JAPAN – A TALE OF TWO TRIPS
Christy

Niseko is on Japan’s northern island, Hokkaido, just south of Siberia. Visitors flock to Niseko, the island’s largest ski area, because of the 48 feet of snow that blesses the area each year. Kerri and I usually heli-ski together in British Columbia — so we love powder! Niseko did not disappoint.
It snowed almost constantly during our visit bringing almost a foot of new snow to the upper levels of the mountain every day. We avoided the marked runs and instead headed for the trees and numerous boundary gates the lead us to endless light powder. Often, our last run of the day was as good as our first run.


While Christy was playing in the snow on the north island, the boys explored Jay’s old haunts on the main island.
The Boys
After seeing Christy off to the airport bus, the boys (Jay, Luke, Ryan and Milton) headed into Tokyo to check out the sites there. After a stop at a ramen shop and a quick visit in Akihabara, the electronics district, we continued on our way to the January Sumo Tournament! Despite living for six years in Japan and watching numerous events on TV, Jay had never actually been to a sumo tournament in person. We arrived on the final day of the tournament so it was a perfect opportunity to share sumo with the family. And it was an historic ending to the Tournament as we were present to see the first victory in ten years for a Japanese wrestler, after ten years of domination by Mongolian-born wrestlers.

From there it was off to dinner at a tonkatsu restaurant before returning to the ship in Yokohama. It was a relief for Jay to feel his Japanese skills come back day by day and be able to get around Japan easily. As we start to head to other countries, travel will get a little more difficult as we don’t know the languages!

The following day turned into a marathon train day – covering 8 or 9 trains – on our way back to Kobe through Iga-Ueno. As part of the memory tour of Japan, Jay took the boys (including Grandpa) back to the hometown of his favorite student, near where he taught English in Mie. Mrs. Ito had become his “Japanese Mom” and he even stayed with her and her family for a few months during his time living in Japan. They had stayed in touch for several years but it had been a long time since Jay had been in contact with her or her family.

We spend our final day in Kobe, tooling around the city on an eating and shopping tour. In just four hours, we managed to find some good bargains and fit in ramen and the famed Kobe beef. Overall, our Japan stop was a great opportunity to reconnect with a country we had all been to before, and to explore some new activities like sumo and skiing. A good time was had by all!
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RIP Itsu Ito |