Snow Explorer

It has been an action packed couple of weeks, which is why I am so far behind in my updates! Shad had to make a trip to Tokyo for work, so Ryan and I tagged along for some fun and adventure. We flew into Tokyo on Saturday, checked into the hotel, ate a delicious tonkatsu dinner, had a comfortable night's sleep then excitedly headed out on our two-day snow adventure the following morning.

After a short 70min ride on the "shinkansen" (bullet train), we arrived at the Echigo Yuzawa station. Yuzawa is located about 200km from Tokyo and on the southern border of Niigata Prefecture, just to the north of Gunma Prefecture. As soon as we stepped out of the station, we were in winter wonderland. It was snowing lightly and snow covered everything in sight. Ryan was so excited that he immediately ran out to touch the snow. On the quick bus ride from the station to our hotel, Sierra Resort in Iwappara, our little broken gramophone kept saying "there is snow, and there is more snow here, and more here..."

The location of our hotel was just perfect. The description on their hotel website was extremely accurate (having been "misled" by such explanations many times before, it was a lovely surprise). "A true ski-in, ski-out resort, Sierra Resort Hotel Yuzawa is situated in the middle of the main run on one of the most easily accessible ski areas from Tokyo. Our hotel provides unparalleled panoramic views over ski fields and a large valley across to a broad mountain range."

Night view of Tokyo from our hotel room

Man, these early morning tour starts are killing me!

Charging up our batteries with a heavy breakfast for a full day ahead.

_

On the Joetsu Shinkansen heading to Yuzawa


The day after a heavy snow fall


Yuzawa landscape


Our little "hum yuk chung" (chinese stuffed rice dumpling) all dressed up for his first play in the snow


Making our first snow man


Me and my new icy friend (due to stamina constraints, our snow man was mini sized!)


Mother and son toboggan team


The lonely walk back to the top!


Refuelling for the afternoon play session

Ryan was absolutely ravenous when we finally stopped for lunch. He polished off three quarters of the pizza, much to our amazement!


Our hotel in the snow. Our room was the one on the left, on the second floor with the curtains drawn.


View of the chair lift (or table lift as Ryan calls them!) and skiers from our hotel room


Wind burned cheeks!


Night time snow explorer (day or night, our work is never done!)


Night skiing at Iwappara resort (this ski run was directly infront of our hotel)


Dinner at the local "pittoria". For some reason, this little ski area had quite a few Italian restaurants. The pizzas were pretty darn tasty too!


The lonely planet describes Japan as the "land of vending machines". Even out in the middle of a snow field, you can find your drink of choice!


Why walk when you can just toboggan home?


Chilling out in our snow armchair


In the middle of a ski run that was closed for the day. That is our hotel in the background, you can even see our room.


Ahh, I could stay here forever!