In February and March earlier this year, my adventure time bud and I went on our most epic adventure yet. Japan - land of pow. To say we fucking loved this country would be an gross understatement. From the food, to the snow, to the people, we were the frothiest of froths.
We hit Tokyo first, with our teenie tiny accommodation in Shinjuku (the red light district of Tokyo.) The city is mental. A constant bombardment of lights, smells and noise to the senses. Every shop and restaurant is covered in bright flashing lights, music blares from the doorways and you can buy almost anything from a vending machine on every corner. The streets are crowded with a constant flow of people, but despite this, the streets are incredibly clean. We loved the Japanese people - they are kind, patient and intelligent and holy shit they know how to eat well. English isn't very widely spoken and all the restaurant signs and menus are in Japanese, so Jord and I would just walk the streets and pick places to eat at random and we were never disappointed! Japanese BBQ's being the token fave of the trip!
We were lucky enough to have our friend Tomomi train up from Kyoto to meet us in Tokyo and show us around. We ticked off a huge number of spots around the city in just a day of hanging with her! If we didn't have her, I don't know how we would have coped with the trains. The subway is this insane spiderweb of destinations, everything is in Japanese and you have to buy your tickets from little machines (no english options here either) so we were pretty stoked to have her with us! (We miss you Tomomi!)
After a jam packed 4 days in Tokyo full of sightseeing, trains, walking (so much walking), DISNEYLAND!, Mr. Donuts (like errday), Harajuku Girls, pretty gardens, cat cafes and HEAPS of food it was time to fly up to Hokkaido for POW TIME! After a few hours on a bus to Niseko, we were treated to some the best snow in the world. White room magic every damn day. It would bucket with snow every night, and we trumped it with a handful of bluebird days. Niseko is so rad. It's like mini Australian settlement, which has its pro's and cons (dat accent uugghh (sorry, not sorry.) But means that most people speak english and the drinking/party culture is exactly what you'd expect. Chuurrr.
Fast forward through going super large on our last night in Niseko and having a hungover spew on a luxury Japanese bus, we arrived in Furano. Being a little further north and having just had a huge dump of fresh snow, we were in pow heaven once again. Furano has stupid fun terrain and sick back country riding. 3 weeks riding in Japan is easily the equivalent to 2 whole seasons in NZ (eff you Mt Ruapehu you moody icy bitch.) (jk luv u.)
Japan was the raddest 3 weeks and boarding Ruapehu riding will never be the same again. Ugh, why did I blog about this.
Take me back.
