Japan Adventures - Day 2

Today was the first day that we woke up on the mountain and ready to ski. After a beautiful fitful night's sleep on a luxurious rather thin mattress on the floor (it is Japan after all) with a downy, soft, fluffy concrete block of a pillow, we were looking forward to seeing if the muscles would remember how to go about the whole swishing down the mountain thing.

We'd cobbled together ski gear from friends and from our time in Canada (the kids seem to think that growing out of stuff that was bought 5 years ago was perfectly acceptable) and hired a few extra skis and boots as required. A trip outside and brief 'discussion' about where we were going lead to a ride up the nearest chair lift and a trip back down. 

We survived a whole half a run before the first catastrophe. The zip on the jacket that Emily was wearing decided to disintegrate. You can bet she was happy with that. The wind was up and it was snowing (as it had been all night) and it was far from the sort of conditions in which you want to ski with your jacket open. So after one run, Emily and I returned to the hotel to resolve that issue while Caroline and the boys enjoyed a quick run. 

Turns out that the jacket that Emily was furnished with wasn't quite as right as she thought it was when she was standing inside. I'm sure at least 5% of that had something to do with the fact that it was purple, which according to the little princess is the most evil of all colours. (Given the whole Barney the dinosaur thing its hard to argue!). Another trip inside (this time Caroline took her) managed to resolve the issue and we headed off to explore beyond the run that's immediately outside the front door.

One of the challenges of Shiga-Kogen and its surrounds is that there is a string of small ski areas that blend into one another. Its a double-edged sword. On the up side there's lots of different areas to explore, but on the down side, you have to do a lot of lift up, ski down, traverse, skate ski and the like to make your way around.

Caroline earned Emily's further ire when she insisted that we should go to the highest point that we could, 'Maybe we'll get above the clouds and have an amazing view.' Optimistic? Certainly. Successful. Not even close. We ended up right in the face of the wind in poor conditions with Emily now struggling with goggles that fogged up so much that she could 'only follow Sam and only if he is like a metre in front!' We know this, because it was stated with such passion and volume that there may well be a new myth about Shiga-Kogen. Something about a banshee in a pink helmet. 

A rest, a bit of food and another attempt to actually do some skiing found us further over the mountain in the Ichinose region. Sam claims that its poorly named, because his nose didn't itch once, but ran plenty. By the time that we'd made it that far, it was decided that the day wouldn't be survivable without a new pair of goggles (which Sam managed to score as the others were cascaded through the family) and some lunch. 

(Miracles - the sun is out!)

During lunch, something remarkable happened. The sun came out! With full bellies and buckets of sunshine, everyone's mood improved dramatically and we found a fun little run with a bit of powder on the side that gave everyone a chance to enjoy the skiing. It was good enough that we spent what time we could afford there before having to navigate our way back to home base. Sounds easy, but it took some time, some questions and probably more patience that we really had in reserve at that point, but we did eventually manage it.

(Leave the boys alone in the snow and the sun for a few mintues  and they'll be sure to entertain themselves)

After playing some cards and eating dinner it was time to tackle the cultural experience that is the Onsen. In this particular location the Onsen means communal *if sexually segregated) bathing. You can imagine how thrilled the kids were when we arrived to discover that not only did we have a shared bathroom (toilet) but that the only place where you can bathe is the Onsen. 

Caroline and Emily gave it a go late on the first night, coming back to report that whilst they'd managed to time it so that they had the place to themselves, the bath was so hot that they couldn't get much more than a couple of toes in it. That didn't bode well for me given how much higher Caroline's heat based pain threshold is than mine!

There's only so long you want to go without getting clean though, so I suggested to the boys that we give it a crack. Thomas was up to the challenge whilst Michael and Sam opted to wait for a time when there was less likely to be anyone there. I think its highly likely they were also happy to wait for a time when there'd be a whole lot less Dad present. 

(He may be brave enough to try on the robe, but the Onsen remains untested by this one)

So Thomas and I stoically approached the place and had a go, happy to find that the water wasn't quite as close to scalding as the women's had apparently been and that we could actually manage to immerse ourselves. We didn't last much longer than 5 minutes, but we did outlast one of the locals. I don't think I'm going to cool down until I manage to get out into the snow tomorrow!

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As a foot note, I must say that the whole beer from a vending machine in the hall is rather convenient, if perhaps not the greatest way to police consumption by minors!