Niseko is absolutely gorgeous. It has been dumping for the last week, non-stop! For you powder-hounds out there, it is definitely
the place to satisfy your addiction. There is no end to this stuff.
It has been quite an adventure leading up to this leg of the trip. We left London, uneventfully, and arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday about 11.30am. Rich had to immediately organise our ski equipment which had been sent here from Melbourne a few days prior. (Thanks Andrew!!)
Rich took off in the persistent rain towards the cargo holding building. I was too exhausted after the 11 hour flight to move, so I took charge of our luggage and waited in the airport.
Two hours later, a drenched (but very happy) Richard returned with the goods. To cut a long story short, he had to go through various departments who gave/stamped numerous documents before he eventually got to our skis. It was worth it though as it worked out to be much cheaper than hiring. The Japanese have this really cool courier service called Takyubbin. It only cost us $20 to send our skis ahead of us up to Niseko, directly to our lodge. Apparently the Japanese send their luggage all the time, instead of carrying them. I guess you wouldn't want to lug your stuff around in busy subway trains.
Tokyo, in short, is loud. A sensory overload! It's such a culture shock. I think you need to do it in small doses, and definitely with a well-planned itinerary! We regretted not having done the latter.
One thing we have certainly loved is the food. Glorious food! Sushi, yakitori, udon, ramen, tempura, and rice galore! Love it, and can't get enough of it. It's a very healthy way of eating and I do feel much more alert, probably cos we've eaten a lot of fish. Czech food is good but very heavy and hearty.
It was also quite weird to experience an earthquake firsthand. I was sitting in our cupboard-like room (it was
tiny; we couldn't both stand up comfortably at the same time!) when the quake happened. The walls seemed to cave in and move in really strange ways. I did feel very claustrophobic although it didn't last long; maybe about 15 seconds. We managed to find out on the Japanese news that the earthquake had measured 3 on the richter scale.
Well, if you think this has been an adventure, there's more!
Our flight to Niseko was scheduled at 10am from Haneda airport. We got there 9.20am and found a very chaotic and jam-packed departure area. We got into a mile-long line for check-in, not knowing how we were going to make this flight. It was only at 9.55am (and we hadn't really moved much in this line) that we found out check-in for this flight was suspended. Now, keep in mind that Japanese speak very little English. It was very difficult to find out what was happening. Even announcements were made in Japanese, to a huge crowd of mainly Australian tourists!
Bad weather and snow had caused massive delays as planes couldn't land at Sapporo, our destination. We managed to get the whole picture from our Aussie compatriots who were all heading up to ski.
By 2pm, with our flight cancelled hours ago, we were desperate to find out how to get out of this messy situation. We eventually decided to go by train, but still had to get flights to another airport. That organised, we were up for an even longer night, as the train from this airport was scheduled at 1am the next day!
Anyway, we actually made it to an earlier train and arrived at Oshamambe, a town an hour away by train to the ski resorts. We then still had to stay the night because the next train didn't run until 6am the next day. So we booked ourselves into one of two hotels at this tiny town. Actually, booked out is more correct! There were 10 of us all together and there was only accommodation available for 10 people. How lucky was that!
All in all, we made it to the mountain by 7.30am and still managed to ski for 4 hours. Now too tired to write anymore. But it has been well-worth it for the awesome views and excellent skiing conditions.
Ange
Hey all. This may be the last post from o/s before we begin our trek back from Sapporo in the north all the way to Tokyo in the south. Lets pray for no cancellations in our leg from Sapporo to Tokyo, otherwise it will be another exciting day spent in an airport! Yay.
I think pictures will explain the moment better. 
The temperature was a balmy -13C with the wind chill factor bringing it down even more. We could only stand an hour or so looking at all the sculptures before we had to seek refuge in a coffee shop or department store.
