Japan Ski Trip 2017

February - March 2017
A 15-day adventure by Sam
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  • 14.7kkilometers
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  • Day 2

    Arrived in Japan

    February 18, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    We had a good flight with minimal disturbance. Lunch was served quite early in the flight, we had a chicken salad for lunch and apple crumble dessert, the apple crumble was actually quite nice. Later in the flight we had a meat shortbread thing.

    Qantas' entertainment system isn't known to be the best, however there was still enough there to keep us entertained. I watched Wolf of Wall Street and Lincoln as well as a few episodes of TV shows.

    We arrived just on dusk and noticed a lot of agricultural land (and many golf courses oddly enough) in the vicinity of the airport as the plane descended. Narita Airport is located near to the City of Narita within the Chiba prefecture. The city itself has a population of approximately 130,000 people and is located approximately 50km east of Tokyo. The area historically had a strong agricultural sector, however the opening of the airport has reduced the farming population by two thirds (through land expropriation and poorer conditions due to the construction and operation of the airport).

    The history of Narita Airport is actually quite interesting. Haneda Airport (opened in 1931) was for many years the main airport servicing Tokyo (in fact, in terms of pure passenger numbers it still is larger than Narita). Due to the rapid expansion of Japan after the Second World War, and the limited ability to expand Haneda Airport, a second airport was considered necessary. The area where the airport currently sits (Sanrizuka, near Narita City) was eventually chosen in the 1960's.

    The announcement to build the airport at Narita caught the residents by surprise as there had been no prior consultation. As such there was significant opposition to the plans for the airport. Up to 60% of the land required for the airport was held in private ownership and residents were unwilling to sell their land to make way. In 1971, the government decided to make forceful acquisitions of land as is permitted under Japanese Law - this is starting to sound a bit like an offshoot of The Castle.

    The compulsory acquisition of land didn't do anything to curb the anger of residents and the already violent protests turned more violent. Three riot police were killed during a protest in 1971 and there were numerous other examples of heated exchanges. In one instance, the airport control tower was infiltrated over night and protesters destroyed the control towers equipment.

    The protesters did succeed in delaying the opening of the airport, originally slated to open in 1971, it did not open until 1978. The opening of the airport did not stop protests however with around 22,000 people rallying on the airports opening day. Later that year a plane landing at Narita Airport was successfully hit by fireworks fired by protesters.

    The years following the opening of the airport, the protests started to lose momentum and eventually effectively stopped. There remains only occasional outbursts of protests to this day. The above-mentioned violence is the reason for such tight security at Narita Airport. Airports nowadays in Japan are generally constructed on reclaimed land to avoid a repeat of the Narita Airport fiasco.

    Narita Airport still serves as the primary international airport in Japan and has a successful air freight operation.
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  • Day 3

    Citadines Shinjuku Tokyo

    February 19, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    We caught the Narita Express (NEX) to Shinjuku Station (about 1.5 hours). The Narita Express is operated by JR East Rail Company so we were able to use our newly acquired JR East Pass which allows us to travel on any JR East operated train for any 5 days during a 14 day period. We were able to order our passes through the JR East website prior to coming to Japan and we collected them from the JR East Customer Service Centre located near the train station at the airport.

    Following the train trip we had about 15-20 minute walk to our hotel which we managed to find without any hassle which was an achievement considering we didn't have a map or phone reception.

    Shinjuku is the busiest train station in the world with an estimated 3.6 million people using it per day. We had to exit the East Gate to get to our hotel which we found without hassle. However we did have some difficulty actually finding out how to get out of the station building proper. We almost ended up walking back through the gates to the main concourse area.

    Once up on street level we were greeted with thousands of people, dazzling lights and lots of noise. We managed to navigate our way through the crowds to get to our hotel.

    It was about 10° in Tokyo when we got out which made for a chilly walk. It was a relief to get to our hotel. Once at our hotel we dropped our bags off and took a 500m walk to Mos Burger for dinner.
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  • Day 3

    Ghibli Museum

    February 19, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    This morning we went to the Studio Ghibli Museum which is located in Mitaka, about a 15 minute (13km) local train ride west of Shinjuku.

    It was beautiful day, a brisk 7° in the morning but clear skies and minimal haze. It was that clear we could see Mt Fuji off to the west from the train.

    Administratively, Mitaka is a separate city from Tokyo (though it forms part of the broader Tokyo Metropolis and there are no urban breaks) with a population of almost 200,000 people and an area of 16.4sqkm. It functions largely as a commuter city for Tokyo though there there is a cluster of animation studios (interestingly though Studio Ghibli is headquartered in nearby Koganei city, which also is home of another prominent anime studio, Gainax) and also the global headquarters of the high performance arm of Subaru.

    The Ghibli Museum is located approximately 20 minute walk from Mitaka Station. We enjoyed a lovely walk through some quiet residential streets which were characterised by low level houses and narrow alleys.

    Studio Ghibli is a Japanese film studio best known for their anime productions such as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies. It was founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata who have coincidentally produced most of the studios films.

    The Museum itself is nestled within Inokashira Park and is of a wonderful child like animation inspired design. The museum features many nooks which make it a child's paradise. Obviously the museum is very much an attraction for locals considering the popularity of the Studio in Japan however it is still fascinating to see how they bring still images to life. I also love the unique style of Japanese anime which manages to convey so much of the characters emotion.
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  • Day 3

    Inokashira Park

    February 19, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Following the Ghibli Museum we took a walk through Inokashira Park. The park is quite large (38.5ha) and was first opened in 1918, at the time the park was considered a gift from the Emperor to the general public (the first park to be founded in Tokyo in such a way).

    On our walk, we were lucky enough to come across what appeared to be a few early blooming Cherry Blossom (or Sakura in Japanese) trees (or, if not, some trees with pretty pink flowers).

    The park includes a large pond in its centre which is surrounded by many trees including Cherry Blossom's - though these had not yet bloomed. It made for a lovely site on a cold winters day, I can only imagine how great it would look in spring. The pond also attracts much wildlife including (apparently) migratory birds which call the pond home in winter.

    There were many people in the park (as you would expect) and you could hire paddle boats which seemed very popular. It is said that if you ride on a boat in the pond with a girlfriend you will 'surely break up soon' - so I guess it's lucky we did not have time to do that.

    Inokashira Park is one of 81 parks managed by the Bureau of Construction in Tokyo. According to the Bureau, the total area of parks in Tokyo comes to 7,642 hectares which is the equivalent of 5.77 square metres of park per person.

    From Inokashira Park we walked up to Kichijoji Station which is a short walk through bustling streets lined with interesting stores. I would love to come back and explore this area further.

    Despite a minor hiccup getting on the wrong platform, we managed to find out way back to Shinjuku and our hotel to collect our bags before heading to Nagano.
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  • Day 3

    Shinkansen to Nagano

    February 19, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    We caught the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Nagano. To get to Tokyo Station we caught the subway from Shinjuku-Gyonmmae which is a private line (so we couldn't use or rail pass). Once at Tokyo Station, we struggled somewhat to find the actual track the Shinkansen would depart from (to access the Shinkansen tracks you have to go through another set of gates once you are in the station). Once we got through the gates we managed to find our track with a few minutes to spare.

    It was late afternoon by the time we left and we enjoyed a nice sunset as we left Tokyo. We again saw Mt Fuji which is just to the left of the sun in the photo.

    It was about half an hour into the journey before we actually broke free of the urban area and saw some clear, unpopulated land. The extents of Tokyo itself can actually be defined in many different ways and it can be quite confusing, particularly to a foreigner. Administratively, Tokyo Metropolis forms one of 47 prefectures in Japan and measures approximately 90km (east to west) and 25km (north to south) (it also extends to islands as far as 1,850km south of Tokyo). Tokyo Metropolis has a population of over 13 million people and is divided into 23 'special wards' which form what is traditionally referred to as 'Tokyo City' as well as a number of cities and towns and villages located west of Tokyo. Each 'special ward', city, town and village has its own local government consisting of their own elected officials.

    More broadly the Greater Tokyo Area (or National Capital Region), which is actually defined by Japanese legislation, includes areas outside of the Tokyo Metropolis including cities such as Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba. The Greater Tokyo Area has a population of approximately 38 million people making it the most populous metropolitan area in the world.

    Once outside of the Tokyo urban area, there were still many urban communities interspersed along the way, though Japan's urban form does largely follow their rail network (smart aye). We also got our first sighting of snow at Karuizawa which is a small Snow Park which obviously includes night skiing. Sally got very excited at seeing snow.

    The rest of the trip was largely within tunnels beneath mountains and we arrived at Nagano early in the evening - around 6:30pm.
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  • Day 3

    Hotel Metropolitan Nagano

    February 19, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    Our hotel is located right next to the Zenkoji Exit (Western Gate) so it was very easy to find. Sally was especially excited to see actual snow on the ground outside the station.

    We managed to jag a slight upgrade in our room (from 18sqm to 25sqm) though in doing so we now have two beds in our room which we can't work out if they are oversized single beds or undersized double beds.

    After settling in we took a short stroll around what appears to be the main part of the city which encompasses all of two or three blocks. There were quite a few restaurants and bars around, however quite intimidatingly, they appeared to have minimal English. We eventually settled on a place for dinner which was a Japanese style tapas. We initially struggled to work out how to order, however with the help of a friendly group of Japanese tourists at a table next to us we were able to grab the wait staff's attention. Turns out, it is actually customary to raise your hand and call sumimasen (excuse me) to grab the server's attention. We enjoyed ourselves greatly and had a good meal featuring tempura shrimp, grilled rice cakes and some form of seaweed thing amongst others.

    After what has been a long day, we are pretty keen to get a good night's sleep before heading off to the Snow Monkeys tomorrow.
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  • Day 4

    Snowing!!!

    February 20, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    We woke up around 7am this morning and looked out our window to snow! Looks like it will be a bit of a miserable day. Temperatures are forecast to be between 1° - 4° with rain most of the day. We are heading off to the snow monkeys shortly, so should make for an interesting day.Read more

  • Day 4

    Jigokudani Monkey Park

    February 20, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ -1 °C

    Despite the early snow, the temperature rose above zero and with that, the snow turned into rain which would continue pretty much non stop all day (the overtrails and rain jacket kept us both very dry, thanks Glen & Jenny).

    Not to be deterred by the poor weather, we made our way to the Jigokudani Monkey Park by bus (caught from the eastern exit of Nagano Station) to see the Japanese Snow Monkey, or Macaque. The bus trip took about 40 minutes and took us through the outskirts of Nagano and along an expressway towards Shigakogen. We also past the 'M-Wave', a building which hosted the speed skating in the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano.

    The park itself is located within the valley of the Yokoyu River and is approximately a 2km walk from the bus stop. It must be said that I found the walk itself to be almost as enjoyable as seeing the monkeys. Steep cliffs, lots of snow, tall pine trees and a fast running creek at the base of the valley made for enjoyable scenery.

    The name Jigokudani stems from ancient times and is a reference to the harsh environment which is exacerbated by steep cliffs and the steam produced from the hot springs running through the valley. Thus the translation to 'Hell Valley'. I certainly didn't feel as though we were walking into hell. There was a thick scent of sulfur in the air from the hot springs and I wouldn't want to lose my footing off the side of the track.

    The Japanese Macaque (there are 23 species of Macaque's spread across the world) is native to Japan and they reside naturally within the valley, though they are not endemic to the valley itself rather they are found throughout large parts of Japan (found on 3 of the 4 main islands (not found in Hokkaido)).

    It was interesting to learn that the female monkeys will remain with their 'packs' their whole life and form a very close bond with their offspring. The male monkeys will however rotate through many 'packs' throughout their lifetime. The monkeys do not have a permanent resting place, instead they will sleep in different locations each night for safety. Also, you will notice the monkeys do not have long tails or ears, this is due to the cold weather (makes sense when you think about it).

    Once we reached the park we found 100's of monkeys. They are obviously well accustomed to human interaction as they would often walk straight past you without you even noticing. Many came within touching distance and one even tried to snatch someone's food.

    The monkeys come down and bathe in what is a man made hot spring. It was fascinating watching them go about their daily business. While it may appear that the man made hot spring was constructed to create a tourist attraction, the park has been used for a great deal of research into the monkeys which makes you feel somewhat better about paying a 600 yen entrance fee and being part of a large crowd of people gawking over them.

    Overall the Snow Monkey Park was a great experience. The monkeys are adorably cute and the walk is beautiful. I would definitely come back next time. Maybe spend a bit more time on a slightly better day to take some more photos.
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  • Day 4

    Shibu Onsen

    February 20, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Following our visit to the Snow Monkey Park, we took a 5 minute local bus (which was quite an achievement considering to complete lack of English anywhere to be seen - turns out there is only one bus and it is actually very easy, but we'll still count this as a win) to the nearby village called Shibu Onsen. This has got to be a lesson in researching where you visit before you go there because this was an absolute gem of a town. Most tourists skip Shibu Onsen entirely and will take the direct bus to and from the Snow Monkey Park, it is their loss though.

    We got off the bus in the centre of Shibu Onsen next to the Information Centre. The village is actually very small (no more than 1km long and only 1-2 blocks across) and can be easily explored entirely on foot. We enjoyed walking the cobblestone laneways which are surrounded by traditional wooden Ryokan (Japanese B&B's).

    The town has over 1,300 years of history and is famous for its 9 public baths. Each of these baths is said to provide users with unique medical relief/protection. Good fortune and health will come to those who visit all 9 baths. Unfortunately we did not have a chance to take a bath this time but did enjoy the use of one of the two footbaths in the village.

    For lunch, we wandered into a tiny little cafe and enjoyed a fantastic Japanese Curry, Green Tea and ice cream. The cafe would have seated no more than 8-10 people and was run by a lovely lady who was very welcoming. We were able to warm ourselves up as we enjoyed the view outside.

    A number of shrines are scattered throughout the village and there is also a shooting range (a bit random I thought). The village is also home, as we would later find out, to Ryokan Kanaguya which is rumoured to be one of the bath houses to be the inspiration for the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away. This stunning wooden building has over two and a half centuries of history and is one of many amazing buildings that walk that fine line between quaint and extravagant that make Shibu Onsen such an amazing place.

    This would be a fantastic place to 'get away' for a few nights to relax. I would love to come back and spend some more time in the village and do the tour of all the baths.
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