How about a Dorayaki???

Dorayaki is the name of a very traditional Japanese confection. This one here is from Shigayama Onsen, in Shiga Kogen, and you can try 3 different fillings: Green Tea, Coffee and Anbata [Anko (sweet red bean paste) + butter].

How about a different dinner tonight?

Kebab

Ramen, Gyouza, Udon, Soba, Tempura...

Japanese sweet, made of beans.


Sweet Crêpe

Grilled food

Come to the 2nd Shiga Kogen Snow Village and enjoy the beautiful illumination, have fun in the snow and the huge slidesnow and try different meals!

until March 14 (Sat)
from 19:00 to 21:00

Where: SHIGA KOGEN SOGO KAIKAN 98 at Hasuike, Shiga Kogen, Nagano Ken.

check the Shiga Kogen Shuttle Bus timetable for tonight (March 8) and next Saturday (March 14), it's free!

More Japanese meals...

For those who are spending the day at Ichinose Area, there are lots of restaurants to try some Japanese meals.

This is a very popular Japanese meal, called Katsu Kare (カツカレー): pork cutlet served with Japanese rice and curry. This one here is served with a topping of Fukujinzuke (pickles - 福神漬) and salad.


And this meal here is of the most common way to eat Katsu. Ask for a Katsu Jyu (カツ重) and you can try this - pork cutlet and rice in a fancy box with salad and pickles.

For those who prefer something more western-style, can have a homemade pizza (Tezukuri Piza - 手作りピザ) or a Spaghetti (Spaghetti - スパゲティ).

All these meals are from Tanne no Mori Okojo, a restaurant inside Silver Shiga Hotel, at Tanne no Mori Okojo Ski Area.

On cold days...

Tempura Udon an gyouza from La Foret, at Yokoteyama.

After hours skiing on the snow...

nothing better than a hot tempura udon!

This is how skiing in Shiga Kogen tastes... very Japanese!

Things to do in a very bad weather day

Ok, you have been waiting for your holiday for a while, planning and dreaming about your days skiing or snowboarding...　And when you are finally here, your day starts like this!

Here are things you can do:

-Hang around in the hotel common areas. You probably will meet someone else who is skiing for a while and you can exchange valuable information about places to go, different techniques, brands... Or, if you are here for a while, you can give some tips about a nice view, your favorite area to ski.

-You could meet interesting people, chat and maybe play something. Ask at the front desk, maybe they have card games that you used to play. Even if you dont remember the rules, playing with people from different countries makes for fun times! Everyone may have different rules ;)

-With lucky, you could meet people from different countries and learn a lot about their traditions, or places you never heard about…

-Snowshoe hiking. Today could be a day that you enjoy the snow differently. Lots of people are snowshoe hiking at the moment, even though it is foggy today. Having fun!

-If you like ice skating, go out and enjoy! It's free! But take care... you have to be fine when the fog and rain has gone!

-Come on, you are in Japan! Try new things, new tastes... So far, Kit Kat Pepper and a Shiga Kogen beer - Caffè espresso taste - are the most unusual things I have found here. But if you want to try something more traditional, why not natto (納豆 - fermented soybeans)???

-Take different pictures. We usually wait for a clear day to take gorgeous pictures. But today can be an opportunity to go out and take completely different pictures. Mysterious images, old looking, sometimes almost sepia, like a draw or a dream…

-Or just rest at the onsen and save energy for having fun when the weather is better!

But I have to say that I saw lots of ski/snowboard lovers going out anyway... who cares if it's not sunny and the sky isn't blue today?!

Carpe diem!


*picture taken about 1 hour ago, as you can't see, this is Hasuike Ropeway Station.

Feb 14, 2009.

9:10 A. M.

Saturday.

* How about you? How do you like to spend a rainy fog day in the mountains?

THE DREAM JOB

Imagine yourself waking up every morning surrounded by beautiful snowy mountains, 70 ski lifts and gondolas and dozens of ski areas. You have to go out skiing everyday, explore new ski runs with people from different countries and cultures. Now imagine being paid for that!

I was trying to imagine that after meeting Mia Luciani, an Australian ski instructor working in Japan. She’s just 22 years old but has traveled to all the continents that you can ski at. I asked her how she found this job and she told me that her father, who is a ski instructor too, took care of everything. Lewis Luciani, 67, who used to travel everywhere in his previous job, is now retired and found being a ski instructor a way to keep travelling, learning about lots of different cultures and spending his days doing something he loves.

It’s interesting to talk to him about why he chose Shiga Kogen. Luciani use to look for instructor job offers on the internet and this time decided to experience working in Japan. At first, he found lots of information about Hokkaido and Hakuba (Nagano) but just realized that living in this “international friendly places” will be almost like living in his own country, and there’s no meaning on travelling so far and not learning anything about Japan. And that’s why he decided to work at Sugiyama Ski ＆ Snowsports School, in Shiga Kogen. Of course it’s more challenging, but this is exactly what he was expecting. Here he and the other 7 foreigner ski instructors really can have a Japanese experience, completely different from being in Japan as a tourist. They eat Japanese food everyday, sleep in Japanese beds, bathe in hot springs (ofuros) and work with almost 30 Japanese ski instructors. During the meals they can share experiences and stories about each other’s culture and, at the end of every meal, in a very Japanese way, everyone needs to wash their own dishes. “Depends on what you are looking for”, reminds me Luciani. “If you just want to come here and ski, doing less effort as possible, go somewhere else but, if you really are interested in experiencing the Japanese life, I found in Shiga Kogen a good place to be.”

HOW TO GET THIS JOB?

Well, everybody agrees that internet is the best tool to find a job but, who can apply? Japanese language knowledge is not a requirement. Apparently, all you need is ski/snowboard experience and a Working Visa. Mia, who’s just 22, came to Japan with a Working Holiday Visa.　The other instructors are allowed to work in Japan because they have more than 36 months of work experience as ski instructors and that’s why they all have working visas. They recommend you to apply at least 6 months before the season’s start because getting a visa can be very tricky.

Finally, the ski knowledge level asked can vary from school to school but ski/snowboard qualifications certainly will help you to get the job. At Mia’s school, they have training courses from time to time, which helps a lot those without teaching experience.

Talking to Mia and Lewis just makes me believe that it certainly is a dream job. Otherwise, people like Mark Madden, 50, another ski instructor I have met in Shiga Kogen, wouldn’t have given up his safe life in an office to chase the snow around the world. And he was pretty happy the day I met him.

Of course Mia was trying to remind me that this life is hard too. Sometimes you have to go out skiing in bad weather… but if the day is good enough for the guests, it must be good enough to her too, right?

Here are some websites that you can find ski/snowboard instructor job offers:

Snow Japan - Resort - Jobs Available

Seek Japan - Jobs

Gaijin Pot - Jobs for foreigners in Japan

Sugiyama Ski & Snowsports School - Working as a ski instructor

View from the top of Yokoteyama

That's the view from the top of Mt. Yokote (Yokoteyama).

Here you can have a Japanese meal as lamen, oden and udon, in the 2nd floor of the lift building, or you can enjoy fresh bread, coffee, hot chocolate or some hot Russian meal as Stroganoff at the highest bakery of Japan. This bakery is also an amazing place to spend the night and be able to watch the sunset and sunrise from the top of Yokoteyama, 2.300 m above sea level.

Thursday, 9:42 A. M.

Feb 5th, 2009.

オムライス

オムライス=Omuraisu= Omelette + rice
or
Rice in an egg wrapping.

It's a very popular dish in Japan.

I believe for those who are not used to Japanese dish, Omuraisu can be a good option. It's not a sweet kind of dish, just rice flavored with ketchup and a huge omelette covering it. This one, from Hotel Ichinose, here in Shiga Kogen, is served with a tasty gravy.