Sea of Japan

So we picked up Yoshi and headed straight to Hakuba, a little ski town northwest of Tokyo. We got our first couple days of tasty Japan powder here. 

 

 

The mountains here are pretty magical to say the least. Unfortunately, the forecast was showing a warm spell with some rain so we decided to make our way north towards Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan where Japan gets a lot of their snow fame. 

We were actually pretty excited about this window of warmth because it gave us the opportunity to take our time up the coast. Our first stop though, was Nozawa where they were having the annual Fire Festival. Before the festival, we went and saw the famous snow monkeys!       

   

 Essentially there is a troop of macaques that come down from the hillsides to hang out in the hot springs during the day before heading back into the forest for the night. It’s defintely a popular spot but they were pretty cool to watch.

 

So the Fire Festival is this wild ritual in the villiage of Nozawa involving the men who are the “unlucky” ages of 42 and 25. The 42 year olds sit on top of this huge shrine-looking platform made of branches. It essentially serves as a pyre. The 25 year olds protect the base of it while most the males in the village, starting with toddlers and going up from there, attack it with burning bindfes of wood. They protect it by using green pine boughs and any body part they can to slap out the fires. It gets pretty aggressive. Lots of pushing, slapping, and fires to the face. Side note: everyone drinks ridiculous amounts of sake before the rushing of flames begin so this is all done while royally sloshed. Keep in mind, I’m sure we are missing a lot of nuance here but even to someone who doesn’t have a full understanding, it is incredible. 

 

 

After like an hour and a half of this, if the 25 year olds succeed in protecting the 42 year olds, they climb down and burn the whole damn thing.       

 

 

So yeah, we had a good time observing this ritual.  

After Nozawa, we started our true trek north. We really had no rhyme or reason to where we stopped or why. We were really enjoying the beautiful coastal drive and didn’t feel a need to rush it. One of our favorite random stops was at the Kamo Aquarium. Kamo Aquarium is known for having the largest collection of jellyfish on display and it was rad! Jellyfish you have never even heard of. This place was rediculous and incredibly beautiful. Even it’s location perched on the edge of the Sea of Japan, is impressive. Check out Trever’s instagram or facebook for videos of a few of the species of jellys.

 

 

 

 

After a few days of following the coast north we cut inland and up to the port of Aomori where we caught the four hour ferry over to Hokkaido and dreams of seafood and skiing!

 

   

We love Japan

 

We made it! We have been here for about a week and we are seriously questioning our return. We head in to the mountains tomorrow and if the snow is as good as people say... we may never come back. We have basically been doing the City thing for the last week. First we hit Tokyo for a couple days and then went Southwest to visit Crystal’s middle school friend, Chris! Tokyo: Our first train ride from the airport to was insane. Have you guys seen thie video of Japan train station during rush hour? If not, peek at this. We were fortunate enough to be making our way to our air bnb at primo rush hour. So picture us with full packs plus day packs, cramming in to the train like the video above. Whoa.

 

It was a tight squeeze to say the least. 

Overall, we loved Tokyo but we didn’t get enough time there. We explored some main spots like 

Shibuya crossing, harajuku, Yoyogi Park and Omoide Yokocho. 

 

 

 

         

 

 

We took a bus to Nagoya where Chris lives in a small town called Tokoname. Public transportation in Japan is amazing. It is so quiet, always on time, clean, and easy. The polar opposite of what we experienced in South America. 

 

We were greeted with a lot of love from Chris and his wife Tomoko!

Chris and i have been friends since middle school and we have always considered each other family so it was amazing to see his home and finally meet his loving wife! 

They surprised us with an awesome wedding gift. Tokoname is known for their pottery and they got us a pottery session with a local artist so we can make soy sauce dishes and ramen bowls! The experience was so fun and we loved every minute.     

 

It was a rainy day so Chris took us to this amazing place called Spo-cha where its like Dave and Busters on drugs. There is literally everything there. You probably saw my instagram of us in the bubble suits. It was so fun.     

We also ate conveyer belt sushi that night but we were way too busy housing down sushi to grab any pictures. 

 

The next day, Chris took us for a quick day trip to Kyoto where we went to a golden temple, walked the Nishiki market and checked out the bamboo forest. 

We drove back from Kyoto and Chef Chris made us a bomb dinner (he cooked and fed us so many delicious meals while we were there)    

Chris and Tomoko were such gracious hosts! 

 

After a week of city, we were ready to go pick up our van/home for the next month. 

Meet our trusty... YOSHI!!

 

More to come about our ski adventures! Until then...    (Sorry if the format is weird. This blog isn’t great with the ipad)