Christmas in Japan - Niseko

On Christmas Eve morning, we took the express train from Kyoto Station back to Kansai International Airport in Osaka to fly north to Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. We had plenty of time at the airport before our flight departed so we checked out the shopping scene. Specifically I was looking for some kind of chocolate treat to take with me on the 2-hour flight. It's the first time I've ever been at an international airport and not been able to find that. At a gift shop, I could buy a 9-inch chocolate tart, presumably to share with my entire family, but that's not really the portion I wanted. Otherwise all I saw were mysterious concoctions and in typical Japanese fashion, all the food had little plastic displays to show you what was inside the package. The sales pitch didn't entice me. Here were some of my choices:

 Not tempted by the olive green eggs

 Strawberry yogurt sandwich, anyone?

Would you buy something with that face?

I did end up buying a small package of Oreos near the checkout counter and considered that a success compared to my other options. So, if you're a chocoholic like myself traveling to Japan, plan accordingly! Brian made fun of me for taking pictures of the airport food and compared me to the Japanese tourists who snap pictures in our grocery stores.

When writing about Japan being advanced in my last post, I completely forgot to mention the toilets. Our tour guide in Kyoto provided a valuable tip to always look for the handicapped stalls in the restrooms because they would be Western-style toilets. Otherwise, it's 50/50 on finding that or the squatter-style instead. I still have no clue how women can actually use those and I hope I'm never in the situation where I am forced to figure it out.

And I can't imagine passing up a Western toilet in Japan because they have more features than I normally encounter on such a basic device. They offer a self-cleaning function for the seat, the seats are actually heated (a nice feature in cold climates!) along with at least 3 different buttons on the side that offer different "cleaning" options for your backside. And nearly every restroom I entered had one stall with a child seat fixed on the wall of the stall where you could restrain your toddler while you do your business. I would have appreciated that feature when I had to constantly sanitize a curious youngster who insisted on touching every surface in a public restroom. I was impressed by the Japanese toilets.

Our flight on All Nippon Airways went smoothly and we arrived in Sapporo just before 4pm. It was snowing outside and the sun was already setting. Welcome to winter! The girls were ecstatic to see snow. They were so excited that when our shuttle bus stopped at the halfway point on our 2-hour drive to Niseko, Megan jumped out and ran full speed into a 2-foot tall snow bank. Never mind that she was wearing tennis shoes and jeans.We explained that it was probably better to wait until wearing proper snow gear before burying themselves in the white powder. It was fun to witness their excitement though!

We arrived at our serviced apartment in Hirafu Village around dinnertime and I can't even recall what we ate for Christmas Eve dinner but I know it involved potato chips and bread. We rented a 2-bedroom condo at Powder Tracks and had chosen that particular unit based on its location in the village. It proved to be a great home base to reach the slopes and the restaurants in town. And after sharing one hotel room for 4 nights, we enjoyed having more space. Unfortunately it took 2 days to get a space heater for our living room to make it cozy and warm but otherwise it was a nice place.

There are plenty of ski resorts in Japan and we chose Niseko because friends who had skied up there recommended it as a nice place for Westerners. Niseko was developed by Australians so there were plenty of English-speaking folks to teach ski school and assist us with all the transactions required during a ski vacation. Nearly every time I picked up the phone to call locally, the person who answered was inevitably an Aussie named Ben. I'm not kidding. I started to wonder if there was just one guy named Ben who ran the town switchboard.

The girls went to bed Christmas Eve hopeful that Santa would find them in their new location and he did not disappoint. When they woke up on a snowy Christmas morning, they were delighted to find stockings overflowing with goodies from St. Nick. And yes, Megan received her beloved iPod Touch she wanted so badly. :) The girls were all pleased with their loot and spent the morning playing with new toys before we got all bundled up to play in the snow. First, we got our ski equipment, which was fun because the guy at the ski shop measured Elizabeth and Emily's feet and declared them to be the smallest feet he had ever fitted for ski boots. They did have some that worked well enough and just looking at skis for a 3-year old made me laugh because they were adorable.

Our First View of Niseko on Christmas Morning

Daddy-Powered Sledding on Christmas

After paying for their ski school for the following morning, the girls played in the snow and found a red sled that provided plenty of amusement. Brian later bought 2 sleds and we used them for play and to transport Emily and Elizabeth up and down the hill to the ski slopes during our trip. Our condo property managers offered a ski valet service so we were able to store our skis and boots at the bottom of the slopes, allowing us to easily make the 5-10 minute walk without all our gear so that was a nice amenity. Of course, Brian would want to add that it was a great idea until the valet gave his skis to the wrong person one morning...

Spending Christmas away from home provided me the unexpected benefit of altering my expectations for the day. At home I would have wanted to cook a big breakfast and prepare a nice meal later in the day. I had no desire to attempt that in Japan and instead spent the day playing and lounging. I loved being in a beautiful place, enjoying the snow with my family. It was a relaxing, simple Christmas.

On Sunday morning we took the 3 girls to ski school and they were placed in groups according to age. Once they were all settled in, Brian and I took to the slopes for the first time in roughly 11 years. I'm not a huge fan of skiing but it was fun to ski in the fresh powder that had been falling from the time we arrived 2 days earlier. Thankfully we never felt cold but visibility was challenging at times. Overall I think we did well for how long it had been since we last skied and we each had the experience of skiing off the path just a little too far into deep powder. It's not easy to get out of that situation but Brian provided memorable entertainment with his "inchworm" maneuver! I know I missed some good Kodak moments that day simply because I didn't want to take my hands out of my warm gloves.

 On the snowy slopes

 I had forgotten the beauty of a blanket of snow

 Emily the munchkin at ski school

 Elizabeth practices her ski technique while Emily waits her turn

 Elizabeth

 Megan about to ski down the bunny slope while Dad observes

Snow!

We checked on the girls' progress periodically and all three were doing very well in their respective groups. Megan was cautious but I figured she would catch on quickly. Elizabeth seemed more in control than most of the other kids and Emily was just downright funny to observe. When a 3-year old fell over with skis, they apparently decided it's not even worth trying to get back up again and instead lay in the snow until the instructor propped them back up again. After lunch, I made a couple more runs down the mountain and then sat indoors where I could watch the girls at ski school with a cup of mocha. It was exactly the day I wanted on the slopes. Unfortunately it was the only day I would have that experience.

Elizabeth caught Megan's cold while we were in Kyoto and it seemed mild until Sunday night. She coughed most of the night and I suspected she would not get better until we gave her some good medicine. So, Monday morning began with my call to the Concierge (can you guess his name?) to find out about seeing a doctor. He recommended a trip into the next town to visit the hospital because they had an English translator on staff. So, Elizabeth and I spent almost 4 hours at the hospital. As it turns out, a translator was quite important, mostly because I would not have understood the dosage of her medicine.

It's humbling to enter a building where you have no clue where to begin because all the signs are in Japanese. Of course, it was obvious we were foreigners and they immediately contacted the translator, who Elizabeth thought was "handsome." The doctor and I did pretty well conversing with gestures and bits of English and he prescribed typical cold medicine and an antibiotic to help clear her lungs. The unusual part was that we received 30 little powder packets of this stuff that I had to mix with apple juice or water to give to Elizabeth. That part required some translation so I understood just how much liquid to give her and the dosages for both. Our entire bill with medicine included totaled about $100 USD with no insurance discount provided, which seemed pretty cheap to me. Thankfully Elizabeth was on the mend soon after starting the antibiotic but she was never well enough to return to ski school. Lesson learned: don't prepay for ski school if you have the option.

The one bright spot to Monday was that after snowing for 2 full days, we were greeted with sunshine when we woke up that morning. And we were surprised to see we had a nice view of Mount Yotei!

Blue Skies Reveal Mount Yotei

By Monday evening, I was mentally exhausted from my introduction to Japanese health care. We had made a reservation ahead of time for babysitting that night and that ended up being good timing because dinner out with my husband was exactly what I needed. We put the girls to bed and our Aussie sitter arrived to watch them for a few hours.

Brian and I opted to try a sushi restaurant just down the road. I'm not a big fan of sushi but Brian likes it and I have no problem finding items I like on most menus. In a snowy climate, cold fish lost any appeal it ever had with me and I went with tempura prawns instead. Brian ordered assorted sushi and enjoyed it, aside from one fish he nicknamed "Ship Channel" because of its wretched taste. We stopped in an Irish pub after dinner and it was a fun evening in town.

Tuesday was our last full day in Niseko so Brian took Megan on the ski slopes that morning and she did very well for a child who had never seen skis until two days earlier! Elizabeth had more energy so we had a lunch outing at a cute cafe in town. Emily finished up her ski school where her instructors were pleased she had learned how to snow plow.

Megan held her own on the slopes :)

I took an hour that afternoon for my first onsen experience. The Japanese onsens are basically bath houses built over natural hot springs. I had heard about them before making the trip and understood there were certain rules to be followed when entering an onsen. I walked up our street to try a small hotel's onsen. I paid 600 yen (about $8 US) and the nice woman at the desk told me I needed to cross the lobby, place my boots in a locker and wear the slippers I would find in the locker to enter the onsen. I followed her instructions, only to enter the onsen and immediately find another locker in front of me where I was supposed to store my slippers and retrieve a different pair of bath slippers. I had walked about 50 yards and already had stored two different pairs of footwear. It seemed like overkill but I was too intrigued to turn back at this point. Around the corner, I found the dressing area where I needed to remove all my clothes and I had read ahead of time that it was okay to bring a "modesty" towel with me to the bath but it should just be the size of a hand towel. I couldn't see how that was going to make me feel better but I brought it along anyway.

Before entering the hot bath, I had to shower thoroughly and I loved this part because there were about 12 "stations" similar to what you would find at a hair salon, where I sat on a small seat and showered in front of a mirror. They provided all the toiletries one could want and I must say it's the first time I've sat in front of a vanity mirror while showering. I felt like I was in a shampoo commercial. It's important to completely remove any trace of soap before entering the bath so when I was squeaky clean I walked outdoors to enter the bath. The air temperature was just below freezing so that hot water felt especially nice. I was thankful there were only a couple other women in a fairly large area so I could keep to myself and not feel self-conscious. Thank goodness modern-day onsens are separate for men and women. I stayed in the bath for 10 to 15 minutes with snow falling and a nice view of Mount Yotei in the distance. I also discovered I could see the nearby chair lift and trusted it was easier to see out from the covered onsen area than to see into it. My first onsen experience was incredibly relaxing and definitely my best bargain of the trip.

Wednesday morning we took all three girls to play in the snow since Elizabeth was feeling better. They had a great time with the sled and digging in the snow at the children's play area near the ski slope.

 Elizabeth Feeling Better

We Love Snow!

Unfortunately it was time to leave the winter wonderland to begin our long voyage back to the tropics. We left at 11am to head back to the Sapporo airport and didn't arrive back in Singapore until 5am the following day, with only a 1-hour time difference between the two places. Flying overnight in economy class was every bit as awful as it sounds and I was relieved to arrive back at Changi airport. As soon as we got home, we opened presents from family so that was a nice way to end our holiday travels.

Belated Christmas at Home

I would recommend a trip to Japan to just about anyone because despite the language barrier, we found it easy to get around, the people were kind, it was a beautiful country and it was a clean, safe environment with our children. Singapore is known as "Asia Light" but I would say that Japan would also be a good first Asian experience because it offers more history and culture. I could easily be talked into returning someday and with how well our entire family enjoyed the snow, hopefully we will hit the slopes again before another decade passes.