Random Thoughts

Still trying to catch up with the blogging, but despite or perhaps because of, the fact that the snow conditions are not with us there's a lot happening and there surprisingly not that much time write stuff down.

Also, maybe the miserable state of Internet service at the hotels and the absolutely freezing temperatures in common areas where there's sometimes a wee bit of WiFi available has something do to with it. And the lack of chairs and tables. Oh well, I'll just have to learn to work the computer without Internet, in triple fleece, long johns, mittens and a beanie sitting on the floor. Working on it.

I did get a bit of me-time by chance the other day when the Active Ski-guests were off on adventures of their own.

Some time with me in the sun!

Another day we did a trip to the Nozawa Fire Festival, which features a huge pyre built during the fall, where the villagers 42 year olds sit singing defiant songs, while the villages 25 year olds defend them against the rest of the villagers who are trying really hard to set the whole thing on fire. For real.

First some fireworks.

It's really of course only men who are part of the action, although a few women were active as drummers at the start.

You could feel the drums in your entire body!

Did I mention that they all where totally wasted on Sake? When I say wasted, I really, really mean it. But they still held it together, although I fear quite a few of the guys have some more or less minor wounds here and there and are pretty sore the day after.

Trying really hard to burn the guys sitting on top.

There's a zillion things to say about the fire festival, about the why and the how etc. However the most lasting memory this year was the fact that they actually failed to set the thing on fire by 2200 which was when the bus back to Myoko left. We never got to see the climax of the whole thing!

The day after, the guests at least found some snow though, so that was nice!

It may not be epic Japow, but still pretty good!