze you lose. No re-opening the doors for late arrivers. Trains are classed as late if they are 30 seconds behind.

Tokyo, and Japan in general are pretty expensive. I'm burning through the Yen pretty quickly. 130 - 250¥ for a subway ride. A beer costs about 600¥ which at the moment is roughly $10, a cheap meal around 1000¥. It's amazing how fast i'm managing to spend it. My stash of cash which I brought with me is getting pretty low!
My biggest purchases so far have been lift tickets. Haven't really shopped for 'souvenirs' yet! After the next lot of skiing!

Where to start....

I really don't know what to say about Tokyo...

Its massive! So big, so varied, so much to do and so little time! We really are only going to scratch the surface.
This morning we got up at 5.15am to catch the action at the Tokyo fish market. Largest in the world - anything from the sea, they have, plus some!
For b'fast had the freshest and best sushi and sashimi I have ever had.


Wandered through Ginza the 'posh' part of town (Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton etc) to the Imperial Palace which was a bit of a let down cause they don't let people inside, let alone into the gardens. So you can hardly see the place due to the moats and walls and ancient fortifications.



Visited my mandatory stop in every city... The Apple Store. I love those places. Plus the free internet cannot be passed by.
Lunch was some noodle thing, and dumplings. There is so much to choose from, and so much variation, and its so delicious!

Wandered round Sensoji, a massive Buddhist temple and shrine in the afternoon, watched the sun set from the Asahi Sky Room looking over Tokyo while enjoying an Asahi, ate another completely different meal for dinner and its now 9pm and I'm ready for bed!


This place is so cool. Each little area is completely different to the next one. There is so much to explore. It's going to be an action packed couple of days!

No Snow Day

Today it reached the super warm temperature of 2 degrees here. Doesn't sound that bad, but in the grand scheme of things its pretty catastrophic here. Niseko is so low, the peak is only at 1156m, and the bottom of the mountain at 256m, so it needs to be very cold for the snow to stay as snow. The snow turns slushy and any precipitation is rain, and it belted down. Snow conditions were terrible and on top of that, most of the lifts were closed due to high winds. Perfect day eh!

After spending a morning in the lodge bored out of our brains, HB and I decided to switch gear so he used my skis, and I used his snowboard. Usually I would be completely against this - last time I tried it in NZ it was the worst day ever! Couldn't even stand up or go along or anything. But I needed to do something, so we went out there. Since then I've taken up surfing and what a difference that made. I could go down the hill (green runs), make turns, link them together all within about half an hour. Even made it down the hill one time without crashing. There were lots of other crashes though!!
Couldn't believe the improvement - I could actually do it! It was even kind of fun...but its snowboarding, so it was like going over to the dark side. I must say, it would be cool to be able to do both. But unless we get another shit day like today, it won't happen again!

Tomorrow is our last day here. We head to Tokyo on Monday for 4 or 5 days before heading out for some more skiing near Nagano for another week. Time is flying by, I'll be home in no time....unfortunately
It better snow tonight.

Sapporo

Went to Sapporo yesterday for the day to check out the ice festival and the Sapporo brewery. My first foray into the 'real' Japan.
Pretty cool place, despite being really cold. The ice festival is amazing. They have snow and ice sculptures that are 3 stories high, as well as hundreds of smaller ones. A food marketplace that had heaps of traditional Japanese and even traditional Hokkaido cuisine which is full of seafood thanks to all the fishing ports and towns around Sapporo. Absolutely delicious.




While we were cruising round all the ice sculptures we got approached by these Japanese people who wanted to interview us; where we were from, what we were up to in Sapporo, what we thought of the ice festival etc. Anyways it turned out to be an interview live on Japanese radio! One of the biggest stations in Sapporo.
They took us to their mobile radio studio and the presenter asked us questions in English and translated our answers to Japanese. Pretty random, but pretty cool!



The Sapporo Brewery was without doubt one of the best nights ever! All you can drink beer and sake, all you can eat asian style bbq lamb and vegies. We certainly got our moneys worth. So much so that my head was still pretty sore at lunch time today. Ask HB what he got up to after we left the brewery. Thats a story and a half!


While there we met these really cool Sapporo locals also enjoying the all you can eat/all you can drink extravaganza on the next table! We did our best to communicate with their limited english and our limited japanese, but with copious amounts of booze acting as the catalyst, we were best of friends by the end of the night. Nori and Shin.



Today, despite the sore head, I went up the mountain and had a really good day despite no new snow. Got lost today in waist deep snow off to the side of one of the lifts. Followed the wrong ridge line and ended up overshooting the lift. Spent about an hour walking out of the valley. But it was worth it. Got a sick line down the hill on untouched snow.


Only 3 more days left here. Don't want to go. Although we're moving on to Tokyo which will be Awesome!

Day of Days

Woke this morning to perfect blue skies and sunshine. With the snow that has been piling up over the past few days it was the most perfect of ski days that you could ever wish for. Insane amounts on powder, freshies till lunch and fantastic sunshine to enjoy it all in. Couldn't ask for anything more. If my holiday was to end today I'd be a very very happy man. Its days like today that you always wish for and never get - we got one today! Legendary.

However, from all available information, today was the last snow and last powder day in a while so there is a celebration of sorts occurring in the lodge tonight. No fresh stuff tomorrow so people don't mind getting drunk, staying up late and sleeping in. The coming days will be much more relaxed with no pressing need to get out there to make the most of the conditions.
We have pretty much a whole week left here in Niseko, with a day or two elsewhere, there is still a chance of another dump - fingers crossed.

-15 degrees, blizzard conditions.

Its hard to imagine but it is pretty much a blizzard here at the moment. The snow is spewing down, wind is blowing a gale and its freezing cold.
We're basically stuck in the lodge today. Most of the lifts are closed on wind holds, and even if they were open its disgusting out there. We went up for a few runs this morning, but just gave up. Hopefully night skiing tonight will be a bit better. At least the snow tomorrow is going to be awesome. Last night 30cm fell overnight, and with today's snow and hopefully another dump tonight - tomorrow will be epic!

HB arrived the other day. Its good to finally have a ski buddy. Now with 2 people its safe enough to explore more areas. We also took the bus into Kutchan last night to go to the supermarket. For a couple of Aussie blokes who don't speak a word of Japanese it was quite an experience. Trying to decipher what it actually was we were looking at was an impossible task.
Talk about a visual market though. Everything is wrapped up in plastic or some form of wrapping with pictures and fancy labels, even vegies and fruit. What a waste of resources. Beer was still easy to find!! Thats the most important bit anyways.

So its a bit of a quiet day today. Everyone who is staying in the lodge is pretty much here. The Fins have started drinking already, and a group of young blokes from Sydney have just gone for a beer run. HB is asleep downstairs thanks to a pretty big night last night and I'm just chillin here watching the tv and writing a few emails. It might turn into a pretty fun afternoon!

I hope everyone back home is avoiding the heat, and the fires, and everyone is safe.

Legendary!

The last few days have been insane. Heaps of snow, plenty of fresh tracks, generally awesome.
However i've caught the dreaded Niseko cold/flu which is going around - so having a rest day today which works out well cause there was no new snow overnight. Its snowing right now so tomorrow should be a good day and from all indications it's only going to get better.

Went out last night to a place that serves teppanyaki/okonomiyaki. There's a big grill on your table and you cook all the food you order on the grill yourself. Very cool - will have to go back to that one. It's was a kind of weird experience, cause all the staff at the place last night were Australian. Although we were eating authentic Japanese style food, it didn't feel like it. We still had to take our shoes off at the door though!



Well... I'm heading back to bed.
ttys.

Feb 2nd

There's nothing like fresh tracks in the morning!

Not much new snow overnight, but all the lifts that were closed yesterday were open today which meant there was a whole bunch of terrain untracked for us to enjoy! Lots of fun this morning. We even got some blue sky at various intervals in the day. So with a bit of a view from the top we were able to see that just across the valley there is a massive volcano! Mt Yotei.
Hopefully we get a day with no cloud so the whole thing is visible.


My lodge is a pretty sweet deal. In the mornings they provide breakfast and even cook a hot breakfast for us. So by loading up on food in the morning, its about 3pm before I have to stop skiing to eat something.

Hirafu - the town I'm staying in is from all accounts "not japan"! Despite the fact that there are Aussies everywhere, there are also Japanese everywhere. The lodges are packed in tightly, and there are heaps of little bars and eating places. Its a very cool place. The only problem is its really bloody expensive. A beer in a restaurant is 500-600yen which is about $10 aus. Spirits are surprisingly really cheap. A bottle of vodka from the shop is only about 600yen. WTF?!

On the way to the shop last night for dinner food and beer, there were these drummers playing in the street. Pretty cool.

I'm back!

Yes, thats right after a 18 month hiatus, the on-again, off-again blogger (me) is back!

So I'm finally here in Niseko, Japan after 5 airports, 3 planes, 2 buses and a big delay. One particularly interesting part of the trip was that my flights from Melbourne to KL and KL to Tokyo were on Boeing 777's then from Tokyo to Sapporo on a Boeing 747. Quite an experience - I'd never been on a 747 before. Whats more I got bumped from economy to JAL's J class which is in between economy and business I gather. Its a bit hard to tell when everything is written in Japanese. Not upstairs, but right at the front of the main deck. Very nice. Better seats, legroom and food!

My lodge in Niseko (Base Lodge) is in a great spot right in the middle of town, walking distance to the lifts and just about everything else in town. So far just about everyone i've come across in this place has been Australian. They no doubt are chasing the powder as I am.

Day 1 of skiing...

After a great sleep the body took a bit of a hit this morning coming from 45 degree weather in melbourne, to minus 10 degree with an added 15 degree wind chill. The snow was excellent, not much fresh but still managed to find some clean lines in this one little section that was open today. The wind was a killer, keeping lifts closed and making things very uncomfortable. With all the lifts open the amount of terrain available is mind blowing! Can't wait.
It has been snowing on and off since this morning, so hopefully we wake up to a whole bunch of fresh stuff tomorrow.

Oh, before I forget... The lift ticket system here is very very cool. They give you a card which is your lift ticket, and you just put it in your pocket and leave it there. So when you come up to the lift there is a little turnstile that senses your card and lets you through onto the lift. Automatic. No people checking, no need to get it out of a pocket or flap every time you go past. The Japanese really have their heads screwed on. For those interested the technology used to do it is RFID. And thats my nerd quota for the day... Time for a beer!