Blogs from Hakuba, Nagano, Japan, Asia
January 28th 2011
Dear Blog Readers, Here is the fourth part of our Japan travel blogs. This one is dedicated to Hakuba. If you haven't done so already, check out parts 1, 2 and 3 by clicking here: Part 1 - Korea Part 2 - Osaka Part 3 - Tokyo Hakuba Sprinting to the subway station leaving the Tokyo/Eiffel Tower in our dust meant that we had to quickly grab some food before catching the first of many trains to get to Hakuba. There was the chance of getting the bullet train south and then buying a bus ticket to Hakuba and saving ourselves nearly 2 hours but we decided to do the whole thing on trains because we’d forked out for... read more
May 10th 2009
I woke up Thursday morning and began a somewhat ridiculous day of travel. I walked to the train station and caught a bus for one hour to the city of Kofu. From there I had to take a train to Shiorijiri, then transfer to a different train to Nagano. I found out when I got to Nagano that the hostel I booked was in Hakuba which was not as close to Nagano as I thought. It was going to be a 5 hour wait for the next bus to Hakuba, so I threw my bag in a train station locker and went for a walk around Nagano. The only thing that I knew to see for sure was the Zenkoji Temple which only opens for one month every 7 years. I looked at a map at ... read more
Powder snow slopes in Nagano (27.-30.12.08)
Published: February 13th 2009Asia » Japan » Nagano » Hakuba
February 13th 2009
The ski season starts in Japan around beginning to mid of December. There are plenty of ski resorts along the West coast and the Central mountain range of various sizes. It is possible to do day trips from Tokyo within short distance. There are even high speed trains which connect to some resorts in a 1 hour direct link with free onsen (hot bath) in the train station to relax while waiting for the return train. Tokyo itself sees very little snow since it is at the warmer East coast and temperatures drop even at night not below freezing. The West is influenced by the Chinese-Siberian climate and snowfall is plenty with several meters of snow during January and February. The air is very dry and therefore the snow has a very good powder texture. We ... read more
February 4th 2009
Where was I? I feel I have neglected my blog for too long. This is mostly due to laziness but partially due to the fact that I am now doing a TEFL on-line course as well as my Japanese Studies. The TEFL course is a 40 hour on-line course run by travel company and training provider, i-to-i. I reasoned that I could do with some evidence in paper form of having trained for the job of English Language Teacher. And I really do need to have a better grasp of grammar. The Japanese Study is a bit more painful. I'm enjoying going to my classes on Thursday evenings (bless the volunteers at the Fushimi Life Plaza) but the JET Language Course is kind of useless. I'm no expert in how to produce a decent language course ... read more
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February 4th 2009
Here are some snow pictures of us on the boards, and a view from a gondola...... read more
January 25th 2009
After Almost no sleep= well in to the japanese part of our trip and still jet lagged= we are up and across Tokyo in morning rush hour to get a bus to Hakuba to the area where the 1998 winter olympics was held, to go snowboarding!!! Driving through the Japanese Alps up to Hakuba was stunning- tho i slept much of the way! Our first nite is spent at a little B&B as the hostel is double booked-but for the same price as the hostel- result! with an Onsen- Traditional Japanese Hot Spring!! So spent a little time in there chilling out Japanese style!!! you shower off, get in Naked, in to the HOT spring water and then wen you are crazy hot get in to the snow and roll!!!! Brrr!!!! We got kit hire sorted ... read more
December 24th 2007
Xmas Day in the Japan Alps started about 10am with a quick breakfast, then changed into our snowboarding gear an grabbed our newly waxed board an headed for the slopes - spent about 6 hours boarding an getting better an better so started doing the intermediate slopes...got a bit too cocky at one stage when I thought I was ready for the Expert slope..I stopped at the top of the slope an looked over the edge...looked over at Aaron..looked at my life insurance policy an crawled on my ass back over to the intermediate slope instead ;) We went out Xmas Day to meetup with Ashna (London), Rae (Newcastle) & Lydia (London) that we met in Sakura Hostel over a couple weeks in Tokyo. We went to a bar by their Ski Resort, and yet again ... read more
December 21st 2007
Hakuba - White Xmas In Japan We arrived in Hakuba on Friday 21st December after a 4.5 hour bus from Tokyo - we were expecting some snow when we arrived into Hakuba as its the busy time of year for the Ski Resorts - We werent disappointed as the snow had been falling heavily for the last couple days which meant I nearly disappeared when I got out of the bus.!! Its like nearly 3 feet deep an Im wearing a hooded top so yet again its away shopping for warmer clothes. We contacted our lodge owner who had said he would pick us up at bus station - when we arrived at the lodge is was just the postcard picture we were hoping for - as you can see from the picture. Even better when ... read more
February 6th 2007
14th January 2007 Board- check, Boots- check, Bindings- check, warm clothes- check, beanie- check, bum pads- check. I was set. My board is beautiful and of course my pants coordinate with the colours on my board, which coordinates with the pattern and colours on my bag. Hey, at least I look the part. My first experience of snowboarding took place at Fuji 10 ski resort, near Narusawa at the base of Mt Fuji. (Wicked!!) Night skiing starts at 5, and is apparently better coz less people and cheaper, so this is what we did. I was scared, excited, nervous and apprehensive (do you get the picture?) but had prepared myself for frustration and total embarassment. I was told it wouldnt be easy, I was told I would hate it and want to give up, I was ... read more
December 31st 2006
Yeah sick. Yesterday i was starting to see the appeal of ski porn (which is basically videos of Xtreeeem skiiers/snowboarders doing Xtreeeeem things - if ur into it, watch "Tangerine Dream"). Tonight its making me a bit sleepy. Of course its super motivating and sometimes even jaw-dropping SUGOI, but it's new years eve and there's drinking to be done. It turns out japan is into "hip hop" quite a bit. In fact some of the guests are cranking some in the dining room. Its a tough choice; rappo, or ski porn. I choose beer. Which, incedentally, happens to be predominantly Asahi Super Dry (my favourite in the whole wide world at the moment) in the Hakuba region. A one litre can is about 500 yen, maybe $6.00 NZ. Once again, Sugoi. Of course we haven't quite ... read more
