Day_16_TheRoadHome

Airport food in the states sucks, not the case in Japan or Korea. Rasberry wine, Asahi, and chili Omlice(omelette with rice underneath) infusion. MMMMM. Can you say duty free? Whiskey tasting at my house at 9pm;)

So sad to leave but it has to be done. Japan I miss you already...

Day_15_parting is such.....

First thing tomorrow morning we're out. Flying to Korea again to a 6 hour layover, then back over Japan to NYC.

Day_14

This morning at 5am after getting off of the bus from Tokyo we realized we had an hour until the buses started up. So we walked to a convenience store got a coffee sat on the curb to wait. Just then a police car pulled up and I got nervous. Old habit maybe but it turned out they were just making sure we were ok. They offered us a ride to a cafe so we got in. After Yuko talked with them they realized the walk back to our bus would be too far and wanted to give us a ride to her house but that was too far off of their beat. As they gave us a ride back to the store we started at they asked Yuko if NYC was safe. She answered I guess there are a lot of police on the streets. They answered wow it must be safer than here then. "Yeah right." Is a big police force a sign of safety?




Chiaki teaches Macrobiotic cooking in Toyohashi. Today we made Pizza with cheese made out of brown rice Mochi (Mocheese). Super good and I usually don't play that healthy stuff.



Chiaki's mom makes her own Plum wine. Best I've ever had.






Homemade Pizza Japanese style.

And then there was this.

Day_13

We did another whirlwind trip to Tokyo today, took a bus from Chariyu all night and got into Tokyo at like 5am. Took a quick nap at an Internet Cafe (I love those spots) and then met up with my friend Max. It's always cool to see a familiar face when traveling. We hit up all the usual spots, FTC, W-Base, and Burton TYO. I met really cool cats at all three that was much appreciated, and Saw Nish designs at both FTC, and W-Base.

Next went to Yuko's friend Tyson's restaurant "Nuun". MAx is a vegetarian and eating veggie is hard in Tokyo but Nuun is one of the places one spot that has vegan dishes, and the crispy fried Tofu was great! Tyson has a couple other restaurants in Tokyo that I can't wait to try... Next trip. Yuko and I then met up with an old friend Hiro from NYC. Not much to say about Hiro just good times, and good drinks. Then one more stop to meet up with Jun by Tokyo Station. Jun is rad, hope to chill again, Check out the lurker suit behind Yuko! I just noticed it as I'm posting this. Gotta love Tokyo.

Day_12

Another good day. We woke up late (9:30) maybe the latest I've ever slept in Japan. And met Yuko's friend Kanako, she's a great painter and the special exhibits coordinator at a local museum. We went to a Hawaiian themed Italian restaurant in Japan. Kanako plays this instrument where you move you have closer and farther and it emits tones kind like constant feed back, there's a pick here. Sorry but I can't remember the name. Japanese invented but more popular in Russia, hence the Russian doll encasement. Also bowled again today and evidently you cannot bring your own beer to the bowling alley. Woops, my bad dog. Well off to Tokyo tonight, won't be back until late tomorrow night and traveling light so no computer.

Day_11

Today we rode the train to Toyohashi and met our friend Chiaki. She took me to a skate park called Komame Skate park so I could push around for awhile. Toyohashi is actually a pretty cool spot saw more graf than I'm used to seeing around here. I feel like Toyohashi could be a sick city to explore for a bit. Chiaki was the ultimate tour guide. Including a super zen healthfood coffee shop. The park was cool nothing too special. Later we went over to Chiaki's family's house and drank her mom's homemade plum wine( excellent, some Sake, and some Asahi. Hehe. Here father insisted we come back on Wed to help them drink a bottle of the good sake(unfiltered) so looks like I know where I'll be! Hehe Good times. I won't waste space with pics of my lame fs board slide but here's some randoms from today

Day_10

So we went snowboarding again today. A place about 3 hours from Nagoya (4+ after traffic). Car to a train to a bus. I'm still spoiled from Niseko this place was cool and got snow all day but nothing compared to Niseko. Good times anyway beautiful day.

Day_9

Did some family pictures today. Funny stuff. Going snowboarding locally tomorrow so not sure if I'll get any new picks maybe post something from previous days. Cheers. I've had a lot of Australians and Japanese congratulating me on our new president. People seem really excited, and really into it. The world is watching now for the hard part, for all of us.

Day_8

So sad to be leaving but at least it stopped snowing and the sun is out. No new snow and we tracked the hell out of Annupuri yesterday. Good note to leave on. Shot around the village etc today, here's what I got. In an Airport in Sapporo right now catching up on the Bloggity blog. The fox was outside the Hostel every morning waiting to be fed by the owner. Pretty cool. Gonna miss it here. Can't wait to come back! Next time Jun will show us around, he knows this place as good as anyone!

Day_7

Today was even better. Rode the Annupuri Quad to the top, one more chair up then a crazy single file hike up almost verticle where you couldn't see a thing. A whole bunch of signs warning if you die no one's coming for you and if they do you are going to be charged for it! Kinda messes with your head but the powder back here is great! Traverse along a ridge, and our of the haze to a drop off the corness and into the trees. Soo much fun! While we may have almost killed Ray in the trees yesterday, he really turned it up today and improved, Yuko of course killed it but I think she got a mild concussion on our last run. Hauled right off a 10 foot drop to a cat track! Helmet hit then flew into the woods. She's ok though lucky it's our last day, we're both pretty tore up.






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Day_6_Ray's shots

Here's some shots Ray shot today of our session. Good times in Niseko!

Day_6

Sooo much snow and still came down must the day. Pretty hung over but in the snow you never feel it. Mountain is pretty sick and we are still learning our way around but we can ride straight down to the front door of our Hostel so we'll be riding a lot!