We have moved west, back to the ocean, rocky coasts, beaches, kayaks, surfin', hammocks, sandles, jungles, and back to Guesthouse tabi-tabi in Shimoda Izu. Lots of chillers on the coast. Check out how we celebrated 4/20 here.
No reason to worry though. We will be back in Hakuba again before snow falls!
I already have one of these awesome chestpacks from Hobo Greatworks. I use it back-packing and in the back-country. I have the Hobo Pathfinder Mini which fits a 500 ml. bottle of water, my snapshot camera, my phone, and a few snacks. It keeps everything right there in front and within easy reach so I don't need to take off my big pack to get to my basic gear. At the moment they are having a 100% for Tohoku Kanto Charity sale which means all of the money is going to Tohoku relief, not just the profit but everything. So essentially if you donate 5000 yen to the Tohoku Charity through Hobo Greatworks you will get a free bag. Yasu has just ordered one for himself and I am thinking of buying a few gifts for my back-packing friends.....
山=mountain and 菜= vegetable together you have "mountain vegetables" or "sansai" in Japanese. Spring in Nagano means there are mountain vegetables everywhere and wild vegies are not only fun to pick but these forest treats are also very healthy. I picked "chanmerro" from the tabi-tabi grounds then washed these flower-like delicacies, covered them in flour and batter, and deep-fried them into "sansai tempura".
What you need:
canola oil for frying
sansai like fiddleheads and chanmerro
1 cup of flour
1/3 cup of water
1/4 tsp of salt
1 egg
Prepare the tempura batter by mixing the water, flour, and egg. All the ingredients should be chilled, and keep some ice-cubes in the batter when you are cooking to keep the batter cold.
Heat oil in a deep pot. You can test the oil by dropping in a bit of the batter. The batter should bubble and stay on top.
Cover the sansai in flour before dipping them in the tempura batter (water, flour, and egg). Gently drop the sansai in the oil and cook until it starts to brown (2-3 minutes). Take the sansai out and let drain on a paper towel. Salt generously and serve.
We got married last year on April 1st so April Fools is our wedding anniversary! After tying the knot a year ago by handing in some papers to our local town hall we headed off for a romantic night at Chujokan Ryokan at Hoshi Onsen in Gunma prefecture. I have always wanted to visit Hoshi Onsen because our private bath at tabi-tabi was inspired by the enormous wooden baths at Chujokan Ryokan, the builder's favorite onsen.
Hoshi Onsen's famous 1000 man bath tabi-tabi's Private bath
Chujokan was built in 1875 and is considered by many people to be one of the most beautiful ryokan in Japan. I highly recommend it too! The service, the food, the onsens, the location, the history... all was superb! It was so great in fact that we quickly decided that we should treat ourselves to a night at a ryokan on April Fools every year.
This year we stayed in Bessho Onsen at Hanaya Ryokan in Nagano prefecture. Hanaya Ryokan is Japanese by design but is decorated in the wayosechuyoshiki style. Basically "wa" is for "wafu"(or all things Japanese) on "yo" is for "yofu" (all things "yoropean"). Hanaya Ryokan was originally built as someone's private mansion during the Meiji period. It was at this time that Japan opened its doors to the outside world and wealthy people started buying European clocks, lighting. and tableware. Much of which can still be found in historical houses, museums, and antique shops throughout of Japan.
Here are some more pics of the beautiful Hanaya Ryokan:
*click on the pics for larger images in flickr. N~joy!
Although we were free from tsunamis, had plenty of electricity, and only felt one or two shakes from the ongoing earthquakes, the the details of the nuclear power plants were slowly unfolding, gasoline and kerosene supplies were limited, and trains were running off schedule. The situation was constantly changing, and the accounts of what was happening often contradicted each other, depending on which news program, blog, articles, embassy website... we read. Two of our guests were sent tickets from their worried parents and off they went. A few more changed their flights and we decided that it was time for a farewell fundraising nabe.
Yasu did the shopping and the cooking and made 4 pots of kimchi miso nabe for 16 of us. In return we asked everyone to make a donation to a local NGO who would be providing rescue and relief to those in Northern Japan. We were able to raise ¥43,500 at the dinner party. We also donated the money from newly arrived guests and sent a total of $650 to Shapla Neer in Tokyo.
It felt great to DO something. We had all been a bit nervous, confused, stressed, worried, frustrated... from watching the news. Making the effort to make a change relieved a lot of anxiety. I also went to Hakuba City Hall to find out what else I could do. They provided me with a list of goods that were needed up north and in the shelters and I sent ¥9000 of feminine hygiene products to help out some of the women who couldnt get to a drugstore to pick up their monthly needs.
If you are troubled but what you see on television I highly recommend you DO something as well. If you can't physically be there to make the change than support those who are there by donating some money. Every little bit helps. A dear friend I lived with when I first moved to Japan has been making cute skirts for kids for the cause.
Her made in California Hana Skirts are for sale here on etsy and modelled on her Fru-t blog.
If the skirts are a bit too girly or not quite your size, check out these charitable trousers from betabrand, Japants:
Here are some other links to Japanese and international organizations providing aid in Japan:
American Red Cross
Canpan Fields (Japanese NPO)
Save the Children
Non-Believers Giving Aid (scroll down the page for Japan earthquake relief)
NGO Jen (in English and Japanese)
International Medical Corps
Association of Medical Doctors in Asia Shapla Neer Japanese Red Cross
If you are not in the mood to donate to the victims of the 3-11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, then I suggest seeking out another cause. There are plenty of people, places, and creatures, on this beautiful planet that could use some help.
We woke up to 30 cm of fresh pow and sunshine on March 11. Yasu and I headed up to Goryu for fresh tracks and then headed back to tabi-tabi to make the switch from snowboards to our yuki-ita. Just as we were about the head out, Amir and Aisa arrived from Tokyo and decided to join us for a bindingless boarding challenge.
Once on the board they became instant yuki-ita fans. We got plenty of fresh lines, and a lot more laughs. Aisa remembers the ground moving once when we were there but thought it was just the Chu-hi (Japanese sho-chu and soda in a can) hitting her. We had plenty of fun until our stomachs grumbled and decided it was time for some local soba (buck-wheat noodle soup). I stepped into the restaurant first and noticed everyone glued to the television. Had a look myself but couldn't make any sense of it. Yasu came in, had a look, and said, "Tsunami!". We instantly lost our appetite and started making calls to all those people we thought might be affected but almost all the lines were dead or busy.
We frantically returned home, started watching the news for updates, and continued making calls. Eventually friends and family were all accounted for but on the news the scenes of destruction and death tolls continued to rise and rise. Amir went back to Tokyo on Sunday and called us when he got back. All seemed OK but there was very little food in the supermarket, and absolutely no rice to be found. "We'll send you some!" but turned out courier services weren't making deliveries to Tokyo.
Hakuba got a 40 cm dump while Yasu and I were thigh deep in flowers on the other side of Japan. Read about it here
After surfing pow on my new Yuki-ita, we were itching to see some waves so off to the ocean we went:
It felt great to stretch our eyes out to the horizon:
When in Japan, especially when you are near the ocean, do as the Japanese do, and feast on some seafood!Nihon-kai (The Japanese sea) is said to bear some of the best delicacies,because of its frigid temperatures fish are fattier, and therefore even tastier. This is a great fish market along the west coast of Japan:
With so much choice we had a lot of trouble choosing:
Eventually we went with this HUGE buri (yellowtail) for only 1500 yen:
and the friendly fish butcher cleaned it up for us at no charge:
when we got home Yasu made Buri Shabu Shabu:
There is always powder somewhere..... so back on the road we went. It was a beautiful sunny day for a drive and the size of the snowbanks on the mountain roads looked very promising:
Had an great day on the mountain and even spotted an smokin' volcano:
As usual Yasu brought his best powder boards including my new yuki-ita, the one and only, Super Fabulous! "yuki" means snow and "ita" means board. There is currently a bit of an underground scene happening and more and more lovers of pow are unstrapping their bindings, dropping their factory made branded boards and switching to handmade, bindingless, planks perfect for a more natural surfer's high!
Today we met a lot of other like-minded snowsurfers from Toyama:
Yoroshiku!
Woke up at 5 and 8 of us were on the road by 6.
We drove for 2 hours through the Japanese countryside:
and snowy mountain roads:
then found powder paradise:
Needless to say, we were pretty excited:
We showed our appreciation and worshipped the Goddess of snow by spreading her offerings around ... until we couldn't take anymore and partook in the ritual of bathing in thermal waters granted to us by mother earth.
We were then blessed with more offerings from the sea as we filled up on sushi:
tabi-tabi guests Ray and G from Operation Backpack Asia, Yasu and myself drove around the backstreets looking for the best (worst?) rental shops with the meanest gear and got ourselves hooked up with 7 matching 80s appeal one pieces. Sarah and Andy of Snow Season Japan did all the work behind the scenes and organized yet another super fluoro night at Tracks Bar here in Goryu.
Here are just a couple of us getting ready to head out:
Andy and Alastair representing tabi-tabi won a huge bottle of local sake in the Fluruo Fancy Dance off:
Lodge tabi-tabi staff, Yosuke from Tokyo, has been eager to teach some Japanese cooking to our international guests. Tony (a returning guest from Australia) is a big fan of okonomiyaki and had fun learning how to make this simple Japanese dish at home.
What you need:
The topping:
bonito flakes, okonomiyaki sauce, and mayonnaise
Making okonomiyaki is easy! Just put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Next, pour the batter into a heated and oiled frypan. Cook for 3 minutes than flip. Cook for another 3 minutes and flip again and cook for a final 3 minutes. Toss the Okonomiyaki onto a plate and top with okonomiyaki sauce, bonito flakes (katsuoboshi), and mayonnaise (preferable the Japanese kind). Cut into bite sized pieces and enjoy!
Before eating, Japanese people say, "itadakimasu!".
Had a pretty lazy day. First the snowplow came and once I was paid up and able to get out of the driveway I dropped off 6 adrenaline seeking guests at Kashimayari Resort. Everyone was excited to hit some kickers, attempt the impossible, and fall into the safety of a giant airbag.
You can see what I am talking about here:
Spent the rest of the day organizing, working on our new website, teaching English to our staff, and will end the day with some yoga. There is a great online yoga site a fellow friend and snowboarder turned me onto a few years ago. They have enough streaming videos with different levels and kinds of yoga, health tips, and recipes to keep you blissing out forever. My guru? My method? My teacher? My yoga online.com!
Namaste,
a
Woke up to sunshine and got a call from K so got geared up and off we went, first to drop off a car and then to pick up J. It was really blustery at the top so we didn't hike for long, scoped our lines and down we went. Conditions were far from ideal. We dealt with windcrust, raincrust, chunky debris, and ice. Got in only a few nice turns in powder. Great views, a dose of vitamin D, and a good catch up with friends made it all worth it anyway.
Actually the morning started at the doctor's office. There is a great sports clinic in Nagano city that uses their own (painful) version of osteopathy to get people back on their feet as quickly as possible. I have been going there twice a week for the last 3 weeks to treat a bad knee from a snowboarding injury. Yasu came along to have his back adjusted as well. Walked out of there stronger, staighter, and ready for another onsen. Not far from Nagano city is an old town famous for temples, pottery, and.... onsen. We have been to Matsushiro Onsen before and have recommended their rich yellow waters to friends and other lovers of onsen.
The place we chose was new, and big. I suspect it's government run and felt a bit like a hospital or "silver house" (retirement home). Lots of baths; indoor, outdoor, hot and cold. Plenty of space for everyone seeking a relaxing soak in iron rich waters.
With so many bathers about I couldn't take any pics so I have added a photo of their flyer.
