Japan Part 8 - Skiing at Niseko

Not wanting to regurgitate what was already in Ant's email... but we woke up around 8ish (via a Japanese alarm where you can record your voice as the wake up message - I screamed into it).

After getting ready at the not so early time of 10am - Ant headed down to the smelly SAS fibro shack for his first 2 hour private snowboarding lesson. I went skiing with my Mum - who was claiming at breakfast that she is an "expert master" skier... who needs to be handheld down the mountain and can't cope skiing by herself... so I had to be the "expert master" guide. Also - when she was claiming to be an expert master skier - she stated that it is harder to stay in control and ski slower than it is to ski fast down the mountain...que?

The Niseko ski resorts is a collection of formerly separate ski resorts (located on an extinct volcano) which have come together to become "The Niseko United" ski resort. We were staying in Niseko Hirafu which is next to the Niseko Grand Hirafu skiing resort. It is the biggest out of the four and most people stay at the village there.

During the previous day - Mum had asked an Australian who was skiing in town - and he had said that the weather was minus 17 degrees... We had laughed them off - thinking it couldn't be that cold up the top. We were wrong... When we got up the first lift - the themometer at mid-station was reading "minus 17 degree". Coupled with strong winds, low visibility and blizzardy conditions - all of the lifts higher than the "mid-station" area were closed off... Mum and I basically stayed on the Ace Quad Lift #2 Centre 4 (that is the lift's name - uncensored), the Hirafu Gondola and the King Quad Lift #2. The snow was great (if you like groomed to the max runs)... just a pitty that the weather was minus 17 and blowing a hurricane.

Around midday - we skied down to the bottom of the "Ace Family Pair Lift" - the beginner area of Hirafu where Ant had spent his morning practicing Snowboarding. He was feeling really confident during his lesson - but because of the captive audience (my mum and I) and all of the constant advice - he cracked up. But the good news was that he DID enjoy snowboarding - except for all of his falls and crashes... which were fairly spectacular of the "funniest home video" variety. I remember one crash where Ant did a flip in the air... narrowly missing hitting his head on the ground, with his hat and goggles flying off...

We had organised to meet everyone at the Scott Hotel in Hirafu for lunch at 1:30pm. Ant and I bumped into my Dad on the way - who was saying that Sacha had lost Taeko on their first run and he was going around to look for her back at our apartment. Sure enough - Taeko turned up right on 1:30 at the hotel. She claimed to have waited for Sacha after their first run at some restaurant.... and she waited and waited and Sacha never materialised. Sacha was going off at Taeko - Maury Povich/Jerry Springer style for about 10 minutes in the hotel lobby... the rest of us went to the restaurant.

After lunch, we still skied on the "Mid-station to below" area - because the weather wasn't letting up. I had to fork out some cold hard yen to buy some glove inners (which looked like ladies gloves - but I was desperate).

We all headed back to the apartment sort of early in the afternoon. Sacha and Taeko did the local hot springs spa deal in a local hotel here at Niseko. Ant and I stayed back at the apartment - where he was complaining that I wasn't having a shower.

Because of the lack of real food available at the quick-e-mart.... we all had to eat out for dinner everynight. Not wanting $25AUD cheese pizzas (I never thought Japan was renowned for its pizzas?!)... we headed down to a traditional japanese restaurant (ie: the deal where you sit on the floor and get a s$$$ load of food put in front of you on a tray). I've had the whole raw fish deal before - (and at the meat restaurant with Taeko's parents - I had raw meat)... but tonight was the first time I had raw squid (which was dee-lish!). Mum and I ordered some hot sake (which is well recommended - to me it tastes a whole lot different than cold sake) - and when Dad ordered "draft sake" - they brought him out "draft beer"... Taeko had to quickly correct the waitress. Even though draft sake was about twice the price as regular sake - it wasn't as good. For all you cheap AA'ers - sake is cheaper usually than coke at restaurants.

I kept correcting dad about not "planting his chopsticks" in his bowl... as it is highly upsetting for some locals (reminds them of dead people).... and there were a few Australians doing their country proud by walking around the floor with their shoes on...