Tokyo and Skiing Hakabu

A new year and another adventure. This time Nick and I took off to Japan for a quick 10 day ski trip to the picturesque Hukaba valley where the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics were held.

Getting There

We took a direct flight from Brisbane to Tokyo (Narita Airport). It was a day-time flight, departing at 10am (BNE time) and arriving at 6pm (local time). Uneventful flight but always interesting how many people recline their seats in Economy class for a daylight flight. Poor Nick had an inconsiderate soul sitting in front of him who decided to recline their seat most of the flight. Come on people. When I suggested that Nick should recline his seat he said no and replied "Be the change you want to see in the world." Fair enough.

Tokyo Narita Airport

We were mid-plane so we disembarked into the airport with a fair number of passengers in front of us. Now, we didn't run through the airport but we moved very briskly. It pays to get to the immigration line as soon as possible. We had already completed the on-line visa form and raced through customs and immigration. We were out of the airport in about 30 minutes after getting off the plane. Good result. Unfortunately the next express train to Tokyo downtown was sold-out so we had a 30 minute wait in the train station. I guess you don't win them all.

Saturday night in Tokyo

We stayed at the Marriott near Shinagawa station, not far from Tokyo central. It was a 15 minute walk from the train station where we checked in and dumped our bags. Then it was back to the station for a late night explore. We decided on Shibuya crossing. Using Google Maps made catching the train very easy - it tells you the station, gate for entry, train line, platform and even recommendations for what carriage. You need to know the colour and the train line, and the numbers of your stations. Colours and numbers. It works.
Shibuya crossing was total chaos - as you would expect. 10pm Saturday night and it was jam packed. We walked around - some shops were shut but bars were full. We were exhausted and got back to the hotel and crashed around midnight.

Sunday in Tokyo

Awake early for breakfast and then to our pre-booked 9am slot for teamLab Planets. This was amazing. Light, colour, sound - I recommend it to everyone. Photos don't do it justice. You even need to remove your shoes and socks to enter one of the spaces that has a pool that you walk through (only 30cm deep). Good for tall people, but some of the young kids were saturated.

We then caught a train to Shibuya and walked down Takeshita Street where all the pet cafes are located. Cats, dogs, birds, otters, pigs, capybaras - so many options. It was very busy, shoulder to shoulder all the way down the street. People shuffling, not really walking. We didn't go into any of the cafes - I was happy just to watch and experience the ambience.

We enjoyed lunch at a 7-eleven. I had the egg salad sandwich, Nick had sushi triangle and then we shared a chocolate bar. No beer, just soft drinks. Although the alcohol was cheap. We had a busy afternoon in Shinjuku and I found a second hand CD store (but no purchases).

Dinner was at a robot cafe - not what you might think from the name. Also not what we expected. There were no AI robots in sight - but lots of remote-controlled robots. They were controlled by people living at home with disabilities that made leaving their house difficult. So this was a way to empower them and have them engage with outsiders. There was a mix of locals and tourists in the cafe. We had a robot deliver our drinks and chatted with a robot controlled by a lady living in Osaka. Her English was much better than our Japanese.

To wrap up the day we spent the evening at Ueno where the street is filled with lights and sounds typical what you expect of nigh-time in Tokyo. It was a big day and our phone batteries were dying so we headed back to the hotel to recharge. Without a phone there is no way we could navigate around. Turns out the phones were easier to recharge than both Nick and myself. We couldn't bring ourselves to go out again…we were so exhausted.

To Nagano and Hakuba

We had a slow start and checked out of the hotel at 9am and made our way to Tokyo station where we caught a Shinkansen to Nagano. It was a 90 min trip, sometimes at 270km/hr. For our first trip on a Shinkansen it was a success. We bought our tickets back home about a month ago and linked them to our IC travel card. It was a simple tap to go through the gate and onto the train platform to wait for the train to arrive.
At Nagano we caught a bus to Hukaba where we transferred to a van to make the final leg to our hotel at the Happo-one ski resort. We made it, without too many mistakes.

We checked into our hotel and then phoned Rhythm Rentals - they picked us up and took us to their store where we were fitted out with boots, skis and poles. Then dropped us back to the hotel. Great service. And also a totally western / English speaking experience. There are a LOT of Australians in Hukaba. To wrap up the evening both Nick and I braved the Onsen attached to the hotel. Yep, as you expect, lots of naked men in hot water.

A week of skiing at Happo-one

It was cold. Maximum on day one was -5 degrees. Forecast for the week was maximums around -5 degrees and minimums of -10 degrees or colder. It takes your breath away.
Aside from the cold weather, or maybe because of it, the skiing and conditions were excellent…for an Aussie. There was plenty of snow on all the runs and because it was so cold there was no freeze / thaw cycle overnight; the snow stayed as snow. Tuesday, our first day, it snowed off and on all day. Wednesday and Thursday it snowed a little during the day. Friday and Saturday were Japow days. Big dumps of snow overnight and then throughout the day. It was crazy.

Highlights:

Plenty of great runs on the mountain. My favourite was a 6km run from top to bottom through the trees. It became our 'last run of the day' and got us to the bottom where the bus would pick us up and transfer us back to the hotel.
Lots of restaurant options - we tried to have lunch somewhere different each day.
More falls than I'd hoped but nothing too serious - especially with plenty of soft snow to fall into. I did get stuck on a chairlift at one stage (my backpack buckle was stuck in the chair and stopped me skiing off). I caused the whole chairlift to stop while they got me out. So embarrassing.
We didn't see much of the sun or blue sky all week. That was the price for great snow.
Often the light was very 'flat' and it was difficult to read / see what you were skiing through. Everything was white with no contrast at all. This slowed me down quite a bit.
Nick had one large fall under the chairlift as we were going down through some heavy snow. Quite a yard-sale with both skis and poles all over the place…and an audience on the chairlift to witness the incident. I only saw a little of it - as Nick flashed by. Apparently a tree branch sticking out of the snow caused it all.
Some big days on the mountain - starting at 8am and finishing after 4pm. We slept soundly. Some days we were close to 50km skiing and 8,000m elevation.

Getting Home

We took the bus from Hakuba all the way to Narita Airport. This was a long trip - pickup 9am and arrived at the airport at 4:00pm. But on the plus side there was no transfer between bus - train and no navigating Tokyo subway network back to Narita Airport. Personal preference - do you want to get there a little quicker with walking / transfers (taking the Tokyo subway, Shinkansen with a short bus transfer) or sit on one bus for a bit longer? If you have skis / board and boots the extra gear may make you prefer to take the bus. But with just a suitcase for each of us, the Shinkansen and Tokyo subway would have been fine (and quicker).

Shibuya Crossing - just as you'd expect.