Hakuba 1

First day at Hakuba.

It feels a lot like Threadbo. None of the super powder snow that I'd expected. 

We made our way down to the drying room and swapped our house slippers for ski boots. I inadvertently put my gloves on top of a locker and they feel in.  There's a hole in the top of each locker to accommodate long skiis.  I went upstairs to get my second pair and wrote a note that I dropped into the offending locker. While I was upstairs my phone rang and it was Phoebe who'd forgotten her helmet.  Turned out i had too.

Reconvened in the ski room.  I dropped my note into the locker. 

Henry and I walked with Phoebe to "Evergreen " ski school.  Left Phoebe to work out where her lesson started from. H & F went down the hill and obtained the ski passes. 

Hakuba skiing is included in our Australian epic pass.  We had to show a screen shot of our epic pass and our drivers licence. 

The day started hot and sunny. I wore my sunnies and no gloves. Jacket unzipped. 

Phoebe went off on her adventure. 

Henry located two of his friends and we spent the day skiing.  Another two joined us at lunch line after their morning lesson. 

Dinner at a less than impressive Cafe:

Dinner experience:

Order via a machine. 

We did not feel relaxed. It was jump up and grab a plate. Then jump again...

Some dishes were just microwave reheat and not very hot and concern about salmonella. 

TUE 17 Tokyo - Nagano - Hukuba

Henry arrived at our hotel and we bought him breakfast. 

Walked together to Tokyo station and he navigated the ticket machine. The next two trains had no seats and the 10:33 only had non reserved seats and we bought three of those. 

Platform 23 car 4. There were two places to queue. One for the next train and one for the train after. 

We noted that every seat is taken and by the second stop, the isle is full of standing passengers. 

I think if one is going for non reserved seating, only do it off boarding at Tokyo.

War museum

We visited a war museum. It was within the grounds of a Shinto memorial. 

Multiple feelings. Gave a deep perspective to the Japanese psychi and history.  They don't refer to World War Two. It's the "Greater East Asian War".  

Photos were not allowed in most of it and in a way one didn't want to take photos.   The loss of human life in War seems so pointless.  Many of the plaques told stories of individual courage ending in death. 

Easy to take photos of military hardware as that does not depict personal grief.

Teamlab Planets

Team lab planets

An amazing immersive interactive art installation. 

So glad Phoebe had brought the premium pass.  There was a huge queue for the plebs entrance. 

We had to remove shoes and roll up our pant legs. 

First bit walking up a corridor ankle deep in water with a super strong smell of chlorine. 

The soft undulating floor challenged ones balance.

A whole lot of infinity

Dual Phoebe's

Look in the background, Two more of us. 

Water and light

Tokyo burbs

Today we took a break from organised or deep scheduled touristing and took a train ride out of town. The idea being to see if we could find the burbs. 

Walked to the main station and took a train.  We had to change at Wakoshi so figured we'd get out and have a walk. 

It being morning tea time we went in search of coffee. Found a quaint little coffee shop.  Some hand waving and a lot of nodding and we managed to order coffee and cake and later added a plate of mince and rice with another coffee. 

While Phoebe gushed over the decor, I admired the wiring. 

walking further up the street, we came to a large park. Lots of families had set up tents like we do at the beach. There were kids and dogs and a lot of dads. 

Walking back and we found a supermarket. 

Brocoli was AU$1.69

I note woolies Oxley has it at $6.90/kg. I'll have to weigh a piece when I get home. 

Off the train at Kayagoe.

Walked up this road

And back at night. 

Dinner at a Japanese Cafe that looked like Korean BBQ. The table had a BBQ plate and the staff cooked in front of us. 

Walking home from the railway.  This is our street