Hakuba and the Onsen Monkeys

One of my favourite things about Japan is that the ski slopes here are very accessible. From Gotemba you can drive a few hours north and be among the beautiful Northern Alps in Nagano. I usually go to Hakuba, which is where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held. I am definitely not an expect skier but I have been getting better and as long as I keep to the green slopes I'm safe and happy! This is my friend and I enjoying a great day skiing.

There are many great things to do in Nagano apart from skiing. For example, visiting the onsen snow monkeys, which is what I did on my last trip. It has been a dream of mine to visit these monkeys since I watched them on David Attenborough's program, Planet Earth. I think they are incredibly human-like and they remind of old men relaxing by a fire. They were very interesting to watch so I took a lot of pictures. Here is a selection of them below.

We where able to stand really close and they didn't seem to notice us there. This little boy was enchanted by them, so cute!

To get to the monkeys we had to walk for about 20 minutes through the forest. It was beautiful and still because of the snow, we all said it felt like we were in a scene from Norwegian Wood.

Skiing in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture

I had a very exciting weekend this weekend. I went to Hakuba in Nagano to go skiing. I have been skiing once before, in France about 4 years ago but I didn’t take lessons so I wasn’t very good. I was nervous about going again but I decided that I should take lessons this time.

On the first day myself and seven other ALT’s from Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures took a lesson together. It went really well and I realise that I remembered a lot from the last time.

There were some tumbles and we stayed to the lower slopes but visibility wasn’t good at the top so we enjoyed our day.

On the second day I only had time to ski in the morning and a friend who is good at skiing said he would take me to the top. I was a little scared because when I went to the top of the mountain in France I lost my confidence and couldn’t ski. However, this was a much better experience, I was able to ski and didn’t crash! It was a great experience and I was so proud I survived at the top, I can’t wait to go again.