Snowboarding....

Some days ago I met these 2 guys at Yokoteyama’s bakery. Since they spent a whole week in Shiga Kogen snowboarding, it was nice to chat with them and learn about their favorite places.

Matt Richards、23 & Chris Alexoulas, 23

Chris Alexoulas is Australian and was traveling with Matt Richards, who is from Canada but is living in Australia, both 23 years old. Richards had been snowboarding in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States and many places in Japan and they like Shiga Kogen because here is so huge that you can spend a whole week and still find new places to go and have fun. Also, they liked the powder snow and lift system. Although they had some difficult in changing buses because they don’t speak or read Japanese, but I guess this is part of the experience about“being in Japan” and I think they were great, because they only took the wrong bus once! Speaking about Japanese experiences, they loved relaxing in the onsen after coming back from the mountains, cold and tired, and said it’s really refreshing. They decided to come to Shiga Kogen after some research and they arranged the entire trip easily on the internet.

After a week snowboarding in Shiga Kogen, I asked about their favorite places and they told me that the places they had most fun was the Yakebitaiyama area and the Yokoteyama area as the view from the top of Yokoteyama is really worth seeing. Also, Shibutouge area, which is the other side of Yokoteyama, is really good for snowboarders.

Chris and Matt loved Shiga Kogen’s scenery and just thought it is a little too quiet at night and want more parties next time!