5 February 2026
Day 21 (Hakusan to Hakuba travel) 4th Feb
Long Shinkansen to Itoigawa, then a bus ride to Hakuba. We met another australian on the Shinkansen to Itoigawa and he was headed to Hakuba on the same bus as us. It felt in some ways that the “Japan” part of the trip was over once we confirmed with Duncan that he was from Wollongong and headed to the same place as us, like we were headed to tourist’s Australia in Japan. We got to Hakuba and said goodbye to Duncan, and I made the unfortunate call to walk to our hotel instead of trying to figure out the buses. I guess I wanted to see the town or something. Walking 2km in the snow with our luggage was terrible and I probably wouldn’t do it again. Great to see the town though.
We were staying in the north part of Hakuba called Iwatake. The hotel was roughly 1km from the snowfield. After walking to Hotel La Montagne Furuhata we were very tired, and rested for a while. We knew there was an onsen on the bottom level of the hotel so some time after 8pm we both went to our seperate onsens and had a great time. We saw no one that night while bathing.
Day 22 (Skiing in sun) 5th Feb
Missed the bus to skiing, I’d had a slow start of a morning with Clare, since we had coffee and talked about our plans. There was a bus near our hotel that ran at 8, 9, 10am and that was it. I didn’t know that at the time.
I walked to the ski field, and got my epic pass ticket, which meant I could go to any ski fields. I then went and got skis from the hire place across the road. Clare was abstaining from skiing, she wanted to quit while she was ahead, having done a day of skiing and getting no injuries.
Going up the gondola, I could see the first mountain range visible from the bottom were only 60% as tall as the second mountain range, which some of the ski fields of Hakuba went up to. It was an epic reveal from the second or third hilltop that the gondola got over.
At the top it was quite busy, with everyone crowded around the main slope down. I weaved through and did the green run from top bottom, which was awesome! Lots of little slopes and jumps on the side of the run to do fun things with speed without being dangerous.
I tried doing a black run and got told by a Japanese skier that I shouldn’t go one particular way, because it’d be too bumpy for someone with my skill. I really appreciated that as I think it saved a lot of my energy. I got the slopes app so I could record all of my runs down the mountain.
I walked home having missed the bus, and slowly figured out how to carry skis while walking in ski boots. It’s not so bad, best to have the skis over your shoulder, with the majority of the ski’s weight behind you so you can hand your arm over the front end to balance the weight.
After skiing Clare and I went to the onsen, where we met both individually met each person of an American couple from Washington state. They were really nice, and were in Japan looking for big powder. Apparently looking for powder is a big deal for skiers/snowboarders. Hakuba hardly had any powder while I was skiing there, which was ironic, since the field at Hakusan had nearly a foot of powder and we weren’t looking for it at all. I also met a taiwanese man in the onsen who bought Japanese products and sold them in Taiwan. He used to represent Nokia 20 years ago, and was in Sydney for a while when doing that! Pretty cool.
Day 23 (Skiing while overcast) 6th Feb
Missed the bus to skiing again.
Tried mogals, loved them, basically did the same run for the rest of our stay to try and get better at them.
I managed to catch the bus home which was good, only two people on it, and they dropped me right outside the hotel.
Onsened again, didn’t see anyone.
We ate at a really nice restaurant, though it was a bit expensive, and had the set meal. It was kind of a Japanese Mexican fusion, so we had tacos and tortillas with tuna and beef. We liked it a lot there. I had a lemon sour that was really really sour, I probably wouldn’t get it again (I can’t think of a situation where I would feel like a really sour drink?).
I started to debate with myself if I should catch the bus to one of the other Hakuba resorts, but nothing really pushed me to do so. I was having too much of a nice time trying to learn how to do moguls. During the day, an older Japanese man (maybe 50) and I were tackling the moguls together. We’d both do a section then rest and watch the other. I did a section and lost control, went really fast past him, but didn’t crash. He gave me a cheer and a thumbs up which was really nice. On the gondola ride back up he couldn’t speak much English but he said he wasn’t very good and that I was an expert, which felt nice to hear but I don’t believe it was true. Had some nice rides talking to Australians, English, Canadians, mostly older people. Lots of couples.
Day 24 (Skiing while snowing) 7th Feb
Missed the bus to skiing again.
Many people would bring their dogs up the gondola, and a sight-seeing ticket was $29, which gave a return ride up the gondola. Clare came up and we tried the City Bakery, at the top of the ski field Iwatake. They had great pastries and a really rich hot chocolate (which cost $12, thanks Clare). Clare did some work inside while I went skiing again. When I returned, Clare was in the pet area, and nearby was a lady with two owls! A dog was barking like crazy, but they seemed unperturbed and very cool. I found this shocking but tried to play it cool. Luckily Clare got a video of them.
I had one gondola ride with some younger Australians who I didn’t like very much and it made me kind of mad, enough that I set some new top speed records during this afternoon, roughly 55km/h. I’ll make sure I add stat screenshots soon.
The snow and wind and visibility were very bad this day, and it was the first time I considered using goggles instead of the Jin sunglasses I’d bought. The snow kept wrapping around my sunnies and hitting my eyeballs, and it was slightly uncomfortable waiting for the snowflake to melt.
I fell asleep very early that night, exhausted. Blisters had developed on the insides of my feet. I was however, feeling much more confident in doing moguls. I’d learnt that it’s all about keeping your skis as close together and parallel as possible, and try to handle the outcome of whatever both skis went over. It’s better to do a jump with both skis and have a proper crunch when landing than to try and manage skis in different places.
I took a few breaks and had an espresso with baileys down the bottom of the run, where you can sit by a fire and order food/drink. There was no one else there which was great.
Day 25 (Skiing while snowing/cold/tired) 8th Feb
I finally figured out how to catch the bus there, which was alright. Saved some blister development.
I saw serows from the gondola on the way up! Three of them, quite nearby, and I took a video. My thighs/quads were extremely tired, doing moguls is a bit like doing squats at the gym. I called it at 1pm and returned my skis. Since I’d left my shoes at home, and there were no buses for a while, I walked home through the snow in just my socks. This was surprisingly fine, and my feet did not feel very cold at all! Mostly because they stayed dry in the powdery snow.
It was max -7 Celsius at the bottom of the mountain, and freezing at the top. My beard had icicles.
Before bed we watched a Japanese supernatural detective show that was too silly so Clare didn’t like it much, but it was interesting to watch an hour of.
Day 26 (Hakuba to Tokyo travel) 9th Feb
That’s today! Long bus and shinkansen rides. Australian skiers took up all the overhead storage with their skis so we had to have our luggage in weird places which was honestly, a little bit annoying. I had hot corn tea and Clare had hot spring water from a vending machine while waiting for the train. Clare did some ink drawings in the train which were really good!! I took photos before we left Hakuba so I can paint them later. We’re both very nervous to get Clare’s saki bottle she bought home safe, since it’s a beautiful souvenir.
Clare is sick but she’s holding it all together well. I was hoping I’d get to catch up with a Japanese uni friend, Tora, tonight, but I think he’s too busy with work. Finishing at 8pm was his best case scenario.
We saw a few volcanos on the ride to Tokyo which looked pretty cool.
Clare is extremely sick and one of our main priorities is getting her a hot bath.
Day 27 (Tokyo overnight and travel) 10th Feb
Clare and I woke up late and we needed to check out by 11am. We had mostly packed to be ready for flight travel, but there were two small containers of liquid over 300ml. These containers were:
- A very cute sali container that looked like an overweight man. This was full of saki. Roughly 300ml of saki.
- a yuzu cocktail mixer that was 8% alcohol, roughly 300ml as well.
Since waste not, want not, and Clare doesn’t drink, I had a bath and drank all the alcohol while watching the burnt peanut. Really enjoyable experience. Really lucky that we made it out by 11am from our apartment. While we sit in Tully’s cafe and I’ve enjoyed a French toast paid for with my Pasmo card, I’m overcome with a sense of disappointment that we have enjoyed a hotdog while in Japan. We saw them here and there, looking very American and low quality. There was an enigma of a hotdog that I desired though, which stemmed from the high quality pork we saw around, especially in Hakuba. I hope and pray there’s a hotdog in the second half of today from Japan that’s made to impress.
