So for me, gondolas and chairlifts were a cause for concern.  Now I think back on it, it was definately a contributing factor to why I didn’t ski very much when I first got here.

I am improving though, and I’m quite proud of that.  I can now look out the gondola window and enjoy the view, instead of keeping my eyes closed and trying to pretend I’m somewhere else.

Even the chairlifts are all fine now, even the ones which are really steep with no safety bar.  I’m such a hero.  Haha.

It also has the only pool table in town – filled with a massive collection of chopstick holders and covered in glass – much to the disgust of Luke.  There’s also a collection of old tea tins over the counter.

And the hot cocoa.  Wow.  It’s wonderful, full of buttery goodness.  I’m similarly in love with the New York Cheesecake.  I really need to get a recipe for that.

So yes.  That’s where you’ll find me, more often than is probably reasonable.

I joined one of the tours the lodge runs twice weekly, as it seems near impossible to get there on public transport.

First stop was the awesome sushi train in Iiyama.  Love it.  Delicious, as always.  And it’s so fun ordering by shinkansen. 

When we got to Yudanaka there was a 1.6km walk in, which was almost worth the bus ride in itsef.  It was so pretty, with all these picturesque snow capped trees.  We saw a geyser along the way, and slightly more awkwardly a naked man using the outdoor onsen at a hotel we passed.

The monkeys were great!  Technically they’re wild animals, but they’re so used to humans that they just completely ignore you.  And so many!  They all come to the area with the onsen in the winter to warm up… and of course they’re also lured with barley twice daily for the benefit of the tourists.  There were hundreds of them!  Everywhere.  Kind of scarily human-like.  Or maybe we’re scarily monkey-like?  Either way, it was really interesting.  And they’re so cute.

Photo from the wonderful Julie Jobson

The onsens themselves are a huge part of the village – there’s 13 in total, one for each district of the village.  And in a village of just a few thousand people, that’s quite a concentration.

The main street is really cute, lots of souvinery shops.  These are open only during the ski season, so it must be a bit of a ghost town during summer.  There’s a supermarket, convenience store and meat shop too.

In a stroke of sheer genius, the roads are all heated with kerosene, which means that the roads stay free of snow and, more importantly, ice.
Besides the main road, Nozawa also has an army of insanely cheap, delicious restaurants and another army of lodges.
It’s a tiny, absolutely gorgeous town, with the mountain rising up behind it.  Beautiful.

]]> http://www.laurasinclair.com.au/2011/02/02/nozawa-onsen-in-general/feed/ 0 http://www.laurasinclair.com.au/2011/01/29/sick/ http://www.laurasinclair.com.au/2011/01/29/sick/#comments Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:38:47 +0000 admin http://www.laurasinclair.com.au/?p=676 This is so depressing. I am now sick for the third time since I got here.

So over it.

attempts. By which, of course, I mean I skiied the same run over and over.  I think this was mainly because I am an unbelievable wuss.  I’d heard that the course (Uenotaira) was the easiest, so I stayed well and truly within my comfort zone.

As soon as I realised I’d been behaving so pathetically I decided that by the time Dad arrived on February 12, I’d have skiied every green run on the mountain.  I had 12 ski-able days left and 15 runs to ski.

So, today in my five hour midday break I did 9 of them.  And it was fantastic!  Another totally deserted, beautiful clear day.  Just perfect.  My skiing continued to improve (hurrah!) and I think I fully appreciated for the first time just how stunningly beautiful the mountain is.  So, my mission now is to ski as much as I possibly can and to be a better skiier than day, for the first couple of hours at least.

I had a really amazing day at Karasawa today.  Karasawa is the ski run that is only about 2 minutes walk from Villa Nozawa (10 min in ski boots).

Until now, my skiing hasn’t been progressing terribly well.  I didn’t

get skis until the end of December and I’ve spent a fair chunk of January sick.  So all I can really do is snow plough, which is the slowest, easiest way of doing things.  A few weeks ago, Yan and Manuel, the ski instructors, told me how to do parallel turns and I’ve been wanting to try it for ages and today was the first chance I got.

So, Karasawa, a beautiful wide 3km slope.

I don’t know how or why, but it

all just worked.  I was chilled out enough that I didn’t freak out on the chairlift – it’s sad, but that’s actually quite an achievement for me – and when I skied I found my brain was switched off enough to go a bit faster and started doing the parallel turns without even consciously trying.

It was a really stunning day on th

e mountain as well.  Lots of fresh snow, beautiful clear sky, gorgeous scenery and only about 4 other people on the whole 3km run.

So basically this means I’m going out again tomorrow.

And yes, I know I look sensational in my hat.  :)

It involves the 21(?) year old men and 42 year old men from the village, as these are supposed to be unlucky years.

A few days before the festival, the 21 year olds bring down trees from the mountain and built a big temple looking thing.  On the night of January 15, all the 42 year old men sat on top, while the younger men had to defend it from the rest of the villagers.

The tricky part lies in the fact that the young men are defending their temple with branch-like things, while the rest of the villagers are attacking with similar branches, but which have been set on fire.

So yes.  Going to watch the fire festival pretty much involves watching a bunch of guys getting the absolute bajeezus beaten out of them by the rest of the town.  With firey torches, no less.  And everyone is hugely drunk on sake, just to make it an extra challenge.

After a certain amount of time, one of the older men – presumably with some sort of authority – call it off.  At this point, the young men are untied from the temple, the older men climb down from the top and then the entire thing is burned down.

It is without a doubt the most insane thing I’ve ever seen.  Very dangerous – there were sirens going all night – and really just mental.

But mindblowingly amazing at the same time.

Click here for an awesome video.

We just put it in the pond or down the drain and wait for it to melt.  What happens in other places?

I’m sure I’m revealing the naivity that comes from growing up in the Sunshine State, but sure.

I am now officially an alien!  And I have a card to prove it.  Although I did manage to resist writing “Mars” as my home country.