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| Snowboarding Japan |
The pictures you see are from 4 separate weekends. They go in this order:
3 day weekend to Myoko Suginorhara in Niigata prefecture.
2 weekends in a row at Yogo Kogen at the tippy toppy of Shiga ken (my prefecture)
and the most recent and sparse photos from my trip to Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture.
The things they all had in common:
Unbelievable powder and snow conditions. I've been on the mountains now for 7 days this season and it has only not been actively SNOWING for one of them. Talk about your good luck!
The photos SHOULD do my trips justice but i'll fill you in on highlights for each
January 8th weekend: a three day weekend!
I caught an overnight bus with three other guys from Shiga (Eric, Robert and Johnny). We drove all night and arrived in town at around 7am. We trudged into our lodge, excited for the new snow and beautiful mountain but pretty tired. Even though we weren't due to check in to out lodge until 4pm, our host graciously prepare our room in record time, we moved in and had three amazing days of powder. The tree runs and lift lines were some of the best I've had in the many years I've been riding. Daddy, they even may stack up against our "miracle day" in Kirkwood.
All my new gear worked out fine too!
To ensure that our first trip was not our last, we spent every night AFTER riding in an onsen or bath. These are the infamous Japanese bath houses you may have heard of where men ages 5 - 105 saddle up next to each other in UNGODLY hot water to relax. It's pretty much day spa, but you only go for an hour+ and its considerably less expensive (I think... I've never actually been to a day spa). Robert, our newbie, thanked us for teaching him, not only how to snowboard but the proper way to decompress after destroying your body the first two days.
I had three glorious days in Myoko and then it was time to go home. I took a train to a station on the west coast of Japan and waited for my 1am night train to arrive. I had work on Tuesday morning and the night train pulled in to Nagahama at about 6am; perfect timing for me to get home, shower, brush my teeth and go to work!
The next two weekends I spent closer to home. January 14th I spent at Shiga Kogen with a new friend of mine, Lans. He is the husband of one of my fellow JETs but he lives WAYYYYYY down at the bottom of Shiga. He graciously offered me a ride and we had another spectacular powder day.
He's the one in the video that jumps off a cliff. He's also a damn good rider (he worked for and still works for a shop in michigan) so it was great riding with someone of a MUCH higher ability than me.
The next weekend I hit up Yogo Kogen again but this time as an instructor. AS some of you know, I auctioned off my skills as a snowboard instructor to help raise money for Baan Dada orphanage in Thailand. I had two takers, Imani and Daniel. Both had NEVER tried snowboarding or any snow sports before. It was a long day for both of them but we had a great day. There were also many other Shiga jet's on the mountain (a totally UNPLANNED and circumstantial occurrence) that were learning as well so my pupils were not alone.
Finally, the last weekend in January I went to Hakuba. Those of you who watched the Winter 1998 Olympics would recognize the first mountain we went to. I traveled here to meet up with my good friend from home and former UCLA snowboard team captain Justin. It was great reconnecting and meeting some of his new friends from Kyuushu (same Island as Erik you may remember). Justin is a straight up stud at snowboarding and I basically did all I could all weekend to keep up with him in the trees and powder.
Again, I had a quick trip back home. I caught an overnight bus to Kyoto which got me back in Nagahama at 7am, with time to go home, drop my stuff and ride through the snow to work!
All in all, I've been very lucky this winter and I'm counting my blessings for the weather, the company, and all my good fortune in life. If this is how "miserable" winter is... bring it on!
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