Thanks to the girls (Mariam, Yvonne and Rosemary) from HnK for the Halloween headband!

Hirafu Village is where all the action is…accommodation, restaurants and night life. All locations are accessible via free shuttle buses and menus are in English and Japanese to cater for the influx of foreigners to the Niseko Resort Area.

The streets of Hirafu becomes a whole different place at night. After a long day of skiing and snowboarding, the town is filled with people rewarding themselves with a good hot meal or a drink at the bar.

Evening is spent recounting the days thrills and spills, and how amazing the powder is.

If you’d rather stay in, you can buy food back from the restaurants, get delivery or get cook your own meal. You can buy your food ingredients from the two convenience stores in the village. One of which is open 24 hours a day.

So before going to Japan, I wasn’t too sure what to wear. In Tokyo it wasn’t much on an issue because we were only there for a night. For Niseko, I wasn’t sure what I had to wear to snowboard or the kind of footwear to cover my trotters and handle the snow and iced walkways. Thankfully the very kind Marisa loaned me some of her gear for the trip.

Layer-by-layer detail below:

For Snowboarding

• Underwear (Sports bra preferred)
• Long John bottoms
• Snow board trousers (usually has elastic ends so snow won’t get in)
• Long sleeve lycra/cool fit with thumb holes so it won’t ride up your arm
• t-shirt or fleece turtlenecks (depending how cold it is)
• Jacket (usually has pockets designed for ski passes and
• Goggles
• neck gaiter
• Beanie
• Gloves
• Thick socks or even double socks

Out and about in town

• Underwear
• Tights
• Jeans
• Long sleeve shirt
• Jacket
• Gloves
• Scarf
• Beanie
• Socks
• Rubber sole boots (Best investment I made!)

By the way, that blue beanie on the right was made by Kimmy’s mum! Thanks Auntie! Love it.

Was a beautiful day in Hirafu, and after our half day class in the morning, we were ready to tackle the ski lifts and blue runs. From then on, it’s all a matter of practice. Less time on the bum this day, and more time doing the skills below:

Credit: Snowboarding abc

Photos from left to right: Michelle gracefully takes a break. Kim and I just before we headed out the door. View from the bottom of the slopes. And a shot from the ski lift!

Chris and Kim looking all so pro!

The non-alcoholic kind.

I know how to wakeboard, so does that mean I know how to snowboard? Most definitely NOT.

When me and Kim signed up at the ski school, we had the choice to learn skiing or snowboarding. With our background in wakeboarding, we chose snowboarding. Also for another superficial reason – Snowboarding looks way cooler than skiing.

Snowboarding seemed like it had the same sports attitude as mountain biking. Cool, relaxed, chilled, and at times, extreme. We decided to sign ourselves up for 1.5 days of ski school and see how it goes.

First morning in Niseko, board in hand, we walked up to the slopes, dropped Andre at kids ski school and went for the adult classes. Veterans Michelle and Chris went ahead and did their own runs on the slopes while me and Kim spent most of the time on our arses!!

Snowboarding is not as easy as it looks. Be prepared to fall down ALOT on your bum and your knees. I was in pieces by the end of the day but chuffed.

Here’s a summary of what we learnt which I managed to find online.

Credit: Snowboarding abc

First picture below was taken by Chris and Michelle from the cable car while me and Kim were having our lessons on the slopes. So glad I had a buddy for ski school, am so proud of Kimmy and I. We really learnt a lot in 1 day.

Another item off my bucket. Snowboarding.

Have I told you how much I love this little man?

Lyrics under the cut
Read more…

This is what we woke up to every morning in Niseko.

Mount Yotei (羊蹄山)

This 1,898m peak is directly opposite Hirafu at Niseko, sometimes called Ezo Fuji (蝦夷富士) because it resembles Mt. Fuji.

On mornings when it’s still snowing, this is the view from the same window.

We stayed at the Forest Estate in Niseko. Here’s a video I found of the place.

Dear Kevin,

Because we know how much you love rats, and their tails (tehehe)…

Jules wanted to show you a handful of them we found at IKEA.

We stayed at Hirafu in Niseko, which is right smack in the centre of all the activities. Everything is within walking distance or short bus ride away. Most of the time, we would walk up to the ski school, lifts, shops and restaurants. Very very convenient.

Food-wise, there are lots of local deli’s, pubs, cafes, and fine dining establishments to choose from.

TIP: Unless you want to be eating cup noodles from Seikomart, make reservations! A lot of these places get booked up by late afternoon.

It was getting late by the time we got round to dinner on our first night in Niseko. We decided to just walk into a place called Wild Bill’s Bar in Hirafu for Mexican food. We will be eating lots of Japanese for the rest of the week, so we broke the rule and decided to go with the Quesadilla, Tacos, Nachos, Fajitas and Guacamole instead.

Snap!: The bottom right photo in the collage is the view from the top of our steps at the house. Look at the amount of snow collected by the railings! That’s how much snow has been falling this season in Niseko. Non-stop. Everyday.

If you’re partial to Tex Mex, Tequila, Mint, Mohitos, Margaritas & Music, step out of the snow and into our gorgeous log cabin, Wild Bill’s offers the quintessential apres ski atmosphere.

Warmed by a log fire, it’s a cosy, casual, family friendly dining atmosphere… until the younger crew roll in for party time later in the evening.

Portion sizes are generous for hungry skiers, so don’t order too much.

Wild Bill’s Bar
Address: 189-8 Aza Yamada, Abuta-gun,Kutchan-cho,Hokkaido,Japan.
Opening Hours: 5:30pm till 1:00am -ish
Food last order: 9:30pm
Reservations: +81 (0)136-22-5652
Website: www.wildbillsniseko.com

Is riding your bike in the rain.

We arrived at Niseko in the late afternoon, quickly got settled into our chalet and off we went to Inski to get our snowboarding gear sorted for the next 5 days.

I need to mention this again, but it was snowing. Alot. Non-stop.
Check out this view from outside our window.

Niseko is a well known for its ski resorts, because of its consistent snowfall producing impressive amount of power. Niseko Hirafu ski resort is particularly popular with foreigners because of the bilingual signs and English speaking ski instructors. They also have fast and efficient chairs taking you up to many different runs from blues to double black diamonds.

The Niseko Ski Season is long, usually starting in the last week of November till March/April, varying slightly from year to year. The Niseko All Mountain Pass gives access to all three resorts for 4900 yen per day.

Niseko’s resorts are all located on Niseko-Annupuri Mountain. The three major resorts are Grand Hirafu, Niseko Village (formerly known as Higashiyama) and Annupuri. They are connected with each other at the top of the mountain, while shuttle buses connect them at the base.

Grand Hirafu is the largest of the resorts and the only one with a sizable town at its base. Hirafu Town has many hotels, holiday homes and an interesting range of restaurants and bars with an active nightlife. An evening stroll about town will take you past many places packed with foreigners.

- WikiTravel

Just to recap on how we got there
Singapore – Tokyo Narita International Airport
Tokyo Haneda domestic airport – New Chitose Airport (Sapporo)
New Chitose Airport – Niseko
There are several bus services that provide the transfer to Niseko including the Skybus, which takes you to your hotel.

Next Stop: Mexican in Japan?!

After my eventful trip to Tsukiji Fish Market, I came back to the hotel and had a one hour kip before the alarm rang again.

We had a 11:30am domestic flight to catch to Sapporo.

We took the train to Tokyo Haneda Airport and hopped on to our Hokkaido International Air flight to New Chitose Airport, Sapporo.

Chope!

So I should first mention here how I felt/feel about snow.

The last time I’ve played in snow was a VERY long time. Think I was 7 years old and it was snowing in England en route to Auntie Christine’s place in Wales. Ever since then, I’ve been longing to see snow again. I correct myself, not just seeing snow, but I wanted to be standing outside in the falling snow.

It was also one of my items on the bucket list.

So can you imagine my excitement when we were flying overhead snow covered fields and mountains! I was smiling ear to ear, heart pounding with excitement. Get me down there quick!!

After touching down at Sapporo, we had a quick lunch at one of the ramen houses in the airport before we set off for the long drive. To be honest, we didn’t expect much, it being an airport restaurant. But oh my word, absolutely freakin delicious! And of course you can’t come to Sapporo and not have Sapporo biru!

With the tummy-filled, we were soon on our way on our 3hr mini-van ride to Niseko.

We spent the time in the van watching a DVD on Chris’ computer and chit chatting. I took a short snooze, and when I woke up, I promise you my eyes were welling up. It was snowing outside!!!!

We stopped at a rest house for a toilet break, and I just stood there in the snow with arms out, head up and tongue out! Snow flakes danced down so lightly and kissed my cheeks.

Pure elation from the simplest thing. I’m a happy girl.

One night in Tokyo was too little, I had to make full use of my time there. With a flight to catch at 11:30am the next day to Sapporo, I suggested we visit the Tsukiji Fish Market ridiculously early in the morning!

All nodded in agreement, and then nodded off to sleep.

I set the alarm for 4:50am so we could all get covered up for the cold winter morning and head down to Tsukiji to watch hustle bustle of the morning fish trade. But alas, all bailed and opted to sleep in. Me not wanting to waste the opportunity, quietly tip toed out of the room and got concierge to order me a taxi there.

Tsukiji was amazing and definitely one of my highlights for the entire trip. I really wanted to visit this market, and had one of the best morning walks in a long time. More so because I was experiencing this solo which just gave me a total sense of independence and excitement, coupled with the fear and anxiety of getting lost.

Meandering through 1600 stalls selling everything from large blue fin tune, crabs, eels, salmon, shell fish and sea urchins, I was snapping with my camera like there was no tomorrow.

Oh the colours in the photos that came out from that morning was fantastic! At times, I would just put the camera down and just watch the men at work, carefully dissecting a huge tuna which such skill and precision, carving out the flesh close to the bone it’s an art skill by itself.

Tuna Auction
When you go to Tsukiji, you must see the Tuna auction, which takes place in a large warehouse at the back of the market.

Tourists access to the tuna auction is limited. When they say limited, it just means you’re not allowed in the trading area. But you still can see all the action from the side of the room which has been cordoned off for tourists. If there are too many tourists around, observation is limited to 10minutes.

How to get there
If you just want to see the market in action it is much cheaper to just take the first train (underground) in the morning a little past 5AM to Oedo Line Tsukiji-seijo, or Hibiya Line Tsukiji, but this is a little further away.

From Wikitravel

Travellers Tips

• It being a fish market, the grounds are slippery. So be sure to wear appropriate footwear. Leave your suedes and heels at home.
• Travel light and small. The lanes are not very wide, lugging around a huge bag can be cumbersome and obstructive.
• The market is extremely busy, just be mindful this is someone’s livelyhood and they have a job to do. Try your best to stay out of the way.
• Actions frops off after 8am
• Flash photography inside the auction area is prohibited.

Try a sushi breakfast at Tsukiji. The fish is guaranteed to be as fresh as possible and the prices, while not cheap, are surprisingly affordable given the extraordinary quality – figure on ¥2000-¥3000 for an omakase set of whatever is good today. For comparison, a meal of a similar caliber in the Ginza would easily cost over ¥10,000.

Tsukiji’s restaurants can be found in alleys of Building 6, reached by walking in from the main entrance and turning right at the central square. The sushi joints make a point of serving only fresh fish that has never been frozen.

From WikiTravel

*Updated
Here’s a short video I’ve put together with the footage I have.

Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場 Tsukiji-shijō)
Address: 5-2-1 Tsukiji (Tsukijishijo Station, Toei Oedo Subway),
Opening Hours:
Outer Market 5 AM-1 PM, Wholesale Market 9 AM-1 PM
Tuna Auction 5 AM-6:15 AM; closed Sundays, holidays, and the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.

After a full belly of sushi, we headed to Roppongi (六本木) for a walk.

En route in the taxi, we passed the magnificently lit Tokyo Tower. We HAD to stop briefly to take a few snaps because the ones we took from the car just didn’t do it justice.

Tokyo Tower (東京タワー, Tōkyō tawā?) is a communications and observation tower located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.5 metres (1,091 ft), it is the second tallest artificial structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations.

After the quick photo op, we got off at Roppongi and walked the streets. Nothing much really happening on a school night, but not like we could have or wanted to do with a 9-yr old in tow. So we decided to call it a night to my delight, because it would be an early early start.

Highlight of the day: This photo taken at Roppongi, is just so “Tokyo”.

Next up: Tsujiki Fish Market

On our only night in Tokyo, we headed out to the Ginza district for our first Japanese meal. Kimmy’s colleague was kind enough to chaperone us that evening, and took us to a fantastic little Sashimi/Sushi bar.

This sushi bar only served sashimi, sushi, a few grilled dishes, miso and dessert. Apparently the better more specialist sashimi bars in Japan don’t serve deep fried food, so you won’t find your chicken karrage or tempuras here.

The place, like many sushi bars, was very small. Maybe 2 tables on the side and a long sushi bar where you sit in front of the chef as he artfully cuts you slices of heaven on a plate.

For the amount per person, we had A LOT of sushi and sashimi. I’ll try my best to recollect the kinds we ate that night:

Otoro: Fatty Tuna
Kani: Authentic crab meat
Ama-ebi: Sweet shrimp, served raw.
Ika: Squid
Uni: Sea Urchin
Ahi: Ahi tuna
Unagi: Eel
Hamachi/Buri: yellowtail
Oh and the sweetest, juciest strawberry I’ve ever tasted!

One thing which I wished I had was Fugu (Blowfish). I know Jono would be going “What! In Japan and I didn’t try Fugu!”. But wait… I did ask, but they were out of Fugu.

I definitely went out of my comfort zone that night and had some clam sashimi, uni and unagi, which I would usually wouldn’t touch. But hey… when in Japan, eat like a Japanese.

Here is an interesting excerpt from wikipedia about Dining Etiquette in Japan for those planning to visit Japan.

Dining Etiquette

Hot towel
For cleaning hands before eating (and not after). It is rude to use them to wash the face or any part of the body other than the hands.

Bowls
The rice or the soup is eaten by picking up the bowl with the left hand and using chopsticks with the right, or vice versa if you are left-handed. Bowls may be lifted to the mouth, however should not be touched with the mouth except when drinking soup.

Soy sauce
Soy sauce is not usually poured over most foods at the table; a dipping dish is usually provided. In particular, soy sauce should never be poured onto rice or soup. It’s considered rude to waste soy sauce so moderation should be used when pouring into dishes.

Chopsticks
Chopsticks are never left sticking vertically into rice, as this resembles incense sticks. Using chopsticks to spear food or to point is frowned upon. It is very bad manners to bite chopsticks.

Communal dish
When taking food from a communal dish, unless they are family or very close friends, turn the chopsticks around to grab the food; it is considered more sanitary. Better, have a separate set of chopsticks for the communal dish.

Sharing
If sharing food with someone else, move it directly from one plate to another. Never pass food from one pair of chopsticks to another, as this recalls passing bones during a funeral.

Eat what is given
It is customary to eat rice to the last grain. Being a picky eater is frowned on, and it is not customary to ask for special requests or substitutions at restaurants. It is considered ungrateful to make these requests especially in circumstances where you are being hosted, as in a business dinner environment. Good manners dictate that you respect the selections of the host.

Drinking
Even in informal situations, drinking alcohol starts with a toast (kanpai, 乾杯) when everyone is ready. It is not customary to pour oneself a drink; rather, people are expected to keep each other’s drinks topped up. When someone moves to pour your drink you should hold your glass with both hands and thank them.

Next Stop: Roppongi

For every day I’m in Japan, I’m going to post the highlight of the day.

Konichiwa Friends, Family and Lurkers! Know there’s a lot of you because my stats still show traffic, but y’all have nothing to say in the comments

LONG overdue post about my amazing Japan trip earlier this year. It was a fairly last minute decision to go, but the stars aligned, and soon we were booked and on our way to the land of fresh sushi and whack vending machines!

I travelled with Chris, Kimmy and her 9-year old son Andre for the first 2 days. Phil and Michelle joined us at Niseko after. I did feel a bit like the baby sitter, but luckily Andre was easy to manage at 9 minus the moment when he asked a “birds and the bees”-type question on the plane.

*turns and looks through the gap of the plane chairs*http://www.facebook.com/angelaleowgray
“Urrr… Kimmy, I think your son has a question for you!”

Once we arrived a Tokyo Narita Airport, we took the express train to our hotel’s nearest station.

Based on the map, distance to our hotel looked walk-able. So we tried asking locals for directions. EVERYONE we asked either shrugged their shoulders, gave us a blank stare, or went off in Japanese, choreographed with the hand direction dance  and appreciatibe attempts to draw the route in the air or on their palms.

We obviously didn’t understand a thing.

Finally, Chris whipped out his blackberry and we succumbed to data roaming charges and used the GPS map application instead.

And to dramatize it a bit more ( you can’t have too much drama right), it was drizzling but not to the point we’d get drenched. So with luggage in tow, we walked and walked and walked and walked.

After a good half an hour or so, we reached our hotel. We quickly got washed up and got ready to hit Rapponggi for dinner.

Next blog post on dinner coming right up!

My Favourite photo of the day is of me and Kimmy jumping in front of the “Welcome to Japan” sign at the airport!

I love the singer Christina has become. A much more matured soul and singer.
My other favourite songs by her include “Hurt” and “Save Me From Myself”.

Lyrics after the cut

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