BIG ONE

took the night bus with dr. jake, jake's matt (i know like 48 different guys named matt out here), nova graphic designer chris, old dirty malcolm, and fast and the furious simon to akakura; a mtn/ski resort/hot spring out in niigata prefecture. the 9 hour bus ride was uneventful—beefeater gin, oranges, snack attack, in and out of sleep. no toilet on the bus cause it was cheaper that way. stopped several times at rest stops. leave it to japan to have spic and span restrooms at rest stops... well lit, spotless, not a glory hole in sight.

got to the mtn at 530am. no snow except on the runs. sort of. first lift at 830am. old japanese guy wouldn't let us look at the breakfast buffet. wherever you are there's an old guy telling you what you can't do. got locked and loaded w/ the rental equipment and fireman outerwear. rentals suck! it started to snow and it didn't stop. caught the first lift. 3 first timers, a skier and simon and i. first run down, jumped over a river! ok a stream... a big stream. still you don't really wanna hear running water while your on a lift at a ski resort. result of the natural hot spring i guess. unforgiving, hard packed and icy just like home. lots of flat spots. lots of skating. went off track/out of bounds good fun. hot ramen hits the spot for lunch when snowboarding. rental goggles are useless. boarded all day. beat up and dead tired. first time onsen! natural hot springs renowned for their healing properties. had one in the hotel. basically sat in a hot tub with 3 naked japanese dudes. nohomo. not sure if i can get used to the nakedness but it definitely felt good. oh yeah, so in japan they have slippers you put on when you used the bathroom. so i come out of the bath and see someone had worn the bathroom slippers to the onsen. i think to myself, what idiot wore the shit slipper to the onsen. how uncouth. i get back up to our room and matt asks me, "do you know what happened to our bathroom slippers?" turns out i was the idiot. and i stole someone elses slippers. some poor japanese guy had to wear the bathroom slippers around the hotel. the package we paid for included the night buses, lift tickets, rental and also it came with dinner at the hotel. probably the best japanese dinner i've had in japan during this particular stay. awesome.

this is jake. i had to rent the same kook outfit. rookie of the trip.

"what's that word you called me? GUY-JEEN?"
simon likes to go off track.

it dumped snow over night. probably 2-3 feet of new snow. POWDER! i wasn't used to it though. quite different from the hard packed artificial snow of the mountains of southern california. simon was amped. hit a ungroomed black diamond of knee-waist high powder. i did cartwheels down. point your nose down lean back and go straight. i kept trying to turn, bad idea. most fun i've had eating shit tho. still, i was upset that i looked like a total kook. i threw the rental goggles in disgust and cracked the lens. the rental place didn't care, they knew they were crap to begin with. great day of riding. RAD. yeah i said rad. sat around the lobby taught the boys how to play pusoy dos. yup. hit up a restaurant in town that served clam chowder in a bread bowl. jake tried to chat up some japanese girls from kyoto...

hightop fade.

there was no snow here the previous day.
powdier... IT'S POWDER! SAY IT RIGHT FRENCHIE!

random simpons and various movie quotes hangin out w/ simon... it's like being around kj and leo except with an australian accent.

it snowed enough that these japanese guys were able to build a kicker between these buildings in town. looked like fun. slam.

matt, malcolm and i parted from the rest of the crew to catch a bus to catch a train to nagano. nagano isn't that interesting. good thing they have the largest ski resort in japan an hour away. walked around a bit. found the media cafe we'd be spending the night at. went to a pirate bar. yup, a pirate baaaaaaaaarrrhh. sat on crates in a cage and drank grog and got pillaged for 12$ french fries. interesting to say the least.

japan home of the strange signs since 1963.

a flag they were flying in the pirate bar.

media cafes are great. cheap place to sleep in japan. private booth. you can lie down. dvd player, internet, video games, comic books... 15$ for 9 hours. extra 3$ for a shower. woke up bright and early. saw a snow covered temple. then another bigger temple with the first ever image of buddah brought to japan but no one not even the emperor of japan has seen this image in 200 years or something. witnessed an intimate moment of pathos that i'll never forget then caught the shink(bullet train) to tokyo.

the SPEED of the shink distorted this picture. the shink got that SEC SPEED!

no vacant coin lockers in any train station in tokyo. walked around tokyo all day with my 30lb travel backpack. killed my knee. they have a krispy kreme in shinjuku now. we couldn't find it so we asked at mister donut a japanese donut chain. no shame. but they knew where it was. found it and there was an hour and a half wait. definitely laced with crack. shinjuku, harajuku, shibuya. love hotel hill. the cowboy room please. 3 minutes happiness the busiest cross walk in the world. parted with matt and malcolm. met with paige, desiree and nicole at nicole's place in yokosuka. hour and a half out of tokyo. needed a nights sleep where i didn't have to wake up at the butt crack of dawn. thanks again nicole.

they needed a sign that read the wait from this point: 2 hours.

woke up the next day—new year's eve day—and left the ladies to get ready and plan the new years eve activities. headed to tin's place in yokohama, where i would stay for the remainder of the trip, thanks again tin. tin's been here almost 2 years now teaching for nova and riding his track bike. met the posse and headed out to a bbq at a park by yokohama bay. tin's room mate is australian. in australia they bbq on new years cause its summertime there. it was cold but a good time. ate hot dogs, drank beer and canadian club and ginger ale, burned trees. went back to tin's place for more of the same plus shooting guns(air soft). left tin to meet with the ladies at TGI's in yokohama. yup TGI. (yo dudes at home! remember in tokyo we ate at the one in shibuya and we had the japanese hilary duff as our waitress?) no duff this time and no half off happy hour but a ton of flair. ate some more, drank some more and got more merry. decided to get dessert (brownie sundae! ) but that turned into a total gong show (word to the canucks out there). a party of twenty beside us decided to split their check. finally got our dessert and didn't have to pay so it was ok.

the bbq was held under this ferriswheel. ferriswheels are big in japan. literally and figuratively

hit the local conbini (convenience store) for more drinks and mixers. drinking in public (i see you TJ, sooo lucky) is OK in japan. headed to AGEHA out in chiba, the biggest club in japan, for the new years eve festivities. marija and diana (paige's roommates) stood in the mile long line for us and we sprinted to the front and cut in front of everyone. just like home, i don't wait in lines. VIP. ha! no TK to hook it up with the freebie tho. paid 70$ finally got in. felt like it was high school and i was at a rave at orange show, maybe audiotistic. the place was massive, huge warehouse spaces. wandered around while the ladies took a bathroom break, with a line up of course. tin said they have a pool. i didn't see it though. counted down on the dance floor. oh yeah... HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! i then proceeded to bring sexy back, and then anted up... what you know about that? ... "you wanna see a dead body?" actually ended up leaving early cause a couple people got the "time of my life" award(i see you chris). it was a good time though. it was an interesting trek back to yokohama... i cant say i've ever seen anybody ride up an escalator handrail on their face until now. 6am hit the sack... just another night out.

**party and aftermath pictures not posted to protect the innocent.

nicole and i muggin for the camera

funny face, smile, funny face, smile.

you stay classy san diego!