Day two, 3/4
Nagano
Ski day. Enough said…oh wait…there’s more. Greg woke me up at 7am. Between the onsen and a solid sleep I felt like a hundred dollars. Breakfast was at 7:30 sharp and then we’d catch a shuttle for the mountain.
Breakfast. Not quite your standard Grand Slam or Moons Over My Hammy. Rice, smoked salmon, miso soup, udon noodles, seaweed, tuna, and a bunch of other shit that I had no idea as to what it was. In keeping with my grandma’s advice I tried everything at least once though, no matter how crazy it looked, and for the most part it was all good.Full, but not stuffed, we geared up for some skiing. The ride up was about 25 minutes and was beautiful. I had decided not to bring my skis as I was heading to Hong Kong later and didn’t really feel like lugging them around. I hoped this wouldn’t be an issue. At the rental place I was presented with a pair of 160cm Head skis circa 2002. For reference, I ski a 186cm.
After some nodding, smiling, and hand gesturing I decided to just go in back and check out the goods to see what else they had.
What I found looked like Glen Plake’s garage from 1984. The biggest pair I could find were 174’s and I think they were the first “shaped” skis made, but they would have to do. Keeping with the zero prep schedule I hadn’t looked at a trail map of the area we’d be spending the next few days conquering. In general, I don’t like trail maps. Whether I’m in the states or half way round the world I follow one simple life motto: “Push forward and drop in”.
In my estimation it’s the best course of action, whether on mountain or in life. Hey, is that Tony Robbins?
So that’s what we did. And what a day it was. Blue bird. Not a cloud in the sky and the snow was fantastic. We tore up a few runs and quickly realized the Japanese tend to stay in the middle of the runs leaving nice little stashes of untracked along the sides of most runs. And then we found it, a beautiful gladed area that hadn’t been touched. Thankfully the warning signs were in Japanese. Greg later told me they basically said area prohibited, but they also said ski at your own risk.
What we found in amongst the trees was knee deep in most areas and waste deep around some of the large trees. My skis let me down a few times, the skinny tips didn’t provide much float so they were swallowed every now and then and I took some pretty good diggers, but the landings were soft and I was having a blast.
We broke for lunch and then decided to explore a bit. Shiga Kogen, the ski area, is pretty damned expansive as it turns out. We broke ground on several valleys and quickly realized we had barely scratched the surface.
We packed it in around 4pm, resolved to see the full spoils of what the rest of the mountains had to offer the following day. Plus, I had a hankering for a beer and the shuttle was picking us up at 4:30. The après scene is pretty non-existent. What Japan does have, however, is an abundance of vending machines and most have an assortment of beers.
So we grabbed a couple, found some seats outside, and toasted a great first day.
I had crossed Asia off my list!
The shuttle arrived promptly and we made our way down the mountain.
It was onsen time. It turned out to be a little busier at 5 in the afternoon than 11:30 at night. I’ve never seen that many naked Japanese men in one place. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one naked Japanese man. Some were reserved, holding their washcloth in front of their junk as they walked around while others walked around with a lot more bravado placing the folded cloth on top of their head. Greg explained this was the custom. Being the only two foreign devils in there we stuck out like sore thumbs especially since I decided to swaddle my junk with my washcloth. I got some odd looks, most were envious.
Most of you, yes you, know that a hot tub feels great after a hard day on the mountain, but an onsen…holy shit! Maybe it was the natural spring water, the nakedness, the view, who knows, but it felt fantastic.
Back in the room I sat down and thought I was going to pass out. I was that relaxed. Really.
Speaking of the room…I should probably give you an idea of what to expect should you decide to go…and you should. Yes, you.
You enter though a door. No really. You enter in to a little room with a step up to another room, a rack for shoes and three doors. Behind door number one is the crapper, door number two is the shower, and door number three is the main room. The main room is actually pretty good sized and depending on the time of day it’s configured one of two ways. There are a couple of western style chairs over by the deck. There is also a big floor table made for midgets. Actually, it’s a “kneeler”, but whatever. Cram it dwarves. They also had a couple of floor chairs. Basicially dining chairs with no legs. There is also a TV, a closet, and a little sink in the corner. Pretty bare bones, but nice. This was the day configuration. While we were at dinner they would come in and push the midget table against the wall and pull a futon mattress out of the closet, throw it on the floor and make it up for sleepy time.
For Greg and I there were two separate futons, you perverts.
After the onsen we headed down for dinner. As we found out, most hotel guests just roll around in the robes the hotel provides. So for the next few days I lived in either ski gear or a robe. Which is really how it should be all the time.
After dinner we asked about nightlife and was informed the hotel had a nice bar, but that was about it. So we headed that way and found that we were the only ones in the joint. The bartender looked like a Japanese Steve Winwood from his Roll With It days so we stayed and had a few beers.
***I had originally planned on detailing the rest of the days…but I’m going to skip ahead to the last day. I’ll add some of the funnier bits from the other days though...
