Japan was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. Over the last 11 years I’ve heard countless stories from Isaac about his time living in Japan (Okayama, 2005). I found that nearly everything matched what I’d pieced together in my imagination from Isaac’s stories.
Next time we’ll explore the south island, but this time we wanted a winter holiday. Snowboarding in Niseko, snow and ice festival in Sapporo, relaxing in Jozankei. We arrived in the Chitose Airport outside of Sapporo late at night, dead for sleep and slightly grumpy. Isaac booked us a night in the Aiport Terminal Hotel. We didn’t quite know where it was and the place was deserted. Finally Isaac asked a security guard for directions in broken Japanese. Rather than give directions, this man immediately proceeded to take us to the hotel himself, something we sort of expected from Isaac’s previous experience of Japanese welcoming hospitality. It was about a 5 minute walk through the complex and the security guard silently strode ahead, glancing over his shoulder now and then to check on us as we trotted a few steps behind, grinning at each other behind our hands.
We caught a bus to Niseko the following morning. All the waiting passengers congregated at a spot inside. The buses arrived all at the same time and there was a flurry of activity. A whole lot of guides came marching along each carrying a sign with a destination, their voices calling over each other. People started to move about and we realised that the passengers were organising themselves into lines behind each sign-wielding guide. It went from madness to complete organisation with surprising efficiency. The female guide for our line walked up and down checking that everyone was ok, and then we were off in single or double file, walking outside into the cold air. There was a bright blue sky and a foot or two of snow neatly capped all horizontal surfaces. We stood for a short while, thrilled with the cold, blowing steam from our faces. Then we were on the warm bus for a few hours drive.
When we arrived in Niseko it was overcast and steadily snowing. We were booked into the Annupuri Lodge, a nice homely place. We soon realised that if we wanted to get cash out or get supplies we’d have to travel to the village of Hirafu. We decided to walk, thinking surely it’s not that far. We put on our snow boots, rugged up in warmer gear and started walking along the side of the road. It was so quiet, except for our footsteps creaking in the snow. Soft, dry snowflakes brushed our cheeks and we were so excited to be in this winter wonderland, but as time wore on and we’d been walking for over an hour, we started to feel our morale sinking. It seemed to be getting darker even though it was only half past two. We started to rethink our decision to walk to Hirafu. We realised with sinking hearts that we had totally misjudged the distance – it was much further than we thought and it was slow going through the snow. Eventually a subaru pulled over just ahead of us and an Australian lady offered us a lift. She was slightly amused at our desire to walk but more worried about us in a motherly sort of way. We were so thankful for her picking us up. As we drove another good 10 minutes to Hirafu we realised that we would have been walking for a long time to cover the remaining distance.
Hirafu is a typical ski resort town. Not like Annupuri which is delightfully peaceful by comparison. The place is filled with more European and Australians than with Japanese people. The first thing we did was wait in a long line to get cash out. Finally, armed with loads of cash (cash is king in Japan – we couldn’t pay for much with card) we found a small convenie and discovered the wonderful world of Japanese convenience shopping. With arms full of all sorts of fun Japanese food items, we walked to find the bus that would be our ride home to Annupuri. We shared an icecream that Isaac was excited to come across. It was this waffle icecream sandwich thing with a layer of chocolate in the middle. We practically fought over it, taking massive bite after bite as we walked along, juggling our treats.
Once settled in, the following days more or less consisted of the same routine: Wake, breakfast, get our gear on, walk to gondola, purchase lift tickets, snowboard, lunch, snowboard, walk home, bath, relax, dinner, sleep.
Breakfast at Annupuri Lodge was not very Japanesey, but it was so filling and perfect for snowboarding – scrambled eggs, bacon or sausages, extremely thick slices of toast, jam, coffee, juice – the breakfast of champions.
Down the creaky, narrow, tiny set of stairs in the basement was the drying room where we left all our snowboarding gear. Every morning we’d descend into this dungeon and get organised for the day: putting on snowboard boots, jackets, beanies, neck warmers, helmets, goggles, gloves. Hugging our snowboards, we’d climb back up the narrow stairs and head outside for the short walk to the gondola.
Snowboarding in Japan is an absolute delight. The benefit of the overcast days and constant steady snow fall was that there was always fresh, soft, fluffy powder to ride. Always. The snow was never crusty, never icy, never hard. We could always make fresh tracks, through the trees, down drop-offs, over kickers, though gullies, it was easy to find. There was this fun section at the bottom of Annupuri where we could drop off into a sort of natural half pipe and there was always a series of big rollers and kickers one after the other. We had so much fun, pushing for more and more air, practically on top of each other. And always at some point throughout the day, we couldn’t resist unbinding the board and diving around in the deep snow. Just for fun.
Each afternoon when we were spent, we’d make our way back to the lodge, shed all our snowboarding gear in the basement, run upstairs, grab a change of clothes, a beer from the fridge, a big bottle of water and dash back down the stairs to the shared bathroom. We had to catch it while it was available. This was a typical home Japanese onsen, with a shower, a stool to sit on while washing, before stepping into a big hot bath to soak – so blissful after a day of snowboarding.
Everything we ate in Japan was perfect, even the cheap bento boxes from the convenies. The food at the bar downstairs was a Japanese-American fusion. We ate crispy fried asparagus, mushroom wasabi salad, fried chicken, nori crisps and drank the best Sake we have ever tasted. It was locally made – a few days later we found and bought a couple of bottles to bring back with us. We were so hungry all the time and we consumed a lot of food at every meal: Ramen noodles (dosanko and gyoza seto), katsu curries, udon, bento boxes, tempura, tofu topped with “little fishes”, shishamo, the best sushi I’ve ever had, sashimi, sea urchin, BBQ eel, fermented squid guts (it was a delicacy!), we even had the best pizza we have ever eaten – authentically Italian, simple, fresh, doughy naan-like base. My mouth still waters for it. When Japanese people set about doing something, they do it RIGHT! There is a lot of pride.
We generally snowboarded a different mountain each day. Often we purchased an All Mountain pass so that we could catch the lift up, traverse and ride home at the end of the day. So often, though, a whiteout would set in and the top lifts would be closed so we had to catch the bus home. One day we had to race down the slope to make the bus in time.
After a few days we were so pooped and sore we decided to have a rest day. We were totally out of cash so Isaac made the long bus journey over to Hirafu to get cash and some supplies, while I lazed around in bed! After a few hours Isaac returned with lunch, and a mysterious package. I opened it and went bananas! It was the Totoro backpack I saw and fell in love with the day before. It’s so soft and CUTE I couldn’t stop laughing and hugging it.
The next day was a bluebird day. It was the first complete blue sky we had seen since being in Niseko. We caught the gondola and a lift to the very top and joined this massive procession of skiiers and riders making the slow hike up to the VERY top of the mountain. The snow had been compacted by all the hikers so we managed to climb up without too much trouble. It took longer than we expected. Isaac entertained me with a David Attenborough voice: “This is a sight typically seen when the weather is fine – a mass migration of people climb and traverse to the other side of the mountain…”. The view at the top seemed unreal. We dropped into a slope that surprisingly not many people were riding. I thought maybe it would be crusty but of course it wasn’t. It was the deepest powder we have ever ridden. We basically had to surf our way down. If we made the mistake of stopping and sitting down, it was nearly impossible to push ourselves back up again, the snow was too deep and soft.
This was a great day for us, surfing powder, riding through trees, jumping kickers, racing the groomed sections, faster and faster until our cheeks flapped in the wind. We continued riding after lunch, and enjoyed the sunny afternoon, then after dinner we went out again for some night skiing. At night time we tend to do fast runs and hit up as many rollers and jumps as we can. We were tired though. I sat on the lift in a daze and finally said to Isaac, “we gotta get to bed”.
On the last day Isaac’s snowboard boots started to fall apart. They are quite a few years old. He had to tie the sole back onto the boot with string. It held until the end. We milked the last day of snowboarding for all it was worth, but we were tired and sore.
The morning we left Annupuri was the most snow we had seen so far. It dumped down all night. Every twig on every tree was perfectly coated. We were sad not to be staying there for the rest of our lives.