Japan 2023 - Day 17

One of the best memories I have from our first trip to Nozawa Onsen was finding the Akari Swiss Bakery. It was open early, in time for a quick swing by for some beautiful fresh bread or the like for breakfast ahead of a day on the slopes. During the planning for this trip, I’d selected accommodation near where we’d been last time for both its proximity to the bakery and relatively easy access to the snow.

So today, Monday morning, day 18, I was excited to go find out what the bakery had to offer first thing. We’d checked the night before and it said they opened at 8am, but I got a message from Jason at 7:40 telling me that they weren’t open Mondays. Noooooooooooo!

The start to the day was incredibly frustrating for me. It was slow. I hate the chopped up snow at the end of the day and so really prefer to be out there early after the groomers have tidied it all up for me and today was one of those days where things weren’t going to my plan. I quite possibly got a little angry about it. When I was finally on my way up to the mountain I took these photos because it reminded me that as frustrated as I was and as bad as I thought the start to my day was, it can always be worse. 

At least it wasn’t raining. It was snowing which was a good thing for the planned day of skiing. It just didn’t happen to stop. At all. All day. Fortunately conditions weren’t terrible and we were happy to ski, though it limited where I was prepared to go because I was still concerned that my aging and fragile body wouldn’t hold up if I pushed myself too hard. I’ve become a lot more cautious than the rest of the family, but at least I’m still skiing.

We explored our way around the easier parts of the mountain while the nuts (mostly Thomas) went and found their own fun amongst trees and on steep slopes that this little black duck wasn’t about to engage in.

Nozawa Onsen is an interesting mountain and I hadn’t explored a lot of it last trip due to being a little lame from our time at Madarao. One of the differences at Madarao, is that you can go to the top and find a really long, green, easy run along the ridge line, but to get down from there, your only easy option is a long winding road (which is at least in most parts wide and easy to navigate). Your other option to get down either involves going to the top and taking an alternate long road that is significantly narrower and rated intermediate rather than beginner.

With the mixed ability we had skiing together at the time, we decided the green road down was the best way to go. And we nearly made it all the way down without incident. There was just one corner where everyone pulled up ahead of a somewhat steep bit and waited while Bel decided to maybe forget how to turn or stop or something? Not quite sure exactly what happened other than a sudden exclamation and an almost slow-motion plough into the group, seizing hold of Caroline briefly before her momentum took her past her, leaving her to seize hold of Rhianna and take her out as well. It was entirely comical and fortunately didn’t result in any injuries.

The road down was long. Like seven kilometres or so long but about two thirds of the way down there was an option to take a short intermediate run to cut the corner. We stopped at the top and everyone assessed it as not too steep and so down we went. Happy days.

I ended up at the back of the pack after that, deliberately waiting to make sure everyone was good ahead of me. Those at the front came upon another option to take an intermediate run to cut out some more of the green run. The only problem was, by the time you could assess how steep it was, you’d well and truly passed the point of continuing down the green run that I’d been wondering why everyone had opted out.

Unfortunately, it was significantly steeper than the other little red run. That’s okay, we were sure we’d all manage. Most of us skied our way down within our limits and left Thomas to help Aimee who certainly wasn’t feeling confident enough to tackle it on her own. So we waited at the bottom, watching and sending positive vibes.

It wasn’t to be though. The confidence wasn’t there, so Thomas kindly took Aimee’s skis for her and she opted for the direct, butt-slide down the mountain way out of trouble!

We skied at the bottom of the mountain for a bit, biding our time until lunch. On one of my runs I found Aimee taking off her skis at the bottom. I checked she was okay and she advised she was but was taking a break.

I didn’t realise that she’d had a fall ahead of taking her skis off. I headed back up for another run ahead of lunch only to come back down and find that Aimee appeared to be faring a fair bit worse than the okay she’d thought she’d been at when I’d checked. She was clearly in pain and struggling to get around. She’d been checked by ski patrol who’d advised that if needed the hospital was a possibility.  It was time for lunch though and no-one (except a Rowland *cough* Cameron *cough*) really likes going to a hospital in a foreign country, so the idea was to take some time for her to rest up and assess where things were at. She was struggling enough that even getting inside was looking tricky, so Sam and Thomas grabbed a chair from inside, sat her in it, and then carried her into the restaurant.

By the time lunch had been consumed, it was clear Aimee wasn’t going anywhere without assistance and so she and Bel called it a day and departed the scene in style.

Emily, Thomas and Sam were kind enough to ski back to deliver Bel and Aimee’s skis and poles back to our accommodation.

It was still snowing, and the rest of us skied on with half our minds wondering how Laimee was getting on.

Caroline, Emily and I were skiing up near the top of the mountain during the afternoon and I decided I needed a break and suggested we stop for a hot chocolate. While Caroline was taking advantage of the facilities on offer, Emily opted for a vending machine delivered hot chocolate, while I noticed a number of young people walking around with delicious looking ice-creams and decided that I was definitely up for getting intimate with one in the immediate future. I lined up with the kids and eagerly awaited delivery. I watched the young girl before me walk away with a luscious looking treat, ordered mine and watched eagerly as the kindly old gent serving me pulled the lever to deliver the icy creamy goodness. He swirled it around once, twice and pfft. There was no more. 

"So sorry, sold out," he declared, looking genuinely disappointed that he had to deliver that news to me. Devastated, I moped away, consoling myself with an icy cold can of coke while I waited for Caroline. She had just appeared when the old dude excitedly found me to announce that he'd refilled the machine and that I could get my ice cream. I gleefully followed him back to his little stall and watched as he pulled the lever.

And nothing happened. 

It was like being told you get a second chance at Christmas only to have it yanked from under your feet! He was extraordinarily sorry but I was still icecreamless. 

Caroline was finally sorted with her hot chocolate and so I sat with her, sipping my coke, lamenting the ice-cream that never was when for a second time I was hunted down and beckoned back to the ice-cream stand. I almost didn't go. Could I survive further disappointment? Was my day to be as bad as the person that had parked their car in someone's front-yard ditch? Warily I followed him. 

He pulled the lever.

Ice cream appeared.

He swirled ... and swirled ... and swirled ... and with great joy, I accepted the treasure and enjoyed every last bit of it! It may just have been the best ice cream I've ever had.

There’s a physio in Nozawa Onsen and Jason and Bel had found that there was an Australian-trained (and as it turned out, Australian) physio working there and so rather than commit to hospital, arranged for Aimee to go there for assessment before considering other options.

The rest of us headed out for a delicious ramen dinner at Deesuke with steamed apple buns for dessert.

Aimee reappeared eventually with a brace that was at least enabling her to stand and possibly even walk a bit but with an unknown amount of damage to her knee. We all hoped it would be minimal.

Oh and it was still snowing.

Japan 2023 - Days 15.5 and 16

 Sure, day 15.5 sounds a bit weird, but that's what happens when you forget something blogworthy!

Day 15.5

There was one minor hiccup in our travel to Shiga Kogen that I neglected to mention as my mind becomes befuddled by time and distance. One of the best things you can do if you’re travelling around Japan is buy a Japan Rail Pass. However, when you buy one, its quite alarming to realise that the money you’ve dropped (in the hundreds of dollars) is now represented by a rather flimsy looking ticket. A ticket that if you lose it, will not be replaced. And you have to put it through the ticket machine every time you enter and exit a relevant train station. That's a lot of times to potentially lose your ticket!

Caroline was rightfully paranoid upon realising we wouldn’t have a passbook kind of ticket as we’d had in previous years that would enable you to acquire tickets as and when you needed them. That was it. One ticket, one go, if lost, gone.

We made it all the way to Day 15 before that was an issue. We scrambled off the Shinkansen in Iiyama and Thomas was panicking because he couldn’t find his ticket. The train hadn’t left, but we had no idea what the dwell time at the station would be. It’s never a lot on the Japanese rail system. Caroline tried to ask a couple of railway staff who were on the platform, but they didn’t understand and the train left before anyone could do something like jump back on and look for it. D’oh. We had no option but to continue on and try and sort things out as we were going. We were hoping it would be found on the train and could be collected later.

... and day 16 ...

With our skiing done yesterday we were debating whether we’d squeeze in a morning of skiing but as we went to sort out dinner for the night, it started raining. We’ pretty much decided that skiing was unlikely but rain was the icing on the cake.

So that just left us to pack get to the bus stop and travel. The sort of day that leaves you with nothing to write about really.

Easy.

We enjoyed the buffet breakfast after something of a later start and set about packing to get to the busstop. For the first time on the trip since arriving in Japan, we had to take ALL of our gear with us … skis, boots, clothing, the whole shebang. Add to that the rain and it was a fully laden, sloshy trip to the bus stop. But at least we were there on time(ish). The Rowlands were of course more organised than us and were waiting so we joined them, mostly because the rain had resulted in enough ice on the ground that my attempts to get up the slight hill to join the back of the line were threating to land me on the proverbial and send me sliding back to where I was standing anyway, so I didn’t tempt fate.

Then the bus arrived, took a look at the people waiting and left. So did the next one which was as full as the first had been. Fortunately, it seems they bus company keeps calling for as many buses as are needed to meet the demand on the day, so it wasn’t too long before one came along that we were able to load our gear into.

The transit to Nozawa Onsen involved a bus from Shiga Kogen to Nagano, a Shinkansen from Nagano to Iiyama  and another bus from Iiyama to Nozawa Onsen. What could possibly go wrong?

For most of us, not much. But remember how Thomas had lost his ticket? He was going to have to buy one in Nagano to get him to Iiyama. Not a big deal. All went well, he had his ticket, we had ample time in Nagano and we just needed to catch the train. So I went to grab some food. When I returned, Caroline thought we might need a bit more and went to get some too. She took longer than Thomas, Emily and I were expecting.

By the time we had minutes to catch the train, we’d decided to meet her on the platform, shepherding all the luggage through the gates. Caroline caught up to us as we were doing that and we quickly worked out which platform we needed to be on.

But the ticket machine ate Thomas’ ticket and the next train was about two hours away.

Bugger.

He had someone helping him and we thought he, like us, knew which platform we needed to be on. Caroline, Emily and I scrambled onto the train (wrong car though) just in time to leave, thinking Thomas was also getting on. As we tried to steer all our crap down the aisle to the right car (about three cars away thanks to my misdirection) my phone rang.

Thomas wanted to know if we were on the train ... because he wasn’t.

We’d abandoned him.

At least he’s a competent adult who’s capable of sorting himself out, getting on the next train after a really disappointing delay and meeting us at the accommodation later on. He didn’t freak out and did an admirable job of not screaming down the phone (as may have happened if we’d done this to another member of the family).

Eventually he sent me a message to let me know he’d managed to get on an earlier train than he’d thought and we were much relieved. Until we got another message to let us know the train he’d boarded didn’t stop in Nagano as Iiyama as required. Did I say he was competent? Oops.

Eventually he did make it to join us, even in time to come and enjoy the burger dinner we had. He wasn’t lucky enough to get to partake in our first steamed apple bun of our time in Nozawa Onsen, but then neither was Emily who’d opted no to take part in our exploratory walk ahead of our first day of skiing! At least he made it and bore it in relatively good grace and was there in time for our first day of skiing.

And at least there was no sign of rain … it was snowing again.

Japan 2023 - Days 14 and 15

There isn't heaps to report from these two days as it was travel and then skiing with no-one being kind enough to provide me with blog-fodder. what a disgrace. In fact it was so exciting that one night Bel decided the best thing she could do was Japanese Where's Wally!

Travelling to Shiga Kogen meant travelling by train from Kyoto to Iiyama (with a stop at Nagano) and then by bus to Shiga Kogen itself. So that’s exactly what we did. We’d sent our ski equipment through ahead of us, so the luggage issue wasn’t too bad and the trip was uneventful though we did say goodbye to Sam for a couple of days as he’d opted to go elsewhere and meet up with us again to ski in Nozawa Onsen.

For dinner a local ‘pub’ selling Mexican food was selected. It turned out to be expensive and disappointing, but that’s one of the chances you take when travelling around. They can’t all be winners.

With only a single full day to ski, the Rowlands opted to rest weary legs and avoid the task of hiring and returning equipment, which left Caroline, Thomas Emily and I to ski. As usual we didn’t quite get the early start I’d have liked and Caroline had boot issues early which made her wonder if she was going to be able to ski at all, but we eventually sorted them out (utterly stress and hassle free of course – and I was calm, patient and … well none of those things really) and managed to make it onto the slopes.

We’d skied at Shiga Kogen twice previously and everyone other than Emily had at some point skied a run which we remembered as the Men’s Downhill which had been used during the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Emily hadn’t been willing to ski it on those occasions, but with vastly improved skills was dead keen to give it a go this time. So first up we headed up tot the top of the mountain and negotiated our way back down. It was everything I remembered, groomed, but on the bloody steep side of things. We all safely negotiated it and Emily was happy to have finally ticked that off her list of desired achievements. The weather was quite spectacular for the day and we worked our way up down, across and around the mountain, travelling as far as the place we’d stayed on our first trip there and ending in our happy place in Ichinose.

The Rowlands spent the day on a tour to see the snow monkeys and we all met up for dinner upon their return. The day ended with rain, which was a first for us in the mountains and certainly made our decision not to ski the following morning before travelling out again a better decision than we could have imagined at the time.

Japan 2023 - Day 13

Today saw us taken an excursion from Kyoto to Nara to see the deer there. For they unfamiliar, they will bow to you. You bow to them, they bow back, you feed them. What they don’t necessarily tell you is that once the deer know you have food, they’re not going to simply stand around and wait for you to politely bow and feed them.

It quickly became apparent the deer were none to backward about giving you a hint you should be feeding them. The bite on the butt certainly wasn’t subtle! I quickly gave up on bowing and waiting for a return and simply fed them quickly to avoid further hints, be they nips, butts or simply having them grab the deer biscuit from my hand.

We spent awhile in the park and walked through to a temple where a very large buddha statue resides, though most of us didn’t pay the additional fee to go through and inspect them .

Rhianna turned out to be the deer-whisperer and certainly persisted with the feeding well past the point where the rest of us had given up being abused by the deer.

Having enjoyed our sushi lunch so much the previous day it was suggested we find something similar in Nara before making our way back to Kyoto. We managed to find one and the food was good even if it didn’t have the express to table conveyor, nor the game for every five plates, but we walked out well and truly satiated!

We stopped at a supermarket after lunch and took advantage of the fact they had toilets available. unfortunately it was a traditional bowl in the ground squatter which I've never been able to adjust to. On the upside, they had a disabled toilet that had a western style bowl, so I used that. Happy to be done, I looked to flush away the evidence. There were no levers or buttons on the actual toilet itself (not uncommon) but neither did there look to be anything recognisable as a flush on the seat operation panel (you know, the one that sends jets of water or wafts of air up the backside). There was a stainless steel curved plate over a stainless steel rod of sorts, but I thought that might be the safety device that stopped you accidentally pressing the assist call button. Now I could have used google translate to check what the one other button was, but I decided it had to be the flush, so I pushed it. 

It didn't flush. Now I was really stumped as to which one was the button. While I pondered if I'd ever find a way to dispose of the evidence I heard footsteps, then an attempt to open the door and an enquiry in Japanese which I guessed was someone checking on my welfare to my utter embarrassment. At about the time he arrived I realised the stainless still components were the flush so I was able to open the door and assure the gentleman who'd come to rescue me that it was an error. I've got to say I was impressed with the timeliness of his arrival. If I'd been capable I would have found out who his boss was to compliment him on the efficiency of the service. 

We journeyed back to Kyoto and decided we had just enough time to cram in a visit to Kiyomizu-dera which we’d not visited on our previous trip to Kyoto. It was truly spectacular with amazing views of the city in addition to the temple itself.

That simply left getting home on the bus, dinner and packing for another day of travel. Being the end of the day the bus was jam-packed. Sam decided the 45 minute walk would be better and set off while the Rowlands were a bus stop away from us, so we separated and found our own way back. This time, we were headed for Shiga Kogen where we had decided during our final planning session to add a day’s skiing to the itinerary before heading to our final ski destination (Nozawa Onsen).