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Japan 2020 - Trip 5

February - March 2020
5th trip in 5 years. Read more
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  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 1

    Day 1 - Gold Coast to Narita

    February 22, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We stayed overnight on the Tweed before our Saturday morning flight. The plane took off about an hour late, but arrived in Narita on time. We followed our usual routine of dinner in terminal 3. Then we taqubin all of our bags, 2x large roller and one ski bag (¥8,800) to Shiga kogen, where we will meet them on Monday. Off to the bus stop we caught the shuttle to Narita Tobu Hotel. We have a quad room for ¥14,940.Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 2

    Day 2 - Narita to Nagano

    February 23, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    After a good nights sleep in Narita, we boarded the shuttle back to the airport. Exchanged our JR east passes, grabbed a 7-11 breakfast and caught the 9:18am NEX to Tokyo. Then onto the shinkansen bound for Nagano, arriving at 12:07pm.

    We went on a search for Baskin-Robins as birthday treat for our new 10yr old. Then went off to find our hotel - the Nagano Mash Cafe & Bed. The quad bunk room was ¥12,400 for the night. Check in was at 4pm, so we dropped our backpacks and wandered up to Zenkoji Temple.

    At the temple we paid the ¥500 for the main hall admission. One of the guides gave us a personal explanation and walked us through the main hall, explaining each step. Then he directed us to basement - where you walk through total darkness to find the key to enlightenment. We hit a human traffic jam, but found our way.

    It is freezing in Nagano, so after 4pm we checked in and then set out to Maisen for a Tonkatsu dinner. Then turned in for an early night.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 3

    Day 3 - Nagano to Shiga Kogen

    February 24, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    We started the day slowly having spent the night at Nagano Mash Cafe & Bed. It was a short walk to Lawsons for some breakfast, then back to the cafe to eat. We strolled a bit of Nagano and boarded the 9:51am train to Yudanaka.

    Here's where the bulk of our near 13km walking began. We strolled the uphill path to Shibu Onsen. Note there seems to be no real distinction, you just arrive in the main street and, oh look we're here, kind of happens. Shibu Onsen is a pretty place for a stroll. Once we were done, we realised we should eat lunch. So back to near the beginning we go to an open restaurant. It was fukuan, a small place run by one man, and the food was fantastic. Kaarage, yakisoba, and gyoza we had. Then we happened to be at a bus stop 3mins before the bus was due.

    Off to the snow monkey Park we went. Oscar was 2yrs old last time, so at 6 he was able to enjoy it more. Dale loved having her camera with her. There was some snow around, but it was by no means snowy. We spent some time here, and got back to the bus stop about 5mins after a bus left. So we waited for the 4:10pm, off to Shiga Kogen.

    By now the kids were stuffed, so were we. Ichinose is quite snowy. But staying at the Prince we ate what was closest, the Chinese Restaurant. Man that place is expensive, but we paid for convenience.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 4

    Day 4 - Shiga Kogen

    February 25, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    Today we woke to a nice morning, got ready and had the hotel breakfast.

    We exchanged our tickets for an electronic pass. Then hit the slopes at Yakebitiyama - the slopes of the Prince Hotel. We made our way from left to right, the kids gaining confidence with every run, they kept going right up the sides of the runs to get more speed going down into the centre.

    We took one wrong turn and needed to head to gondola 2, but we were on a path for gondola 1, so our option was an icy mogul run that the kids ended up butt sliding down. We ended up under gondola 2 for lunch at the dotunburi bowl place.

    During lunch it started snowing, so we did another run back over to Prince West, calling it quits after 2pm. We theb took a lively stroll through the falling snow (something us Queenslanders rarely get to do) to Ichinose. The kids were delighted to see snow monkeys along the way.

    At Ichinose we made a few dinner reservations and then wandered into Shiga grand, and found the hotel lobby that doubles as the Taco place after 3:30pm. It was 3:30pm so we decided to stay for a drink and eat. Then we walked back through the still falling snow to the Prince. Where the Dale and I went and had a relax in the onsen, looking out to the falling snow.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 5

    Day 5 - Shiga Kogen

    February 26, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ❄️ -1 °C

    After a snowy night, we woke to a blanket of snow outside the window. So after the standard hotel breakfast fare we suited up and headed out for the lifts. There wasn't really much of a queue, but there were more people around compared to yesterday.

    Visibility was ok down low, but up top of all lifts and gondolas it was very foggy with only about 50m vis in places. The kids had a ball chasing daddy through the trees on the edges of runs

    Before lunch we headed off into the side of a run and had a play in the snow. Snow angels, and a kind of snowman were made. We then lunched at the Prince west wing restaurant.

    Kids and I did some laundry, while hubby lapped the quad chair a few more times. The Dale and I hit the onsen again. We then caught the bus into Ichinose and dined at the fabulous Nepalese place. The naan is amazing, the chicken Tikka was good too.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 6

    Day 6 - Shiga Kogen

    February 27, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ❄️ -4 °C

    We woke to find it still snowing, the car park was very white and cars had about 15-20cm on them.

    When we hit the slopes we experienced our first taste of powder snow. Much fun was had making new tracks off to the sides of runs, hubby and the kids found new lines in the trees just on the edge of the runs.

    We moved over to ride the gondola, as this much more pleasant in the snow than the chair. Gondola 2 runs were better than the runs off gondola 1 for us due to more wind at gondy 1. We stopped for an earlish lunch at the dotonburi bowl place under gondola 2 again.

    Then we went back out and enjoyed the snow some more. The good part was that due to the cold (-5 to -10) you didn't get wet at all. The kids wore some snow at times when they stacked it. Jason and I each had an off of our own. One of Dale's stacks in about 40cm of powder had us searching for a ski that came off. Luckily it was found. The onsen was great after a day like today.

    Tonight dinner was at Altopiano in Ischinose. This was up some stairs, that were buried under a whole lot of snow. It continued to snow all through dinner.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 7

    Day 7 - Shiga Kogen

    February 28, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ -1 °C

    We were onto all mountain passes today, which meant we could go all over the 18 ski areas that make up Shiga Kogen.

    We had a small glitch with them not issuing Oscar a pass, but it turned out being 6 he was to go through the electronic turnstiles with us. Once figured out we were on our way.

    We went to Ichinose Diamond, then over to Family, Terakoya, before making our way down Higashiteteyama, to Hoppo Bunadaira. Here we had lunch at Aspen Rest. Since we were close we went to Hasuike, via Giant, then went on a bit of a walk to the Post office ATM.

    The way back damn near killed us with all the uphill traverses. Starting with the walk from the post office to the Hasuike lift, and the the killer uphill traverse from Hasuike onto Giant. Once they were done it was easy.

    The views the while mountain were amazing. We rode such a variety of chairs and the tiny gondola. The kids and hubby went off road a few times. We went under the road a few times, over some bridges, and skiing alongside a road is unique. I don't know how many km's we skied, but the kids were fantastic.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 8

    Day 8 - Shiga Kogen - all mountain

    February 29, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    It was a stunning bluebird day in the morning. After breakfast we headed to Okushiga-kogan. Here we skied a few runs, the kids loved the freeride park.

    After that we lunched under gondola 2 again at the donburi place. Then headed over to Ichinose Diamond and onto Family. We did a few runs here with the kids and hubby enjoying going off the sides a bit.

    After this we rode terakoya, and then headed over to Higashiteteyama and found the most unusual traverse, skis off cross the road, then continue onto the gondola. After this we headed back over to the Prince. A quick onsen, then out to dinner with a few people from the ski forum at the Teppa bar.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 9

    Day 9 - Last day at Shiga Kogen

    March 1, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    It was another clear day, set to get into single figures, for our last ski day. We had plans to meet up with the ski forum members at 8:30am.

    From here we skied a few runs at Yakebitiyama, then we parted ways and headed over to Diamond and onto Family. Jason tried the black run there, we were glad the rest of us bailed from that. Then we headed back to Yakebitiyama and skied from gondola 1 back to 2, then back to Prince West.

    Here we had a late lunch, then tackled the task of packing the skis and ski gear bag up. We sent each bag to the airport (¥2700 approx each). So we hope to meet up with our ski bags at Narita. We also shipped a clothing bag off to Fujisan, where we'll hopefully meet up with it after our night in Kofu. So we'll just have backpacks for our next overnight stop.

    Dale and I had our last onsen, then for dinner, we dined at the Prince West buffet, using the meal vouchers that we included in our package.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan 2020 - Trip 5
    Day 10

    Day 10 - Kofu

    March 2, 2020 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    We checked out, had our last hotel breakfast and caught the 7:57am bus to Nagano. (¥2,100A, ¥1,050C), arriving after 9:30am. We had time to grab some snacks before boarding the wide view train to Shiojiri. This journey was just under an hour. At Shiojiri we switched to the Azusa bound for Kofu, another 57mins away.

    Arriving at 12:19pm into Kofu we walked near the station and lunched at yoshinoya. The bill of ¥1,500 was vastly different from the ¥6,000 odd we were paying at Shiga Kogen.

    We then found our hostel, Sonomama, where we have a private bunk room and bathroom for ¥12,600. We were able to check in early around 1pm. So we dropped backpacks, and went for a walk. We discovered a tourist info, gathered a map, then trekked 2.6km to Takeda Shrine for a look, wandering back we visited Yamanote Goman gate, then walked through to the grounds where Kofu castle was. After this long walk we headed back to the hostel for a rest.    Read more

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