Apparently the avalanche danger was too great to go whisking skiers to mountaintops. I seriously thought about just bagging the trip because the ski report was not very good. However, I had already wasted my Friday night sleeping and getting up at 1AM to catch the bus so I figured I better just follow through with it. I’d already paid my $45 for the bus, plus there was mention of some rope-tow at the top of the mountain. So I grumpily boarded the bus and immediately went back to sleep.
The bus ride took about 5 hours, so we arrived about 7 or 7:30 before the lifts opened or anyone else was even there. Luckily the MWR (Navy recreation organization) guides spoke English really well and they were able to mostly guide us through the steps, not unlike those in the U.S. The big difference was the lift ticket. Not a ticket at all really, but an RFID tag that you put in your pocket and wave in front of the gate before you get on the lift. Pretty nifty!
I was still pretty grumpy about there being no helicopter and it was cold, damp and foggy outside. However, the weather forecast was for a great day, so I made up my mind to make the best of things. While waiting in line for the ticket counter to open I heard some of the Navy guys talking about backcountry and how upset they were that there was no helicopter trip so I butted in that I was indeed upset as well! After trying to make small talk for a while I straight out asked if I could tag along with them, maybe try to find some backcountry stuff to play around in.
Once that was out of the way and I had some skiing buddies it was off to the lifts! The first step was a gondola up the mountain. The ride was quiet and the trails were perfectly groomed so I was starting to get excited to try out my humongous 171cm rental board for some serious carving! At the top it was nearly impossible to see due to the fog, but we went for it anyway.
After a few runs we all declared the snow to be “the worst I’ve ever seen.” I can’t even describe the conditions, but apparently it had warmed, frozen, rained, melted, and frozen again overnight. I think they call it “variable spring conditions,” but I can think of a few other words that might describe it better. The snow was bad, the runs were boring and short, and there was no helicopter ☹ Luckily the sun was starting to come out!
Finally, we found the “top” of the mountain and took the 30 second run down to the next lift which was…. A CABLE CAR. Whee! Where does this go??? To the backcountry sir!
And to the backcountry we went.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with our jackets off huffing and puffing up the REAL mountain. The sun was shining, I was getting a workout, and the view was spectacular.
Of course it’s always better when you have to work for it, but just check out these pictures. After stopping a few times and having plenty of people pass us wearing snowshoes and carrying survival packs we reached the intermediate peak. Here I am with Rob and Kyle at the top. 
Had we started earlier we could have perhaps actually summitted the mountain, but we were on a strict time schedule to meet the bus back to Yokosuka.
Instead, we relaxed a bit, caught some rays, and built a snowman.
The snow on top was perfect for snowballs and snowmen. If only we’d brought a lunch like the ladies in the background (who were extremely excited by our snowman - they took video of the entire process).
OK, enough down time, let’s do this thing! Here, if you look carefully, you can see the peak on the left and also my track through the trees.
There will be more pictures, and even video later on. Kyle apparently got a good one of me jumping a ravine! I want to go into detail on the ride down because it was so much fun, but I’ll just say that the snow and terrain were fantastic. Between the view at the top and the ride down, I couldn’t have asked for more. Except maybe a helicopter… But whatever.We made it down to the lodge with just enough time to change clothes, grab some food and make it to the bus. What an awesome day!
One more thing I have to say about the trip is to comment on Japanese rest areas. I wish we had anything even close to this in the U.S. Every rest area we went to (3 of them) had a full restaurant, quality convenience store, and really good fast food. The one we stopped at for dinner had a machine that would dispense a ticket that would eventually lead to someone behind a counter giving you the food you’d ordered. There was also authentic Indian food! The naan was great! Not a French fry or burger in sight. We made it back to Yokosuka around 10:30, at which time I fell into a deep sleep, not to awaken for 11 hours.
Sunday I felt awesome. I’d just climbed a Japanese mountain and now I had another beautiful day ahead of me. My coworker Bethany had invited me to a meetup in Tokyo so I decided to take her up on it. This would be my first experience with the train and seeing life outside Yokosuka.
The train was confusing to say the least. Now that I’ve done it a bunch more this past weekend, it’s not so bad. However, the first trip can be pretty daunting. Make sure you’re not on a schedule to get anywhere and you can probably figure it out. Luckily Bethany was pretty much dragging me through the process so I didn’t have to think at all. It just occurred to me that I don’t have any pictures relating to the train… I’m going to have to remedy that for a future post.
The meetup was interesting. There were lots of western folks, mostly from the U.S. but also from various other parts of the world. I met a great guy from Germany (Markus, who I hung out with in Tokyo last weekend) and two Americans, Greg and his friend Jeanna. The meetup was over around 6PM so we left to meet a friend of Bethany’s at an Irish pub in Shibuya.
Before that though we decided to grab some food. Greg has been in Japan for something like 9 years, so we considered him an expert. His level of Japanese really motivated me to learn more. I hate not being able to talk to people.The night before St. Paddy’s day was fun, but unremarkable. There was an “Irish” band and the place was packed. It was kind of interesting being at an Irish Pub run by Japanese people, but anyway, Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
For the real St. Paddy’s day I didn’t have much in the way of plans. I ate some good sushi at a place that has already become a favorite and I headed out to one of the 2 Irish pubs in “The Honch." Almost immediately
I made friends with a couple, whom I hung out with for a long while. They’ve been in Japan a few years and definitely seem to have good ideas for stuff to do. Here’s a picture of the 3 of us, Jason, Lora, and me. The photographer said something really funny, but I don’t remember now what it was ☺ We exchanged info and I hope to hang out with them again. I should probably send them an email this week. Someone remind me!Man these posts are so long! I’m not done with the week yet though!
Wednesday night I headed out to a café not far from my hotel that was advertising jazz. It was a piano trio with guitar and bass. They were all stellar musicians and I really enjoyed their song selections, though I don’t know any of them. I had just barely ordered some food when another gaijin walked in. He sat down at the musician’s table and just started throwing all kinds of Japanese around. We also talked for a bit. It turns out that he came to Japan to study the language and culture after being an eastern philosophy major in college. He’s been here ever since, working as a musician, actor, model (hehe) and general crazy man. He was very nice, and as you can see from the picture below, he gets a lot of modeling gigs as santa claus :)
He had been invited that night to play a few songs with the band and so was going to bust out his flute. Songs he played included “Girl from Yokosuka” sung to the tune of Girl from Ipanema and “Route Rokujuroku,” or Route 66.
Toward the end of th
e set, the piano player started playing the licks to “Tequila,” the song made famous to me by the movie Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. The Japanese guy in the front row immediately shot out of his chair and went to his bag in the corner where he proceeded to pull out a bandana, roll it up, put it on, and dance like a crazy man! I actually got video of this, which I will post later. Here’s a snapshot of him gettin’ down.Other adventures last week included the largest kaitenzushi (or sushi-go-round, as my coworkers call it) I’ve ever seen. Basically it’s an enormous conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant carrying all kinds of crazy raw fish. A bunch of people from work took a trip there last Thursday in the pouring rain. This place has amazing sushi (which I’ll talk more about next week) and a fun atmosphere.
You can’t see it in this picture, 
but we must have had 50 plates! When you’re finished you stick your plates in a slot at the end of the table and for every 10 plates you put in you get to play a game! We actually won twice!Alright, I want to say thank you to everyone that has written comments. They seriously keep me going, just knowing that people are actually reading this. Feel free to make suggestions… Am I rambling? More pictures of something? And yes, there are vending machines EVERYWHERE. So far they only sell drinks though…
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for:
4 comments:
Makes me feel like I've been to Japan!
Good stuff, really enjoyed it. When are YOU going to jam with one of those bands???
See you soon...
Sounds like you're having a great time. Don't get too bummed out about not getting to go heliskiing. You could have been caught in an avalanche (they're not fun, trust me).
Keep up the bloggin. It's awesome.
It looks like you are doing something very un-christian to that poor snowman.
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