Snow Much Fun

I missed my post last night.  This is because I fell asleep on my daughter's head while kissing her goodnight.  It happens sometimes.  My partner woke me up four hours later to tell me I was using my child's ear as a pillow.  Oh, and also to tell me that we were in fact, leaving the next day, instead of the day after, as we'd originally thought.  So, after shouting it out from the rooftops to you all,  I broke one of my most important rules of travel.  "Always completely pack the night before".  I now have to change it to "Always pack the night before the night before" - just in case you get the day wrong.

I had a big bag of washing - mainly wee-soaked ski pants and leggings - again! (my children's not mine OK) that I now knew had to be done that night.  I just couldn't bring myself to do it though.  It would have involved getting up into the cold, putting on the stylish vinyl slippers they provide, shuffling down two flights of stairs, through three corridors, out the back of the inn and through two rooms filled with unused gimmick exercise equipment (the owner must be one of those late night infomerical shoppers), down a final steep flight, past dusty books and into the spooky basement.  I don't know if anyone has see the original Japanese "The Grudge" (why are the Asian horror films so much more scary?) - but I was sure that lady with the broken neck was going to reach for my ankle while I was bundling urine garments in the washing machine and trying to work out which button said "start".

However, instead, I just rolled off Cordelia into my own cosy futon - muttered "oh no" and went back to sleep 'til the second one jumped on my head at 6.45am. That's a great thing about sleeping on futons.  You don't have to get out of bed and plod into the next room, you just roll straight into the next bed.  The trouble is you do hear every noise they make - that's where ear plugs come in handy (another fabulous invention), plus your head is at their feet level. The washing could wait - as this did post.

It meant though, we couldn't get on the snow today.  I'm not sure if I properly made the most of it yesterday.  I regret now forcing my partner to ride through the trees into a frozen river bed where we got stuck and had to walk out for 45 mins.  I think I'm a really crap person to snowboard with.  I am bossy, always want to choose the runs, get impatient when I'm forced to wait and sook when I'm left behind.  I complain constantly about my cold feet and tight boots, or how hot I am and how my bindings are too loose.  Yet, I have no empathy for the open gash my partner's new boots have left on his shin. Well, it may not be a comfortable sport, but it sure is a fun one.  And it's good to know that you can still do it with small children - even in Japan.

You have to do your research though.  First, find places that have day-care.  There are many.  Most places only take children who are a year old, but there are some that can accept children from six months (I can provide a list if people are interested).  Most of the daycare ladies don't speak much English - but with a lot of smiling and a bit of gesture you can communicate anything.  Except stock cubes.  My friend once tried to ask where chicken stock cubes were in the supermarket.  Apparently the flapping and drawing a square in the air made the supermarket staff think she was looking for square eggs.  A small crowd gathered around her little charade in hysterics.
There's always ski school too.  This doesn't start until three years old typically, but private lessons are possible.  They are pretty expensive though, so unless you really want to get your kids on the snow young, daycare is the cheaper option.

They often have kids snow park facilities at Japanese resorts.  Play equipment, mini jumping castles, toboggan riding and a "tube course"  This was all going sweet the other day, until my daughter's tube bounced over a small wall and collected a twelve year old.  It did not go down well at all.  The girl was howling and clutching her arm.  Her mother was stony faced, her father was embracing her repeating over and over "Are you OK, Are you OK?".  My fumbling Japanese "sorry's" and "excuse me"s were not cutting the mustard.  I came to the conclusion that their child was a big sook and her parents pathetic, and decided not to care.  Valentina was unfazed - and she was the one who'd had a twelve year old land on her head.

These things happen.  It just confirms the Japanese opinion that Westerners are big barbarian oafs that break everything and don't care.  It's probably true.

My most favourite resort in Japan is called Rusutsu (try saying that twenty times).  It's like a Disneyland on Ice type of set up.  So, fantastic for kids.  There's an amusement park - it only operates in summer, but skiing under a snow covered roller coaster is pretty cool; a full-sized (imported from Germany) old-fashioned carousel in the lobby; a monorail; a wave pool; a water slide; a giant mechanical dog band (who doesn't need one of those) - called Daniel and The Dixie Diggers;  a German beer hall - this one has a giant mechanical bear band and mechanical beer wench lead singer.  There's all-you-can-eat crab in every restaurant, and help-yourself soft-serve ice cream machines.  I haven't even mentioned the snow, but in all honesty when you've got a giant mechanical dog band playing tunes form the old south 24 hours a day, like "Dixieland" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" who needs half a metre of fresh powder daily?

Today we're off to the next resort - if there's no monorail I'm going home........