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Trains, Planes and Automobiles (Specifically a Bus)

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After one last ski day, a lovely day at Iwatake, we make ready to hit the road again. There was lots of fresh powder and sunshine and not very busy. Managed over 2000 metres vertical in a couple hours. Apres Ski we relax, Jane hits the onsen then dinner of Shabu Shabu with Wagyu beef. Shabu means wash, so you wash the meet and veggies in hot water, delicious! We also made a number of new friends. Terry and Angela from Squamish. A fun couple. And Olly, a nice young bloke from Australia. Moving day.  Pay the hotel bill, catch our cab and to the bus! It’s about 1.5 hours on the bus to the train station, then on to Tokyo once more. We are going to meet Ying and Juan in Tokyo for lunch. The ride is fine, Shinkansen are great. And the country is quite lovely. At Tokyo Central station we connect with Ying and Juan. Lunch is calling, we have a nice visit and lunch. Tokyo in daylight, especially in an area we are not familiar with is a little overwhelming. Lots of people but maybe that’s be...
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Last Ski Days

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 After skiing 3 days this week we are taking Thursday off. Soft day, out for ramen and gyoza for lunch. Then watch some curling and relax. We have arranged dinner for Friday, shipping tags for the luggage and arranged a cab for Friday morning. Works done, looking forward to Okinawa. Time for Random! Ski jump at school, who knew?
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More and More Skiing and Eating

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 We’re going to try a different mountain today, Happo One. There is a free shuttle from our gondola base to Happo One. It is the mountain the 1998 Olympics skiing events were held at. There are, like, 20 lifts not including the learners carpets here including the gondola to mid mountain. A closer look tells s you that many of the lifts aren’t very long, maybe covering 100 meters vertical. There are lots of advanced runs off these short lifts though. There is a lot of terrain here and enough vertical to satisfy. Oh, did I mention the snow monkeys? Yup, monkeys in the snow, we saw one poor bugger slide down an embankment into a parking lot, face first, no control. Pratt sure his mind was whirling with the thought ‘what was I thinking’.  So after a tough day on the slopes we head home and took dinner in the Villa, they have a limited menu if you don’t order the day before but it’s hearty and delicious. Bedtime leads to a day of rest (sort of). We walk into town with various stops...
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More Downhill!

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 Time to move. Up early (7:45) and breakfast then the bus to the train station. Wow, shipping the ski gear was the greatest idea I ever had. Three trains later, Hakuba Valley!  Strangely, not much snow on the trip up to the last station then BAM, 5 feet of it. We chicken out and take a cab to the hotel, lots of buses but we’re not sure about the 7 minute walk, lots of snow. This is the Villa Schole Hakuba hotel.  It’s Japanese. The skis and boot bag are already here! My phone arrives about an hour later. We pay the freight fee in cash, luckily I have enough. Then the phone comes, need another 1300¥. She laughs and says pay me tomorrow, there is an ATM in the 7/11.  The room is large but you have to make your own bed, literally, it’s futons so you put them in the spot you like then dress them. Bamboo mats make up the floor, soft, warm and quiet. Once housekeeping is done we relax till dinner. We are not too close to restaurants, although there are a few around, so we ...
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Last Day in Kyoto

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 We have seen a deal and tromped a lot around this city. It is an amazing conglomeration of, well, stuff. There are things that surprise you, things that scare you and just plain things. Every corner of this city that we go to seems individual, part of the city but a different feel, view, structure, smell, taste, texture.  All that aside, another shrine, Fushimi Anari Taisha Shrine. There are many torii gates here, thousands of them. There is a path to walk that goes 4 kms up the hill and back down. Quite amazing. Of course there are specific shrines to different deities and places to make wishes and collect amulets. The colours are vibrant and happy, orange/red is like that. We walked a good deal of it but hold off the full 4 kms, not our schtick.  After the shrine we wanted to return to Nishiki Market. There was lots there and it deserved a second look. Train works well, we found a couple things on the way to the train. There was a local knife shop that had some beautif...
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The Old Capital (First Two Days)

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 Kyoto was the capital city of Japan for over 1100 years. It was the city where the emperor lived. There is a long story behind the move of the capital to Edo, which toad is Tokyo. We are riding the Shinkansen, the bulletin train, yes it’s that fast and smooth.  Very efficient service. The only minor drawback is the do not give you much time to debark the train at a midway station. Unfortunately, my phone ended up remaining on the train due to the flurry of activity getting off. We noticed immediately and were able to make arrangements to have it sent to our hotel in Hakuba. Wednesday Morning Meanwhile, back at Kyoto, we are experiencing the old capital. It is quite different from Tokyo, it seems more urban somehow. We have decided, as usual, to pick a few things to see each day and not try to see everything. There are hundreds of temples and shrines all over the cities and it would be too much to try to see even a few of them, even if you understood which deities where enshri...
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Moving Day(s) Hiroshima

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 Our last night in Niseko calls for dinner out. Ying and Juan are also leaving. Ying is from China and Juan is from Argentina. They are going to their house in Tokyo.  We meet this couple early on in our stay and have become friends. They come to Niseko every year to snowboard so they know it well. They have a season pass to Annapuri. They have an interesting story. They both work remotely, he is in AI development and she is a manager with a French tech firm in Tokyo.  Dinner was wonderful. Not really Japanese as we ate at a Canadian/British pub style place. Good food and four bottles of wine later we waddle home. Ying and Juan have never been to Canada so maybe in a future season they will visit. They seem pretty eager to ski the Rockies. We are out of Niseko bound for Hiroshima. This part is to relax and let our legs and backs recover. Hiroshima, Kyoto and environs for about a week. We got pretty lucky in our travels, the airport bus was large and new, very comfy. It’s ...
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