Mish* Mash*

Mish-ap, Mish-andle

First up, the annual Miss Universe pageant blurb. The glorious spectacle is back on, this time in the Bahamas (or should it be "at the Bahamas". I'm bad with prepositions and happy to be corrected).

This year, the nod goes to Miss Japan aka Emiri Miyasaka and her national costume, or rather the lack thereof. The term 'national costume' has always been subject to liberal interpretations. For example, this year's Miss Ireland sashayed across the room in an Irish outfit consisting of a bikini and stiletto heels. The artistic touch was in the leprechaun hat which was nicely accessorised with the symbol of Ireland - the shamrock. Deep. In fact, she could have re-used her national costume in the swimsuit competition, but she would have to lose the pièce de résistance - the shamrock hat.

Miss Japan 2009's imagination was not to be outdone by Miss Ireland - have a look at this rocking outfit:



Apart from the obvious connection between the kimono and the land of the rising sun, I'm not sure that I see the relevance of pink stockings, pink panties, a garter belt and a come-hither, open-wide designed kimono. They could have at least made the stockings/panties polka dot red/white.


Mash, Mash-ed, Mash-ed Up

Plenty of mashed-up limbs and weary bodies after a impulsive day trip to Thredbo on Monday. Worse for the wear was Wayne who dislocated his wrist and duly ripped the ligament in his wrist after this attempt:

More mashed-up, unsightly fat bruised fingers after our basketball semi finals win (by a mere point). I suspect that my co-ordination is starting to decrease exponentially as I sail into the decade that shall not be mentioned.

Mish Mash

With all this pontification and lack of action on climate change, we might have to take actions in our own hands. Two brilliant ideas for your consideration - the first relatively is easy, the second requires a bit more forethought.
1. Peeing in the shower - saves on toilet paper too (Brazilian initiative)
2. Recycling metal parts salvaged from the dead, and/or recycling crematorium heat (Danish initiative).

Farewell Japan

On packed Jet-frills flight.

Destination: Sydney.

Holidays always feel so short lived.

I have my hotel slippers, a chicken-o nigiri and Splash (the movie) which should just about get me through the next 8 hours.

Farewell splendid Japan.


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Osaka Fun

Today's agenda consisted of:

• Suntory Museum
• Kaiyukan Aquarium
  

Suntory Museum was a mild disappointment - no Bill Murray, nor whiskey caskets. The building itself was quite impressive. As a precursor to the aquarium, we also treated ourselves to an IMAX movie - Deep Sea. Tell you what, 3D movies are hard-going on your eyes. Most of us managed to catch a few winks during the show.

The aquarium was very impressive. Interesting fact: the total quantity of glass in the aquarium outweighs the world's annual output by a factor of 1.5. The place was massive and the variety of marine life was extraordinary.

Tried my luck on a 200 yen anpanman machine. It must have been my lucky day because I scored the JACKPOT!

We also browsed around in Bic Camera and guess who I saw on TV...

Last Stop: Osaka

We made a pit stop at Matsumoto Castle, in city of Matsumoto. The 600 yen entry fee convinced us to skimp on cultural enlightenment and eat some Mos Burger instead.

A few shinkansens later, we arrived in (rainy) Osaka.

We checked into Dotonbori Hotel, conveniently located in the middle of Namba and also near a restaurant called "the sex machine".

We then made a bee line to the all-you-can-eat sushi place we found last year. Food babies all around ... *belch*

Sayonara Shiga Kogen and Snow

We begin our journey back to convict land via Osaka. We are currently on a bus (not a genki bus) that is gently meandering down the mountain towards Nagano Station.

We spent the day riding at another mountain - Yokoteyama - home of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics Alpine Course. Yokoteyama is situated on the other side of the main mountain but remains part of Shiga Kogen.

The landscape and scenary at Yokoteyama was breathtaking. It was almost as if someone splashed a gargantuan bucket of thick white paint and then froze time and physics at the point of impact. The trees looked like cauliflowers, and the buildings looked like replicas from Krypton (in the Christopher Reeves version of Superman and assuming that there are buildings on Krypton).

It was simply spectacular ... despite the malodorous chemical fumes (mixture of egg and fart) that radiated from the onsens. At first I thought it was our heavy breakfast (someone did eat THREE eggs that morning), but when it stuck around like a bad smell (heh), the blame quickly shifted to non-human causes.

Minutes away from Nagano Station now ...


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Random Photos - An Assortment

We are totally doing the dodgy and watching the Federer vs. Nadal match online in the lobby of the hotel (internet only available in the lobby). Let's hope this place has no data cap ...

Some choice photos of Shiga Kogen below:

Some choice photos of the snow monkeys at Yamanouchi Town (at the bottom of the moutain) below. "Cleats" were optional shoe accessories. Good for traction, no good for white shoes or jeans (they created a Pro Heart effect on the back of jeans).

Ureshii Times

It was ureshii times on the mountain today. What seemed like buckets of dry snow followed us around (at times aggressively) the entire day. To illustrate the point, there was enough volume and force behind the snowflakes to achieve the improbable: travel up my small nostrils. Bearing in mind my small Asian nostrils and the fact that I was wearing a face mask, the equation is as follows:
lodging of snow in nose = downpour

It was sch-weeeeeeet (not the nose bit).

Japan continues to serve up warm and gracious hospitality, courtesy of the many ladies that cook, clean, serve, cater for us. I have such affection for these ladies, and parting is that much harder when they are constantly smiling & bowing at you.

We have had very good dinners @ Shiga Kogen. Red Lantern ishaisakaya has been our local hangout on Night 2 and Night 4. Night 2 put a massive dent in the wallet (and number of brain cells). There was probably one too many sakes and shōchūs - no good when there is a shortage of water in the room.

Brekkie is served in the cafeteria in our hotel. The half poached egg with Japanese soy sauce is totemo oishii - just like how mom used to cool them but without the soy sauce and in a cute bowl.

Last day in Shiga Kogen tomorrow.

Photos of People in Lots of Snow

Just to prove that I'm not fibbing about the buckets, photos of Dougie, Vicky and Glenn in the midst of a winter wonderland.





Heading out into the white abyss now ...

Japanese Marketing - a taste

A casual browse in a Japanese convenient/souvenir/corner/random store always brings about golden photographic opportunities for interesting and/or quirky items - see above example (it is a loafer).

We paid a 500 yen voyeur fee yesterday to watch snow monkeys bath in sulphur stinking onsens. Animal attractions I think are a good reminder of the similarities between humans and animals, and the fact that we are actually not that far up the food chain.

And I don't know why these places always have squat only toilets - eek! From techy bidets to squat and possibly pee-your-pants/shoes toilets - this is a massive from grace.

Snow was about 90% epic today. Was bucketing down the entire day. The landscape of Shiga Kogen was completely different to what it was yesterday and the day before.

We soaked our weary limbs (and my bunged shoulder) in the in-house jacuzzi and onsen - so relaxing. Now we are chilling out in our room, with Asashis in hands and about to head out to dinner. As noted in Shar's guest blog, food places aren't easy to find around here. The customary practice is to hang out at your hotel, hence the abundance of hotels at Shiga Kogen.


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Buckets at Shiga Kogen

I suspect today will be an awesome day on the snow. It is snowing buckets outside which is a welcomed change from the clear blue sky and rain (eek) we got yesterday.

The trees are all covered with white stuff and there are sporadic mini avalanches from the accumulation of snow on roof tops.

Let's hope the shoulder holds up today.


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Arriving in Shiga Kogen

Hi everyone, this is Sharlene, guest-blogging on Marissa's blog from her blackberry! Very techy of me!



We spent today travelling from Hakuba to Shiga Kogen via 2 bus routes. There are a lot of aussies around which can be a bad thing, especially when they're being rude to the locals. We had an incident on the bus (which was packed) from Hakuba where an aussie mom was telling off a japanese local for minding a seat for her partner who was loading the luggage outside. Granted she had kids, but there are kinder ways to go about it than being high and mighty, also in the end there were enough seats for everyone.



After all that drama, we arrived at Shiga Kogen (after thrashing Marissa in Tetris DS, but have to admit she was kicking my ass on the first bus leg) and staying at the Sunroute Hotel. After dumping our stuff, we took a walk around town, and it is very traditional i.e dead quiet! A lot of school kids skiing, but all the shops were closed! No fresh snow, very sunny and nothing much else to do but eat. Depending on the conditions tomorrow, we will visit the snow monkeys (who have their own onsen) instead of snowboarding, so that should be interesting and fun!



One last thing about this place, apparently, there are two snow areas where it's skiers ONLY (YDG will love that). It's not an area that is extremely open to snowboarders, apparently the mountains are suited to skiers, so we shall see when we get on the slopes! Big dump happening in the next couple days, can't wait!



Okay enough story telling, it wasn't a very interesting day so had to blab about nothing! Oh yeah, no internet in the room, have to go to the lobby to connect! So, Gregan, please be patient with the games :)



Signing off!

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Total Axe on Fun Box

We had a 30% epic day today.

50% epic according to Shar
40% epic according to Dougie
70% according to Vicky
NFI according to Glenn


Today, we ventured to the 3 in 1 mountain, consisting of Goryu, Happo One, Imori.

On the very last fun park run on Imori, Vicky axed herself on the funbox (unfortunately no live footage). The injury/gash was so impressive, we had to visit the patrol and the medical clinic.

The other highlight of the day is Sharlene's an*us split on the C-Box, also on the very last run of the day. Click play below.



Last day of riding in Hakuba tomorrow.

Do The Taco

I did a taco on a sea rail at Iwakake.

The definition of a taco according to Dougie:
"A taco shell hanging on a clothes line".

Since Dougie's helmet cam died after 15 minutes, here are some first hand written eye witness reports:

Shar
Her taco was so great, I fell off the box in a state of hysteria.

Dougie
I thought you fell in love with the snow because you were kissing it.

Glenn
I was concerned for a fleeting moment, but that passed.

Vicky
in absentia


Some pictures - I wasn't getting much air today.

And Hakuba, famous for the biggest crap(e)

Zenkō-ji Temple

Lost property status:

• one right glove (Marissa) - left behind on bus
• one pair of spectacles (Glenn)- left behind at relaxation oasis. Looks like somebody was so relaxed that he left his eyes behind.

Our gear was still in transit from Osaka airport so we spent the day sight-seeing in the city of Nagano. The itinerary was limited to one today - Zenkō-ji Temple.

The bus ride from our Chalet (view from our Chalet below) to Nagano is about an hour long.

According to the information pamphlet, the Japanese people have been told to visit the Zenjoki Temple at least once in their lifetime.

The temple is overseen by the Rokujizō. According to wiki, the Rokujizō are statues of the six Bodhisattvas, who gave up Buddhist enlightenment, in order to provide salvation to others. The Bodhisattvas are said to be able to commune with the six realms of hell, starvation, beasts, carnage, human beings and divine beings.

Pilgrims and visitors should also purify his/her body with the smoke from the incense burner in front of the Zenkō-ji. Rubbing the incense smoke on your body will bring you good health and fortune. We were originally under the mistaken belief that the head was supposed to be bathed in the incense smoke ... to bring heightened intelligence, hence the photos.

Joke is on us really, because at the end of the day, what are we but monkeys.