Japan

Hirafu POV

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Here is a little helmet cam edit from the last few days skiing here in Niseko. The snow isn't what Niseko is known for, which is to say deep, but the most significant things to note are the clear skies and visiblity.


Hirafu POV from Anthony Bonello on Vimeo.

 

Today we ski toured on the lower flanks of Yotei and it was probably our best day skiing here in Japan. Not becasue it was so deep, but the most fun and gratifying. Ill have a POV edit from today shortly. Hopefully...

VIO POV camera courtesy of Helmet Camera Central

Elephant in the Room- Dealing with Trash in Japan

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click to enlargeThere has been an elephant in our apartment for the last week or so here in Kutchan. Our elephant was closer to an actual elephant however. Ours was big, smelt and we had no idea what to do with it. It was our trash.

In Japan, waste is categorized into organic, combustible and non-combustible, and then an array of recycling sub categories. It is a seriously mind boggling exercise to sort trash here. Pleading forigner ignorance wasn't going to be an option for us becasue we had a trash flowchart in English. While it generally made sense, there was still a lot that didn't.

Determined to do our part and attempt to assimilate and respect the Japanese way of doing things, Stevie and I rolled up or sleves and went through all our trash that had been put into the "deal with later" bin more commonly know as the back deck.

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Hokkaido= Lots of Pow & Little Light

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The skiing has settled down a little here in Niseko the last week after a furious start. We skied the remnants of the last system surrounding the hill, mostly touring off of Moiwa. I would go so far to claim that Moiwa accesses the most slackcountry terrain for such a small lift ever. At least in my experience. In comparison to the mega 3 of An'nupri, Niseko and Hirafu within a stones throw from Moiwa, Moiwa offers the best bang for your buck and the resort manager even invited us back to his place to his private onsen. Not as wierd as some of you might be smirking about. The Japanese are so generous and friendly that you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

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Commitment to Something

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Stevie snapped this picture on the bus to the Hirafu ski hill yesterday. It is a Japanese boy doing his algebra homework in the condensation of the bus window. In down town Tokyo, I might not think twice, but on a bus bound for a ski resort, I really don't know what to make of this. Whatever I think about it is really beside the point, but for the record, I think it's great.