Time has gone so quickly since i first got to Japan and it’s hard to believe i’ve been here for a month now. January was an amazing month of snowboarding, it barely stopped snowing the whole month and some of the powder days were incredible. We’ve all definitely been spoilt with the weather and it has been strange not having snow for the past few days and instead replaced by blue bird days and hard piste runs.
A lot has happened at the lodge in a month too – With Kate injuring herself so early in the season it was a big shock for everyone when she had to go home. People have also come and gone but everyone is great and we all get on so well. Riding in a big group is so much fun and we all have a good laugh when we go out in the evenings, even though there’s not much of an apres ski in Japan we still have a good time.
The good thing is along with riding a few of the resorts in the valley i’ve done plenty of other stuff already, getting to see the craziness of the Nozawa Fire Festival, and also spending a few days in Tokyo to see the Sumo Tournament and wander around the city, albeit being pretty ill for most of the time i was there.
Our weekly Japanese language lesson has been a great help as well, and i’m now starting to pick up a few words here and there in conversations and i’m fairly confident with basic questions and counting etc.
February will hopefully be much of the same, we’ve got a huge dump of snow coming this weekend which is definitely needed and i cant wait to start hitting some more off piste stuff with our backcountry day trip coming up soon. We’ve also got a trip to see the snow monkeys in a week or so which should be fun and there’s always the possibility of some more trips away, hopefully Kyoto dependent on money.
With it being nearly half way through my trip i’m also thinking about what i’ll be doing next. Work is possibly on the cards for Australia and i’m also planning to head over to New Zealand for their winter season, hopefully staying with some guys from the lodge. All exciting stuff!