JAPANEXILE

Sunday 14th October - Completely on a random whim Yumi decided to whisk us away from Toya in her sparklingly clean car over to Niseko. Niseko is the prime Ski resort in Japan famed for its ample powder snow. And from what I’ve been told very popular with Australians, whether you view that as a good or a bad thing is up to you. However, a Ski resort without any Snow is an entirely different thing. It took about an hour from Toya to Niseko, including a brief stop at quite possibly the smallest bakery I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t resist the allure of a cheese covered freshly baked bun so I had my 2nd lunch for the day (I had earlier been to the bakery at the Mizu no Eki and eaten my fill). We got to the main tourist area at Niseko and met up with Haruka before treating myself to the 3rd lunch of the day, a Niseko Dog.

I didn’t really know what you were supposed to do at a Ski resort with no snow, we weren’t exactly prepared for white water rafting or any other particularly extreme activity. Yumi seemingly had a plan however, we drove up to the primary Ski lift and started climbing the mountain! We didn’t get too far, its steep and muddy. We did however have a fun photo sessions doing something I’ve always wanted to, climbing up onto the now stationary chair lifts and the pylons holding them up. There was lots of poses from Craig and I, lots of cries of “Baka Gaijin!” from Yumi and Haruka, and lots of photos.

So after all that excitement it was off to the Cafe to try custard filled rolls, which were pretty damn good. Some more fooling around, a trip to 7/11 to buy some Gundam figurines, and finally we ended up at Huruka’s house, where her cat practiced its boxing moves on Craig and I. Damn funny to watch. A little while later we had to head back, listening to “hanbato hanbato” all the way whilst Yumi swerved all over the road in so she could clap to the beat. There is of course a photo album for the day in the photography section!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.