Deep in Nozawa (best day ... ever??)

Dan goes up for fresh air after too many face shots

The title of “Best Ski Day in Japan” has been usurped. As good as Cortina was on Saturday, yesterday far, far exceeded it.

“Best run of my life.”

“Best ski day of my life.”

“Best lift-served day of my life.”

Those were some quotes from yesterday, and they all came before noon. No letdown whatsoever in the p.m.

After skiing Cortina, Jon began pushing for a trip to Nozawa Onsen, a resort 2.5 hours from Hakuba. He convinced Patrick to drive, and along came Tom, Dan, myself and Nick, the owner of Hakuba Powder Lodging. Nick knew the area from past ski trips, and served as unofficial tour guide.

“Best tree skiing in Japan,” he proclaimed before our first run.

I can’t disagree.

The only issue is that you’re not supposed to ski the trees at Nozawa Onsen. But that just meant we were pretty much the only ones in the woods, and didn’t cross another track all day.

Deep snow. Amazing terrain. Long runs. Pillows. Drops off avalanche barriers. Untouched powder on every run. Really, words and even pictures cannot describe how amazing the day was. I keep shaking my head in disbelief as I remember it. 

 A rare shot of Patrick when he's not behind the camera

 Jon is attached to these skis, somewhere behind the cloud of snow

 Nick showing off one of the lines

 Jon rests up in the car after a long day

And, just for good measure, one more deep one of Dan

Waiting games

This morning brought the earliest start to a ski day that I can remember. With snow falling since yesterday afternoon, Tom and I woke in time to catch the 8:05 shuttle to the mountain, expecting to find deep Japow. Joined by Jon, a fellow lodger from Sweden, we were riding our first lift by 8:20. And for our ambition, we were rewarded with a few inches of fresh snow on top of crust.

View from the Hakuba Powder Lodging porch during a rare break in the clouds

Crust, because the weather went downhill after Saturday’s snow and sun at Cortina. Tom and I skipped skiing on Sunday and apparently missed nothing but treacherous winds (other lodgers reported crawling along ridges and being knocked over by gusts). Monday brought heavy rain that wiped out a good portion of the snowpack. Tuesday brought light snow, but not nearly enough to compensate for Monday’s damage. But we had our fun, skiing with Jouni and Katja from the lodge as well as Kate from New Zealand and Andy and Sarah from the U.K. Fake falls, skiing like gapers, Jouni skiing while juggling snowballs. I even switched gear with Andy to snowboard for half a run. We (Tom, Jouni, Katja and I) closed out the day while waiting for the shuttle by playing What Sport Am I, in which we pantomimed various sports.

Games have become rather popular here in Hakuba. On the drive to Cortina on Saturday, Kirsti introduced Tom and me to the “Who’s Touching Me?” game. Much less sketchy than it sounds. One person closes his/her eyes, waits for another person to touch him/her, and then has to guess who did the touching. Who’s Touching Me has since spawned Who’s Feeding Me and What’s Hitting Me. Yesterday also brought the Who Can Get the Most Lift Rides With a Girl game.

The games have kept us entertained during the dearth of prime skiing. Hence the hope for good snow today. Alas, no such luck. Now the optimism shifts to tomorrow. Snow came down steadily all day, particularly at the higher elevations. Each run we found deeper snow, although the combination of clouds and snow made for limited visibility in the alpine. Snow was sketchier in the lower elevations, with a strange layer of frozen slush beneath the fresh stuff. By our last run, however, enough snow had accumulated in the woods to leave us feeling encouraged for tomorrow. And so, the waiting continues.

Jon finds hope for Thursday

Kyoto photo and food extravaganza

Torii gates at Fushimi Inari

Kyoto brought a welcome switch to low-key tourism. Nap on the 2.5-hour train ride from Tokyo, another short nap in Matsubaya Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn, booked by Brian) and we were ready to explore the streets of Kyoto.

Hanging out at the ryokan

Though the city contained a few broad boulevards, the majority of the streets were narrow roads and alleys barely big enough for a single car. After meandering for a while, we stumbled upon a small restaurant filled with locals. We were offered the only available table, and sat down to a Korean barbecue of chuck roast, chicken liver and other obscure cuts of meat. All delicious, particularly when accompanied by beer.

On Saturday we set off with an itinerary planned by Brian: morning stop at Fushimi Inari, a major shrine on a Kyoto mountainside; a late-morning trip to Nijo Castle; lunch at Nishiki Market; an afternoon of roaming the city before heading back to the ryokan to prep for a 10-course (give or take a course) Japanese meal at Arashiyama Nishiki. The plan was going swimmingly until we made it to Fushimi Inari, which Brian commented was probably the most photogenic place he’d ever visited. So we spent the entire morning and early afternoon there, filling up our SD cards and depleting the batteries in our cameras.

Fushimi Inari has one main shrine and tons of smaller shrines. Thousands of orange torii gates line the path to the top of the mountain. The shrine draws lots of business people, who donate money in hopes of earning wealth. Nick, the owner at Hakuba Powder Lodging, later told us the place brings in a million dollars a day in donations.

Shrines — large and small — feature stone carvings of two foxes. Inari means “rice,” and the foxes signify some connection to rice; in tour books and subsequent web searches, explanations for the canines ranged from foxes being the messengers of the Shinto goddess of rice to signifying a strong rice harvest. Regardless, between the statues and the torii gates, the entire shrine area made for an impressive trip.

With a large part of our day exhausted by Fushimi Inari, we had time to make a quick walk through Nishiki Market for lunch snacks: grilled oysters, soy milk doughnuts, rice cakes, scallops.

For dinner, Brian led us to Arashiyama Nishiki. A waitress dressed in traditional garb took us into a private room and then brought course after course. Tofu filled with mustard, shashimi, multiple soups, beans, clams, dessert … between Tokyo sushi and Kyoto meals, it was a good trip for eating. Brian gets all the credit for that.

About to start the meal 

This course came in a shelf with drawers

Sunday morning we finally made it to Nijo Castle, where we toured the grounds. We passed through Nishiki Market again for lunch, and then it was back to Kyoto Station for the train and bus voyage back to Hakuba and return to the mountains.

 Walking to Nijo Castle

 Nijo Castle and the surrounding grounds