Yukinoya Asahikawa

... Anpanman (Japanese cartoon character) Shop'. On my map it looked all within walking distance. After half an hour of walking and then seeing a sign that said '2kms', I still persevered because I underestimated the distance and length of time it took to walk 2kms. I decided to turn back after an hour as I had to catch the damn bus...So not such a productive day. At the start of my trip, I thought..."How nice it would be to live in the ...

... When will I learn to stop following tourists? Ended up on a promontory with nice views but difficulty getting down from--45 degree slopes on both sides into valleys, where the ski paths were. And snow shoes not really built to descend, climb that type of incline. I basically had to slide down on my ass, in a split position to increase surface area and slow down, through the trees. Keeping one leg in front to try to catch the trees before I whizzed down into what could be a ...

Furano: 15-20 January We arrived in Furano in the midst of a three-day blizzard. Just what we needed after riding non-stop powder in Niseko and Rusutsu. We were dropped off in the middle of the village with no idea of where our accommodation was. I walked to the nearest pension to ask directions to our pension and a nice elderly Japanese couple helped by giving us a map of the village. As we started our walk to the lodge another ...

... dropping the car in Asahikawa, we checked into our first business hotel. Tiny, but serviceable, I was delighted to discover I could stand up in the step-up-into tiny bathroom. The best thing about the hotel was its Japanese/Western breakfast buffet, which made up for its frequent mediocrity with its great variety. Well stuffed, we then caught the bus to Daisetszan National Park. Arriving in the middle of a ...

... cada uno friega sus cosas. Todo muy japo. Alli, como estaban de vacaciones y se lo estaban pasando muy bien, se dedicaban a hacer mucho ruido y a gritar mucho. Asi es como desfasan esta gente. Eso si, de fumar o beber, nada de nada, que luego la cosa se les va de las manos. Tres horas de senderismo un dia, 10 al dia siguiente (a ritmo japo, 8 a ritmo europeo) y 4 el ultimo por dos islas llenas de quebrados y precipicios, muchisimo viento, fresco, bosques ...

This is an artistic place to be. Land are planted with flowers, vegetables, fruits and etc depending on the seasons. I didn't see Lavender during early winter but I am sure that once the season is around, the piece of land would turn into a world of colors.

... to wineries in the Okanagan. We took a short tour and sampled several of their wines. All were quite good (but then what the heck do we know?!). The tour took us through one of the vinyards where they are growing grapes from all parts of the world. There was even a row of Canadian grapes (they were quite small) and a row of U.S. grapes (they were incredibly large). A group of biology students ...

... Aspens. The lack of fir trees makes for much different skiing than most of America. You get a lot more space but when you hit the trees it's a lot less forgiving, thus my helmet has a few new battle scars... The snow was silky, it's the reason I moved halfway around the world and I haven't been disappointed. If you picked your spots just right you could even get a few face shots on every run. A face shot is when the snow ...

... foam with another 2-inch thick pad of a bit harder foam on top. By themselves they aren't very comfortable but I had a bunch of extras in my place so I've stacked 3 of them on top of eachother to make a really nice bed. Another interesting feature about my apartment, and any Japanese apartment, is the sink on top of the toilet. After you flush, instead of the water that fills the basin staying entirely enclosed, there is a little sink on top that starts running ...

... to get my Roman letters back. I also bought a bowl of ramen from the hotel store and ate it in my room. There was some brown patty in there which was maybe tofu but it didn't taste too bad. Early the next morning I caught the shuttle bus back to the Narita Airport where I had to catch another bus to the domestic Haneda airport. It was about a 70 minute drive and I got to see a bit of the outskirts of Tokyo. As expected, that place is huge. We went by tons of factories and ...