http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php?app=blog Community Blog List Syndication Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:42:52 +0000 editor@snowjapan.com (SnowJapanForums) IP.Blog 60 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/18/entry-79-sapporo-snow-festival-feb-10th-12th/ On Feb 10th I had a day off, so I headed up to Sapporo with the missus to meet a mate of mines who lives up there. Initially I had planned to go snowboarding, but due to a few reasons, the main one being me hitting GALA Yuzawa up the weekend before, I decided to not ride and spend the weekend boozing with my significant other! I had a geat... Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:55:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/18/entry-79-sapporo-snow-festival-feb-10th-12th/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/18/entry-78-from-oze-iwakura-white-world-feb-18th/ Last Saturday I took advantage of winning the Oze White World Comp on Snow Japan and headed up to Gunma for the day. Gunma from where I live in Kanagawa, is only about 3 and a half to 4hrs MAX away, so I was confident of getting there for first lifts. The weather report was favourable after the warm and rain event that the snow zone had had... Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:52:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/18/entry-78-from-oze-iwakura-white-world-feb-18th/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-75-happo-one-hakuba-nagano-20th-february-2012/
http://www.snowjapan...-february-2012/

For the afternoon, I moved over to Happo-one.

Words will just spoil it, so here's photos I took there. ...]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:43:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-75-happo-one-hakuba-nagano-20th-february-2012/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-74-hakuba-goryu-hakuba-47-hakuba-nagano-20th-february-2012/ th was looking like it would be an almost guaranteed fine clear day over in Hakuba – with...]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:41:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-74-hakuba-goryu-hakuba-47-hakuba-nagano-20th-february-2012/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/17/entry-73-march-meanderings/
1. Nagano. One of my...]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/17/entry-73-march-meanderings/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/19/entry-72-mt-granview-living-your-dreams-taste-the-difference-etc/ http://www.snowjapan...at-time-forgot/
.... it shot to the top of places I needed to visit, above more famous places like Hakuba and Hakuba.
As no doubt it did for most people...]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:47:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/19/entry-72-mt-granview-living-your-dreams-taste-the-difference-etc/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-71-centleisure-maiko-minamiuonuma-niigata-19th-february-2012/ Went to Maiko for the morning.
My, it was busy. Perhaps the busiest I have ever seen it.
Good for them, not good for me - being used to quiet weekdays.
At least I got some good exercise walking from the car to base!
Not complaining, it was fun, but felt lucky that I can do weekdays most of the time.

No...]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:17:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-71-centleisure-maiko-minamiuonuma-niigata-19th-february-2012/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-70-tokamachi-snow-festival-niigata-17th-february-2012/ Tokabochi Tokamachi Snow Festival.

Tokamachi is about 30 minutes drive from Muikamachi, in the next valley parallel to where I am.

We had clear skies earlier on this evening but it started snowing which kind of spoilt some of the later photos I took, but here's some anyway to get an idea of...]]> Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:59:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-70-tokamachi-snow-festival-niigata-17th-february-2012/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-69-joetsu-kokusai-minamiuonuma-niigata-16th-february-2012/ Time to ski.
So I went to close-by Joetsu Kokusai for the afternoon.

I realised today that I am rarely at a skijo in an afternoon. Apart from quickly changing weather conditions again - quite quickly clouded over - late afternoon brings...]]> Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:56:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/5/entry-69-joetsu-kokusai-minamiuonuma-niigata-16th-february-2012/ http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/17/entry-68-nihongo-nutcrackers/
I guess most of us have, at some stage, struggled to speak another language, either at school (in my case, 6 years of French lessons, with a year each of German and Latin thrown in for good measure) or equally embarrassing attempts to communicate with...]]> Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:09:00 +0000 http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/blog/17/entry-68-nihongo-nutcrackers/