Our first 3 nights were spent in snowy Hakuba in Nagano prefecture, some 4.5 hrs car ride northwest of Tokyo... We were blessed with clear skies and lots of sunshine the first day; and cloudy skies but lotsa snow on the second. While it was nice to have clear skies and sunshine; it was certainly a lot more exhilarating/ fun skiing while snowing... There was so much fresh soft snow on 2nd day that our skis got stuck in piles of snow when making our way down the bunny slopes.. And I finally got the hang of skiing this time round! (after a whole morning/ afternoon of falls on the first day though)
Hakuba Yamano hotel - situated right beside a ski jump stadium
Peek of ski jump stadium from hotel balcony... cannot imagine how anyone can do the real thing. I will settle for the Wii version anytime heh.
Took our meals mostly at the hotel; cos we were too lazy and cold to go wander else :P Hearty breakfast to start the day! but the sunny-side ups didn't want to be eaten and made a face.
a healthy dinner of shabu shabu...