Just moved house yesterday and I don’t really have Internet access plus I’m leaving for Thailand tomorrow morning, so pictures of my recent trip to Asahidake will have to do. Look for vidoes and a few cellphone pictures of penguins later. For now enjoy

Mayumi ripping down the mountain through the woods.

Orimo blasting through powder under the roapway.

Freezing skiers ambling toward the roapway at the base.

Yoichi giggling his way down the mountain.

The rest of the pictures from my second trip to Asahidake in Hokkaido, Japan are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594529176908/

I grabbed Mayumi’s photos and videos today. Take a look and laugh at me behaving poorly.

I’ve been snowboarding for about ten years now. I’m by no means an expert. I’m not even very good, but I have been to many of the well known places in the US. Ever since my first winter here in Japan, I’ve known that the mountains around here offer much better snow than anything in New England and powder that’s comparable to Utah and Colorado. The resorts are, however, much more crowded and don’t provide a great amount of variety or challenging terrain. The best time I’ve had up until now was at a mountain a few hours outside of Tokyo during this past New Years Eve. Orimo, Mark and I spent hours among the trees in powder that came up to our shins. We had a great time, but it doesn’t hold a candle Asahidake in Hokkaido.

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I loved visiting my family and friends in the US for these past two weeks, but I’m so very happy to be home now. All I can say is that ALL japanese food in the US is dissapointing.
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