Blogs from Niigata, Japan, Asia
January 9th 2012
Giappone: per la seconda volta un viaggio sciistico, un viaggio di passione, la passione per il viaggio. Giappone: perchè? in tanti me l' hanno chiesto. Perchè il Giappone è 'estremo' oriente, perchè è il regno della powder, perchè voglio finalmente riuscire a fare il fantasma....e ora che sono qui cosa penso? Le aspettative sono alte, le due giornate passate a Tokyo sono state quasi uno scomodo interludio (probabilmente sono malato, lo so ma l'ho vissuta così, sono venuto qui per sciare), e l'arrivo qui a Nozawa Onsen è stato ricco di contraddizioni: la stanchezza del viaggio e del fuso si sono scontrate con l'inaspettata assenza del muro di neve che ci aspettavamo...solo 2 metri...ma a poco a poco l'occhio si abitua al paesaggio e si iniziano a vedere le sue reali dimensioni. Qualche foto può forse ... read more
May 5th 2011
So to get to my next destination of Niigata it involved a ridiculous amount of transport and a journey that would turn out to take 3 trains and about 6 hours to complete. Over the course of this journey I had the realisation that it was the start of Golden Week (a major Japanese public holiday) and that the world and his wife would be travelling. This was especially true when getting onto the unreserved car of the shinkansen which was standing room only. Learning from this and not wanting to spend my 3rd train journey stood up for the next 2 hours I decided to go and reserve a seat which unfortunately meant that I would have to wait 2 hours for a train. So I ended up having an unscheduled stop over in Omiya, ... read more
Winter Survival: Making the Best of a Cold Situation
Published: March 13th 2009Asia » Japan » Niigata
January 31st 2009
Snowboarding. This means a lot of different things to different people. Reactions vary, from 'snow, what's that?' to 'so, you want to strap yourself to a bit of plastic and throw yourself down a mountain WHY?' or 'fully sick mate! Last year in Whistler I.....' To me it meant that I could finally throw off the mantle of depression and Japan-loathing brought on by being cold ALL THE TIME and enjoy a piece of the winter I was unable to escape. When snow is a novelty it's all 'ooh...snow...wow...pretty...little flakes...la la la...snow faries....winter wonderland.....' bla bla bla, but once the novelty is gone it's more along the lines of 'damn car window has iced up AGAIN!...slippery roads, stairs, pathways...cold hallways at school...getting sick...'etc. A firend called me up and asked me if I was interested in ... read more
July 24th 2008
Japan! The land of the rising sun, samurai warriors, stealthy ninjas, sushi, high tech gadgets, sumo wrestlers, cherry blossom (although you get that in other countries too) , heated toilet seats, geisha girls, hot springs, sake, love and pod/capsule hotels to name just a few things associated with this prosperous Asian country. I couldn’t wait to get out there and experience all of these things for myself, except for the cherry blossom - wrong season! We left Beijing for Tokyo on the 23rd July, stopping over briefly in Shanghai, which we found amusing since our travels had begun there. I felt a slight longing for my old life in Shanghai then, but that quickly passed when we boarded our flight bound for Tokyo. We arrived in the evening and had our first taster of Japan’s rail ... read more
July 30th 2007
So I went to the Fuji Rock Festival. 'Twas wicked. I saw a bunch of bands play... Danced with a load of random Japanese people, basically didn't sleep the whole time... Man, I didn't know there were so many Japanese hippies. And these guys party pretty damn hard. The bands I saw were (In no particular order whatsoever): Kings of Leon Muse The Cure Lily Allen Jarvis Cocker Kemuri The Beastie Boys Iggy & The Stooges Kaiser Chiefs Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group ...And some random Japanese bands whose names I cannot type. ...And that's not to mention the all-night DJs. I met the guys who were working on bringing "Afro Punk" to Japan--It's a documentary about black punk-rockers. They were pretty cool... One of them did an interview on MTV while we were there. We hung ... read more
July 10th 2007
Niigata Japan! Asia » Japan » Niigata By Bennyb July 10th 2007 Hey, well this is our last port in Japan. It has been so amazing to see how many people have come to visit the ship even though we were really not expecting. It has been a good time here in Japan. I had the opertunity to drive to Tokyo and visit Disneyland tokyo. That was kind of fun. It was a 5 hour drive and so we had to leave sunday night. I slept on the side of the highway on downtown tokyo because there were 2 guys and 4 girls and so ya... being the gentleman that we are.... we slept out side on the highway to give the girls more room to sleep... ha it was an adventure. Anyways enjoy the pics ! ... read more
Fuji Rock Festival: 4 days of camping, concerts, mud, and fun
Published: August 1st 2006Asia » Japan » Niigata
August 1st 2006
Eve and I had a successful 4 days at the Fuji Rock Festival at the Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata prefecture. In four days we managed to see 32 bands, catch 3 up close and personal acoustic sessions, get 12 hours of sleep over the course of the festival, and get covered in mud. We arrived Thursday night to set up camp on the ski resort’s golf course. We ended up on an incline so everything kept sliding down in the tent. The first official day of the festival was Friday so there were some special acts on Thursday night including band performances and a circus/freak-show act. We were able to catch 33 bands play in either their entirety or partial sets (with links to a few short videos I took of the festival): -Shoen Knife- ... read more
July 27th 2006
I'm off to the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata this weekend with Eve. It'll be a weekend of camping for us which is exciting, given our lack of camping skills. Having only been camping in a tent twice, I'm the camping pro since this will be Eve's first time camping. We practiced setting up the tent in the kitchen so we'll be able to look like we know what we are doing when we arrive at the festival site tonight and prepare to set up camp in the dark. The forecast is calling for heavy rain all weekend, so the rain gear is packed, as are my shoes my parents sent from home for a whopping $40. Hopefully I'll make it back on Monday in one piece with stories and pictures. In other news, Eve and ... read more
May 10th 2003
Niigata is likewise most useful as the port from which the board the ferry to Sado. As Japan's major shipping center and industrial city on the Japan sea coast, it is a good place for replenishing supplies and changing money.... read more
