Hakuba Happo, Nagano 白馬八方、長野県

The last weekend of February we took a ski trip to Hakuba Happo in Nagano Prefecture. We booked through the same travel agency that we planned our last ski trip with, so things were pretty smooth and we knew what to expect. On Friday night we boarded the overnight bus at ShinKobe station, above is us on the bus.


















We arrived at about 6:30 in the morning, much earlier than the last time we took the overnight bus. To allow ourselves to wake up, and to kill time until the slopes opened at 8, we relaxed in the Virgin Cafe near the bus stop, drinking some coffee and snacking on muffins. After dropping our bags off at our hotel we headed to the mountain at about 8:30 a.m. Above is Joe getting ready for a beautiful day of skiing.

















Looking back at the village from part way up the mountain.

















Getting further up the mountain....

















About 2/3rds of the way up the mountain, Joe with the Happo area in the background, me with a view across the valley of the Northern Japan Alps.

















More Hakuba scenery....

















Blue sky, white snow...

















Lift shot.
















Another lift shot...
















Happo was one of the competition venues for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Below is the start house for downhill skiing.
















Shall we go?

















Joe gets ready to ski the Olympic course.
















There were lots of moguls at Happo, as evidenced by the following photo. These were frustrating at first, as they were not marked on the map, but after two days we both improved our mogul form a great deal.
















Joe on our hotel balcony at the end of a long Saturday of skiing! We pretty much stayed out the entire day, stopping only for a lunch of Japanese curry and for a drink break.
















After the overnight bus and a long day of skiing we were pretty tired, so we headed to the onsen at the hotel for a soak before heading out for dinner.

















Above is an advertisement that we passed on our way to dinner at Uncle Steven's, the Mexican restaurant that we discovered on our last trip to Hakuba.

















Sunday morning! I'm wearing a Jayhawk shirt because this was the day that KU played MU in the last season match between the rival teams.

Across the street from our hotel was this small shrine, perhaps the kami that lives here receives alot of prayers for good snow or no injuries?

Joe on Sunday morning.

Me attempting to ski the gates!

A late lunch of Japanese rice bowls, french fries and cake.

The view we had during lunch.

At the end of the day on Sunday with a small ski jump in the background. The ski jump used in the Olympics was just south of Happo, and was visible from various points on the mountain.

We had a tasty dinner of Thai food after changing out of our ski clothes and stashing our gear at the hotel.

Joe eating some Thai fried rice.

We waited for the Sunday night overnight bus at the Virgin Music Pub near the bus stop. The bus dropped us off at Sannomiya station at about 6 a.m. on Monday, allowing us to get home, get ready for work and make it in with a few minutes to spare.

Okayama 岡山

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On February 21st we headed down to Okayama for the Hadaka Matsuri or Naked Man Festival. After arriving in the late afternoon we walked down to the river to view Okayama Castle.
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After a quick dinner of udon and a short break, we boarded busses for Saidaiji, where the festival was held. Above is the poster for the festival.
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As Joe was running, he was on a separate bus from Eric and I, and we wouldn't see him until he appeared in fundoshi (loincloth) with the other running men. Meanwhile, we walked around the temple area, checking out the various foodstalls, as seen above and below.
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Above is a kasudera stall, and below is Eric with one of the doughy treats.
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Some of the many policemen on guard for the festival.
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Saidaiji temple grounds.
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The interior of the main hall at the temple.
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Around 9 p.m. the first groups of men came running through the temple gate. You can see the line of guys amidst the crowd of warmly dressed people.
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The foreign delegation running through the temple grounds. They ran around the temple as well as around the neighborhood surrounding the temple. At various points the runners would go through the white gate (below) and run through waist-deep water while being sprayed with water. The temperature was about 45 degrees fahrenheit.
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Taiko drumming.
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At around 11 p.m. the men begain to make their way to the main temple building where the shingi, or lucky sticks, would be tossed into the crowd at midnight. For additional explanation of the festival click here.
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We watched as the men tried to get a good spot under the temple roof. You can see steam rising from the crowd.
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A few fights broke out, and we also saw some guys fall from the stairs as the crowd surged from one side to the other.
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At midnight the lights on the temple went out and the shingi were thrown from a balcony inside of the main temple building onto the crowd of men. One of the other English teachers in the foreign group was lucky enough to have caught a shingi!
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Joe at the end of the night, feeling like a true warrior. He escaped with a minor cut on his arm and some scraped up feet. Hardcore.
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On Sunday morning Eric left to catch his flight back to the U.S. Joe and I stayed on in Okayama and visited the Okayama Digital Museum, where we viewed a special exhibition of sculpture, paintings and relics from Saidaiji, displayed in conjunction with the Hadaka Matsuri.
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The museum was beautifully designed and included lots of technological features, such as interactives for your cell phone.
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Photos were not allowed in the special exhibition, but the regular exhibits included a section on the Hadaka Matsuri. Here Joe is using a touch screen that allowed viewers to zoom in on a historic painting of the festival and explore more information about the painting.
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Above are the shingi in their relic-like cases, below Joe explores a huge satelite floor map of Okayama with a moveable touch screen. The screen on the mobile unit zoomed in on the area that you were standing over and included an array of historic and geographic information about the specific place.
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Me outside the museum.
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We hung out by the station for a while, browsing shops and enjoying the beautiful display of tulips in the underground mall.
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Before heading home we had lunch at a small restaurant serving onigiri and rice bowls. Below is the display of food at the entrance.
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Lunch!
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Joe outside of Udon, our lunch spot.
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Naked Man Festival, Okayama

Okayama Naked Man Festival, Runners

Fugu 河豚

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While Eric was visiting, one of his goals was to eat fugu, or poisionous blowfish, and so we ventured to our local fugu restaurant, located near Ono Station (click here for a National Geographic video on fugu).
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Above is the fugu chef, and below our plate of fugu sashimi. The fish is quite flavorful and delicious, and has a good bite to it.
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Joe and Eric eating at the counter, you can see the fishtank in the background.
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We also shared a pot of fugu nabe (hot pot soup) and an egg and rice dish, as seen below.
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We lingered at the restaurant for about two and a half hours, chatting with the family that runs the restaurant, another customer that sat at the counter, and some of the teachers from Ono High School, who were dining upstairs. This was not only a good chance to practice Japanese conversation, but also a nice way to get to know our community better. Below is Eric with the couple that runs the restaurant. Of course, as good GenXers, we are familiar with the Simpsons take on fugu, for a short clip of one of our favorite shows click here.
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