Hokkaido Snowboard trip

Seeing how the snow conditions in British Columbia were not that good in January, we decided to return to Hokkaido, Japan for another snowboard trip.  This time we would be five; my two nephews Dali and Miguel once again,  their father David and another friend Tyler.  David had never been to Japan and it was Tyler's first time going up to Hokkaido.   We were all very excited, a few of us bringing  new powder boards and the group creating a designed T-shirt for the trip.

Unfortunately, as our departure got nearer, the long term forecast for the duration of our trip was for little to no snow and warmer temperatures than normal.  That was a real bummer as exactly a year ago, almost to the day, we had experienced daily snowfall of around 20cm of the famous light Ja-pow snow Hokkaido is known for. "Shogunai" as they say in Japanese  ( it can't be helped or accept your fate). We were still going to have a fun trip. 

We had to spend the first night in Narita again as we arrived too 
late for the connection.  Once again, a visit to the large temple 
complex in the old town.

We picked up our "Alphard" Toyota van at Chitose airport and drove to the amazing log cabin AirBnB near Niseko village, our home for the next five nights.  There was of course snow, its just that it was mostly hard packed and had only traces of wind blown fresh powder. The flip side however was that we had blue skies and great views of the surrounding mountains as well as  the famous Yotei volcano, something we barely saw the year before. Our first day on Niseko United, it actually did snow, but only sporadically.  The same pattern would occur the following days on Rusutsu.  Our hopes were up but then we would wake up to yet another crystal blue sky morning sunrise.  We enjoyed trying different onsens (hot spring baths) every night and we split between cooking our own food at home and going to Japanese restaurants in town.

Mt. Yotei,  Hokkaido's Fuji

Rusutsu

Always beautiful going through forests of birch and poplar.

Cool Japanese sense of style on the slopes.

Miguel impressed a few 'lifties' with his Batman-Ninja get up.

Goshiki Onsen.
For an hour, it snowed heavily while we were there.
Snowflakes falling into the hot spring bath.

One day we did a scenic road trip toward the southern part of the island, stopping at a lake, going to a famous hot spring spa resort town, (strong sulphur smell in the air). We drove through a few high mountain passes then along the coast before heading back.  Always the forests of deciduous trees that lets you see the snow covered ground through them. It's like as if the bald face of the mountains had a 5 o'clock shadow.

Sulphuric steam escaping from the fissures in the rock.

Oni, a sort of Japanese Devil, was the mascot of this tourist town.

After Niseko, we went to the coastal town or Otaru.  We ended up staying in the exact same building  we were in last year. My friends Gloria and Cedric, who were also here last year, came again this year at the same time and, like the year before, were on the same street as us.  It seems the AirBnb rooms in this city are mostly all on the same hill, concentrated in a few high rise buildings.

The ski resort close to this city is Kiroro, one of our favourites.  And, true to its fame, it had the best snow. We were able to pow-hound some runs off piste that still had a good deal of powder. It was warm-ish however and felt a bit sticky, not unlike what we get on the coastal mountains of British Columbia.  Speaking of BC, David was getting photos sent from his friend in Kelowna where at Big White,  they were getting dumps of fresh snow day after day...

Our ode to Kurusawa's Seven Samurai.

Oishii soba

Otaru fish market restaurant

Since there was not much new snow anywhere, we decided to forgo the ski resort of Furano, which we had planned on visiting, and spent our last four days in Sapporo.  There were visits to beer halls, a sake museum, a pottery store and to an Ainu (Hokkaido's indigenous people)  museum / village.  There was still lots of snow on the ground and the wind was chilly.  Some streets outside the downtown reminded me of Edmonton or Winnipeg.  Like most Japanese cities however, the centre is full of neon signs with hundreds of small bars, restaurants and cafes and it was great exploring and trying some out.  There were always the ubiquitous 7-elevens and Lawson convenient stores that we visited regularly for their great, cheap  coffee and snacks.