Rusutsu

Went to Rusutsu, a ski resort about an hours drive away from Niseko with Matt, Tim and Luke a couple of day ago. This is the drive there:

Here's the boys on the chair lift:

It was the best day of snowboarding I've had since I got to Japan.

Skiing/snowboarding through the trees is strictly prohibited at this resort, which meant that it was super awesome to go through the trees, as not many people had tracked out the snow before you got there. Usually at Niseko, you get a couple of hours of nice snow in the morning if you're at the lift and lining up at 8:30am when lifts open. At Rusutsu it was awesome fresh snow all day. By about 2pm the weather started getting a bit shit, and we were all pretty exhausted, so we called it a day. Good bloody day though. There was an old rollercoaster/theme park buried in the snow too. Looked so cool. Awesome times.

Luke's backpack got caught on the chairlift. It was relatively funny.

New Years

Yesterday my friend Aiko drove me into the local shrine in Kutchan to make a new years wish.

Here's Aiko and her dog Pa-ke at the front of the shrine.

Up the stairs:

People walking up to the shrine:

I watched what Aiko did first, then copied. She threw a 10 yen coin into this box thing, then rang a bell. Then clapped her hands twice and bowed, with her hands held in front of her, like she was praying. She made her wish, and then moved on. I did the same thing.

We then went to get our fortunes. There was the option to get an english version, but I went for the Japanese option, thought it would be cooler. Didn't get a chance to translate it yet though.

Aiko then took me to the supermarket to help me figure out what the hell I was buying. She then took me to her house and made me a traditional new years drink, made with the left over rice used to make sake. The drink wasn't alcoholic, and tasted a little bit like sake, but was more sweet. It was pretty good.

New Years Eve itself was nothing big, ended up in Lawsons, a convenience store for the countdown, to buy delicious greasy chicken. Mmmm, Lawsons chicken.