The end of an Amazing Winter in Japan

21st March 2011
Here I am a week on from my last blog and I can safely say I didnt expect to be writing it from where I am currently sitting. I am back home in the UK having cut my trip short by 12 days. I was due to leave Japan on the 30th March and do some travelling from the 23rd to the 30th – however I changed my flights and departed Niseko on the 18th March.
I received calls and messages of concern from family and friends in regard to the Fukishima Nuclear Power plant leakage resulting from the Earthquake. Since the disaster the power plant was damaged and as a result there have been serious radiation leaks from the plant. A 30km radius around Fukishima has been evacuated and there has been all sorts of news regarding the rise in radiation levels.
Hearing this news on a daily basis and constantly receiving calls and messages of concern struck fear in the visitors to Japan. However we needed to bear in mind this was all happening on the South Island of Japan of Honshu not Hokkaido. The fear of radiation being sent our way via the wind was enough to convince people to leave early.
Cue the mass exodus of a lot of staff from the NBS Ski School. I didnt want to leave but saw it only fair given I had a lot of people worried for me at home to return – so here I am. I will work in reverse and tell you about my journey and then the few days leading up to me leaving as well as my overall thoughts on my winter in Japan .
So my journey was nothing short of painful! I did a lot of sleeping – it started from Niseko to Sapporo on a bus – no real dramas, and then the flight from Sapporo to Tokyo was also pretty painless. I transferred from Haneda airport to Narita International airport in Tokyo. It was in Tokyo I was expecting madness but it seemed like it was very much business as usual. I was expecting hazmat suits but though the radiation levels have increased slightly in Tokyo there was no panic as the levels are not at a point which could affect human health. People forget how dignified and proud Japanese people are, the press internationally seems to be blowing the problem massively out of proportion which as a result has meant people have left. The Japanese press cannot do that as it will cause widespread panic. I don’t think there is a need to either the situation is contained and being handled in the best way possible.
My transfer from airports was spent snoozing again. I arrived at Narita International and the airport was calm and steady – I got into my check in queue and got speaking to a couple from Dorking, their son lives in Tokyo and they were here on a visit. They mentioned to me that our flight was being re-routed through Hong Kong as the pilots were located there. This meant my journey was going to be a 5 hr flight from Tokyo to Honkers, then a 9 hr layover in Honkers before flying from there to London which is a 12 hr flight – total journey time 26 hrs – this wasn’t even including the journey I had made from Niseko to get to Narita Airport...
I got to a check in desk and weighed in my bags only to find my board bag was 30kg and my other bag was 18. The check in lady was nice and patient as I asked to move things from one bag to another to avoid the 6000 Yen charge for overweight baggage. I made one attempt and managed to get the 18k up to 23k (the limit) however my board bag was still 2 k over having re-weighed it. At this point the people in the check in queue were laughing at me as I was in my snowboard gear with my beanie over my eyes as I was frantically trying to make the bags lighter. I shifted more weight from my board bag to my carry on and managed to get it down to the 23k limit. When she said it was ok I cried out “YESS!!” and jumped in the air – she laughed and the entire queue behind me were all laughing and smiling! It was hilarity. As she finished up checking me in I gave her a hi5 to the amusement of the onlooking crowd and as I turned away I got a few smiles!
After checking in I made use of the 2000yen dinner voucher with a pretty mean feed consisting of Carbonara and fried chicken with naan – interesting but very satisfying combo for sure! The airline gave us a meal ticket to use in the departure area as the flight was meant to leave @ 11am but was rescheduled for 9pm. As I waited at my departure gate I was on the web killing time, as I was on skype another quake struck! It started small and I was like – ahh must be a plane landing but it got stronger and stronger to the point where I got up and got away from the window – so scary! It calmed down after a minute and the panic was over. I checked the web again for news of another quake and sure enough there was one that hit Tokyo at that moment 6.1 on the scale and shook up most of the buildings in Tokyo but luckily no damage was reported. An airport announcement came through saying the quake wasn’t going to affect the ongoing services of the airport and all flights were still all good!
A couple of hours before the flight was to take off I noticed a guy from Niseko sat a couple of chairs away from me. I hadn’t spoken to him in Niseko but we got chatting. Rob Buchanan was his name and he was a friend of Becs and he worked for Pro Powder this season. We had a good old chat about the snow and what our plans were and how our seasons were and it was good to have company for the journey.
We boarded the plane for our first flight to Hong Kong – 5 hrs and I pretty much slept through the entire journey! We arrived at Honkers for our 9 hr layover – NOT IDEAL. We got another meal voucher so we had some Ramen which was damn tasty. Honkers airport was pretty immaculate. It really gave a good impression to me of China however it didnt surprise me given economic powerhouse that is China.
Jumped on the plane to the uk from Hong Kong and with Rob pretty much out the whole trip I watched 4 movies – going the distance – a movie about long distance relationships it was rubbish – love and other drugs – also pretty crap, RED and Convicted – the best of which was convicted.
After the flight I was picked up by my happy father and taken home! Was an epic journey that started @ 9am Friday morning Japan time and finished 5pm at home in London on Sunday. 41 hrs in total – killer!
The days leading up to me leaving Japan were spent doing a little bit of work a lot of riding and a lot of eating. I had basically shopped for 3 weeks when in fact I only had 3 days left, because when I went shopping I thought I would be in Japan for a few more weeks. So Kimmy reaped the benefit of all this food and I ended up pretty much cooking for her each night before I left. As well as that she got lunch too and before I left she got all the leftovers – lucky girl!
The riding was fun I remember riding loads with Kim and did loads of fun freestyle riding, and my last day was spent riding with Teruko and her friend Yoku – Teruko wasn’t too happy with riding and wasn’t into it so I was determined to get her stoke factor back. We did a couple of runs down strawberry and blue berry fields and the hits were so much fun i was whooping away and teruko would follow my line hitting the stupid hits I was just having a great time. We went to the park and had loads of fun in the pipe and trying out tricks we knew how to do on newer features. I was spinning front 3’s of the 30ft kicker which was scary but once I understood how to do it it was fun! Teruko was trying new things and doing some super cool stuff – she definitely got her stoke back for sure. In the evening I rode with Manny and Kimmy and that too was a super fun time.
Summing up my winter, I have to say it was pretty incredible – there were ups and downs as there are in any season, however being in Japan the eutopia of powder snowboarding and being able to experience the snow I have ridden is something very special and I think I will take these memories to the grave with me. In terms of the snow school I couldn’t have worked with a better group of people and for a better school – NBS really take care of their staff and employ good people with amazing personalities. I lived in pretty much ski in ski out accommodation, we had a lot of people living together which led to quarrels and mess however on the whole it was a great place to be. Japan is the home of some of the most dignified, humble, honest, kindest people I have met. They make the place what it is and its this culture and behaviour I would like to keep with me as I move on to other places. I could go on and get really melodramatic but I wont – it might make me cry .
Top memories from the season
- Snowboarding the annapuri back bowls
- CAT Skiing with Kay
- Working in Rusutsu for a week
- Snowboarding in Moiwa cornice dropping
- The countless incredible Miharashi/Super Ridge/Strawberry fields/Gates powder runs
- The never ending game of horse with Mo
- Bec and I’s birthdays – the hangovers brutal
- Meeting Angela Ashby
- Riding gentemsticks
- Watching signatures the movie about Japanese pow riding
- January and March powder
- Back 1’s of a 40 ft kicker  in Hano
- The numerous tree hits
- Watching j-crew kill it
- Trying to spread the art of jibbing
- Kimmys bail down the steep section on the backside of miharashi toward Rob Roy
- Kimmys tail spins and that day in the park and pipe with Kimatron
- Getting stuck in super ridge buried for ½ hr
- Tony’s 360 on his last day of riding
- Tony’s penguin slide on the garmish jib
- Becs 27 to face smash
- Toms mad butter box skills
Its been incredible – next stop Canada for exams – will keep you posted!
Much love people