In a last-ditch attempt to experience Winter before it - and I - leave Japan I revisited Fukiage onsen, the small mountain onsen I went to last year for a short weekend of snowshoeing and outdoor adventures with outdoorsy, like-minded friends. Last year consisted of an epic snowshoe hike up Maetokachi-dake in gale-force blizzard weather (ok, not quite) and an amazing snowboard through untouched, back-country powder to the onsen. This year was, well, quite a bit tamer than last year. But by choice. One of the other activities we did last year was build a snow cave for the hell of it. This time, we set out to purposely build a snow cave, and not just any snow cave, a Snow Grotto! Muahaha!

Armed to the teeth with three snow shovels and the knowledge of snow cave-building from YouTube videos, we departed the onsen with snowshoes strapped to our feet and hiked up a small nearby hill. Staking out a good place to build our snow cave, we chose to conveniently use the same spot as last year. Buckling down against the heavy falling snow and occasional patch of sunlight in the cloudy sky, we carefully engineered the cave’s layout and then started digging, and digging… and digging. That's all there really is to building a snow cave. After a few hours of cold, hard work we finally had enough room to fit seven people in the newly dubbed “Yuki Grotto”. Not a group to be satisfied with just having enough room... we built seats and a table too. And a nice sloping roof. After chilling inside the snow grotto for a bit (literally), admiring our work and having pretend nabe (all the while wishing we’d actually brought real nabe) we headed back down to the warm, inviting onsen, secretly hoping a bear would find the snow cave and take up residence. Next project: Snow Love Hotel!

After missing two seasons, I was finally able to see my first Japanese baseball game! In Japan, they take their baseball seriously. Baseball is a serious sport. Sapporo’s baseball team is called the Nippon Ham Fighters. Notice the clever company advertising subtly inserted into the team name? As a bonus, everyone receives a free stick of ham from their sponsors upon entry! I’ll be honest, baseball isn’t all that really interesting to watch. There’s the occasional grand-slam and moments of excitement, but mostly it’s waiting around for those exciting moments to happen (unless you really like the pitching). Give me a good hockey game any day. What I was looking forward to about watching a match wasn’t the baseball… but the crowd! Japanese fans are all kinds of awesome and completely justify the sole reason for going to a game. First off, each team has their own section where everyone is decked out in their team’s color weaving the ubiquitous plastic noise-makers. Heaven forbid you wear a white jersey in the yellow section, but this being Japan you would probably be politely relocated to your ‘proper’ section, free of charge, of course (compared to other countries and sports where you’d get beat down for this). Secondly, there are music sections! Each team has their own dedicated ‘band’ of taiko drums and brass instruments that blare out unique rhythms and chants for each player. I especially like Keisuke’s (or was it Ishii’s?) chant where, with a cue from the band, the audience all stand up and jump on the spot. Accompanying the rumble throughout the stands is the trippy feeling you get watching the thousands of people bobbing up and down. It’s like doing The Wave but getting seasick at the same time. Aside from the game itself was the constant barrage of entertainment - from the cheerleaders, the mascot B.B., the plethora of colorful, dancing (and random) mascots promoting something or other, or the audience itself. The Fighters lost, unfortunately, but there was plenty to watch and it was an exciting game nonetheless. For my first baseball game in Japan, I give it two 'hams up.

Part 4
Continuing our road trip of Eastern Hokkaido, I took her to all the natural locations of Eastern Hokkaido I’d explored in the Summer but had yet to see in the Winter. The first, beautiful view of frozen Lake Kussharo was enough to stave off the wind that battered us from all directions. Following the shore around Lake Kussharo brought us to Sunayu with its Nessie-like mascot, Kusshie. In the summer, Sunayu is a famous destination to have foot baths in the sand, as you can read here. In the Winter, the warm sands prevent the ice from melting and hordes of swans come to be fed bread crumbs by easily-amused tourists! In this hotbed of geothermal activity, just further up the road was the onsen town of Kawayu and sulphuric gas mountain, Iozan. I’d planned on making a visit up to serine Lake Masshu but, unbeknownst to me, the mountain road is closed and unplowed during the Winter months. We carried on to Abashiri (where I was the week before for Queens of the Drift Ice) to have a late lunch at a tiny train station café that served home-made hamburger and katsudon. We’d planned on going drift ice cruising and snowmobiling but the warm weather still kept the drift ice away and we’d arrived too late to go snowmobiling. After a round-trip tour of Eastern Hokkaido and a few hundred kilometers later, we made our way back home to nap off a leisurely day of sightseeing.

Part 3
A few weeks later, Eliza came out of of the city again to spend the weekend exploring more of rural Eastern Hokkaido. The first place we went after picking her up from Asahikawa was Sounkyo gorge, an onsen town nestled deep in the mountains, to catch the tail end of the Sounkyo Ice Waterfall Festival. In the middle of winter, on a frozen lake an ice castle magically springs to life (actually, after months of preparation and “growing” the castle with water hoses) complete with turrets, winding passageways, precariously sharp icicles, ice slides, ice stairs (I think unintentionally icey), and a 15m tall ice tower. Walking inside of a living ice sculpture is like building a Lego castle when you were a kid and wanting to shrink down and walk through it. Awash in multi-colored lights and joyous laughter from all the tourists, it was like a freezing version of budget Disneyland. If you get the chance, the Sounkyo Ice Festival is a definite must-see. Check out Crystal's great blog for her experience of the festival.

Part 2
When there isn’t a festival going on, it’s always a good idea to throw one yourself! This year was the 3rd Annual Queens of the Drift Ice (here's what happened last year), a time to showcase Eastern Hokkaido’s famous 流氷 (ryuuhyou), or drift ice. It’s a good reason, and usually the best time of year, for those who live in other parts of the island make the long trek out and explore Abashiri for a weekend. Surprisingly, a record number of people made the half-day journey out to Abashiri in what was probably their first, and last, time to the far east. Unfortunately, due to a sudden Chinook just mere days before the weekend, all of the drift ice retreated back to Siberia and the drift ice cruise we had booked was cancelled. But there was still a lot of winter fun to be had, including snowmobiling on frozen Lake Abashiri, onsening, eating Nepalese food for lunch (nothing like keeping warm with curry!), and visiting Abashiri's Drift Ice museum (it's not quite the same..) or many other museums. That night saw a football-sized team of us, over 55 in total, taking over the Abashiri Beer Gardens for two hours of all-you-can-yakiniku. After eating our body weight's worth in meat, we headed to Tokoro to party the night away in Caroline’s ‘mansion’.

It’s been a busy past few months; Winter just flew by, it seems! The sun sets later, the snow is melting (in between random spurts of blizzards) and it’s undeniably, no matter how much I try to deny it, turning into Spring. With the imminent changing of the seasons, I’ve been trying to enjoy the remaining days of Winter before it evaporates, leaving the green buds of leaves, blooming flowers, and warmth in its wake. The next few posts are a recap of my Winter adventures over the past few weeks.

Part 1
Winter, as with all seasons, brings a bounty of festivals to Japan. The Japanese love to celebrate, whether the reason is big, small, or made-up, festivals are always great times to see the Japanese at their best. A few came to Hokkaido the past few months, including the biggest and best – Sapporo’s Yuki Matsuri. This year it happened to fall near my birthday (which is on another Japanese holiday, Setsubun). A few days of paid holiday turned a long-weekend into one of the best times I’ve ever had in Japan! I spent this week-long combination Birthday, Yuki Matsuri, and early Valentines weekend in Sapporo with Eliza. She surprised me with a night date up scenic Mt. Moiwa and a flambé-style steak dinner where our meal was cooked right in front of us. The next few days were spent looking at the always-impressive snow and ice sculptures of Yuki Matsuri, then heading to Niseko (where I spent most of my Christmas holidays) for good times with friends and an amazing powder day on the slopes. Upon returning to Sapporo the next day, we immediately went snowboarding again at Mt.Teine (site of the 1972 Winter Olympics) with some Japanese friends of ours. On Valentine’s Day, I took Eliza out for 5-course meal at a French restaurant in Otaru where we had the entire cozy restaurant to ourselves. We strolled along the famous Otaru canal afterwards, taking in all the glowing snow sculptures for the last day of the Otaru Lantern Festivals for a perfect evening to cap off an awesome weekend, and 24th birthday.

I've written before about the Japanese inventing sports and making them "softer" or more easier to play, but there's one sport they've changed and pushed it above and beyond, inventing rules, equipment, and expanding this one-time childhood activity into international winter 'sport'. I have to admit that it's pretty brilliant, and having participated in a tournament last weekend, I'm all for taking it to the Olympics.

I'm talking... snowball fights!

Snowball Fights - or Yukigassen as it's called in Japanese (Yuki=snow, kassen=battle) - has been around in Japan as an organized sport since the 1980's. It started right here in Hokkaido from it's humble beginnings as small town's yearly tourist attraction to a winter activity with an international committee and tournaments held all throughout Japan and countries like Finland, Norway, and Australia. The Yukigassen court is 40m x 10m with small, 1m-tall ice shelters placed strategically throughout the field and a Center-line that separates the two teams' areas.

The two ways to win are by hitting all of the opponent team members (a hit by a snowball anywhere on your body is an out, even if you drop it on yourself or from friendly-fire!) or by pulling the opponents team flag out of its base. Each team only has 90 snowballs for the entire 3-minute round and consists of 7 players, 1 coach, and 2 substitutes. The 7 players are divided into 4 forward players (wearing black-numbered vests) and 3 back players (wearing red-numbered vests). Forward players are not allowed to cross behind Back Line (where the snowballs are) so it's up to the back players to roll or pass the snowballs up to the forward players, who are probably bunkered down behind the shelters. Only 3 team members are allowed in the opponents area (i.e. are allowed to cross the Center line at one time) and having any more is an automatic forfeit. You can check out all the rules on the official Yukigassen website (in English): http://www.yukigassen.jp/english/index.html They've even developed equipment for official Yukigassen tournament play including protective hockey-like helmets, colored vests and a perfectly spherical and oh-so-grippable, 45-at-a-time snowball machine. I seriously want one, but the 73,500yen ($850) price tag per machine is a but of a bummer.

A lot of Yukigassen tournaments are held in Hokkaido around this time of year. Some are local, others are regional, with prize money for the winning team (30,000 yen at the tournament I played at) and a spot to compete at the all-national tournament in Yamanashi prefecture. Glen's town of Kiyosato (up near where I climbed Mt.Shari in the summer) had one of these tournaments and invited us to enter a team of gaijin. So we gathered a group of 8 ALT's and called ourselves the Storm Troopers. All except two of us had never played before but, fortunately, we would be able to watch a few matches before our first one. The matches were pretty.. tame.. to put it politely. They preferred defensive strategies which included a lot of snowball lobbing at the people behind the shelters then staying alive until the clock ran out. We'd worked out a strategy the night before which involved rushing at the opponents flag before they had time to get any snowballs, but we realized the impracticalities of it after seeing our first game (goes to show you shouldn't strategize before ever playing the sport). We decided to scrap our strategy and go free-for-all, balls-to-the-walls, and do our best.


It turned out being the best strategy because we had a blast! We played valiantly and (kind of) aggressively, which I think took the Japanese teams off guard. We had two sets of two matches that day - the first of which we tied then lost, the second of which we lost and lost. Two of those losses were desperate (but successful) dashes by our opponents for our team flag after after we'd shrunk their numbers quite a bit, and the other loss was from an epic one-on-one stand-off with Simon and the remaining member from the other team... ending up with a snowball to Simon's gut. Zannen.

Overall it was a ton of fun, even though we lost horribly (but not by much!). It was the same thrill of exhilaration and satisfaction you got as a kid when you threw a snowball 10 meters and smoked your opponent in the head. Ohh yeah.. Why no one thought of making this a sport before? I have no idea, but I'm bringing Yukigassen to Canada!