at the summit...

Sun Valley, Shiga Kogen, Joshinetsu National Park, Nagano, Japan

February 17, 2009.

Tuesday

14:00

Sun Valley Quadrilift

Sun Valley, Shiga Kogen, Joshinetsu National Park, Nagano, Japan

February 17, 2009.

Tuesday

13:46

Sun Valley Ski Run 3

Sun Valley, Shiga Kogen, Joshinetsu National Park, Nagano, Japan

February 17, 2009.

Tuesday

13:30

Perfect Day!

Yesterday was a really great day in Shiga Kogen!!! Light snow in the morning and them sunny until the end of the day.

This is Maruike (Maru Pond) yesterday, about 1:00 P. M.

And that's Sun Valley area.

It was a good day to go out and enjoy the snow, skiing, snowboarding or just taking pictures...

Lots of images from Sun Valley coming soon.

Snow is back to Shiga Kogen!

That's right!

25 cm of snow last night at Hasuike area!

and the snow keep falling! It was -10℃ here this morning...

It seems that we will have a beautiful day with snow and sunny from time to time! couldn't be better!

Have fun!

Kumanoyu


Feb 17, 2009.


8:27 A. M.

Pursuing Powder Snow

Today I met these snowboarders on my way to work and they talked about their favorite places in Shiga Kogen.

Will Koh and Alex Lee, both 27 years old, are Malaysian and live in Australia. They are spending 2 weeks in Shiga Kogen snowboarding and so far, their favorite place is the run which starts at Terakoya, at the top of Mt. Higashitate and you can choose to go through Takamagahara or Ichinose Family. It’s where they found the best powder snow.

They like Shiga Kogen because it’s a huge resort and you can find courses for snowboarders of all levels.

Will and Alex were very happy because today started cloudy and cold, and it seems that they will have fresh powder snow soon.

The Snow is Back

The trees are becoming white again in Shiga Kogen!
Finally!

And according to Japan Meteorological Agency, this will be a snowy week!


We hope so!

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!

2℃

Our ponds are melting here!

But that's all right...
We hope Snow-Forecast.com prediction are right, them we will have lots of snow soon in Shiga Kogen!

"Days 0-3 Shiga Kogen Yokoteyama Weather Summary: A heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Mon afternoon. Temperatures will be below freezing (max -2°C on Sun morning, min -22°C on Tue night). Winds decreasing (near gales from the W on Mon morning, moderate winds from the WNW by Tue afternoon).

Days 4-6 Shiga Kogen Yokoteyama Weather Summary: A heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Thu night. Temperatures will be below freezing (max -2°C on Thu night, min -17°C on Wed night). Winds increasing (light winds from the W
on Thu morning, near gales from the SSW by Thu night). "

-from Feb 15 [Sunday] to Feb 20 [Friday]-

Kidoike (Kido Pond) this morning.

Sometimes all you have to do is wait.

Now you can see the Hasuike Ropeway Station.

Feb 14, 2009.


3 hours later,

12:17

Saturday.

*Happy Valentine's Day!

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

Cloudy Friday...

It's hot again in Shiga Kogen... and we all hope the Japan Meteorological Agency are wrong and instead of the predicted rain we have a nice snow this weekend.

























It seems like someone had fun at Maeyama yesterday ;)

International Ride

This is the view inside the Shiga Kogen Shuttle bus this morning.
People from New Caledonia, Australia, France, Hong Kong and also, Japan!

They are lucky because today we have fresh snow and the day is beautiful outside!

About 17 cm of snow overnight and a gorgeous blue sky.
Enjoy!

They travel a lot!

These guys came from Australia and now live in Hong Kong. They had been in New Zealand and many places in Japan like Roppongi, Harajuku, Niseko and Hakuba. Now they are spending the week in Shiga Kogen.


Here they are enjoying the view from Hasuike Ropeway's restaurant.

Northern Alps

viewed from Shiga Kogen this morning.

Conversa surreal no trabalho...

eu: Nossa, você não tem idéia da minha alegria quando encontrei a padaria lá em cima... era umas 9:30 da manhã, eu não tinha tomado café e ainda por cima tinha esquecido as luvas!

Japa: sem luvas? tava uns -7℃ lá em cima na quinta, não?

eu: acho que sim... mas enfim... imagina poder comer croissaint fresquinho e tomar um café quentinho de manhã, depois de 2 meses comendo arroz e tomando missoshiro toda manhã?!

Japa: ah... eu sei como é... sofri muito quando fui pra Áustria... sentia uma saudade da comida japonesa...

eu : Ah... então você me entende... e quanto tempo você ficou na Áustria?

Japa: UMA SEMANA!!!!

eu: UMA SEMANA?!?!?! Só isso!?!

Japa: Foi duro! Senti saudades da comida... só trabalhei...

eu: e nem deu pra passear? Ficou trabalhando num escritório fechado a semana toda?

Japa: não... tive que ficar esquiando na Áustria, a semana toda... foi duro viu...


PS: essa conversa não é ficção!!! Nem a padaria, que fica no topo do monte Yokote, em Shiga Kogen.... é a visão do paraíso pra alguém como eu: com fome, frio e saudades de uma comidinha ocidental :)

o pior é que o meu amigo japonês também estava falando sério!!!

横手山頂ヒュッテ, Yokote Sancho Hutte

Padaria, Restaurante e Hotel.
Lá você encontra pães fresquinhos, chocolate quente e refeições ocidentais... tem até Strogonoff!!! :)

Conhecida como a padaria que se encontra em maior altitude no Japão.








ah... e esses lindos Huskies Siberianos são os mascotes da padaria. lindos, lindos!

-7℃

This week started fine becoming cloudy on Monday and, apparently, will be like this during all week.

But we are still waiting for a great snow! :)

This is Kasadake viewed from Suzurikawa bus stop, about one hour ago.

Sunny Cloudy day...

As you can see in the picture taken this morning, it's cloudy today, but it's changing, so the sun is shining from time to time.

You can see Maruike (Maru Pond) and the Sunvalley Ski area in the background.

Few minutes ago....

As you can see, the weather is amazing again in Shiga Kogen...
This picture was taken a few minutes ago...



















These snowboarders are crossing the Hasuike (Hasu Pond), from Hasuike Area to Shiga Kogen Ropeway Station.


Saturday, 9:00 A. M.
Feb 7, 2009.

Hasuike, Shiga Kogen, Joshinetsu National Park, Nagano, Japan.