Japan

Even though it was my second trip to Japan in less than a year, I thoroughly enjoyed it again. The skiing was fantastic, Tokyo was as engaging as usual, and I managed to visit Hiroshima as well. Thanks also to Jeff and Akiko for their gracious hospitality!

Even in the off-season, Japanese Gardens are pretty spectacular. Here, at Shikkein Garden in Hiroshima and the Shinjuku Garden in Tokyo, some of the trees in spring bloom (spring was early in Japan).

The Atomic Bomb Dome, preserved in the condition it was after the 1945 bomb. One of the few buildings that was not completely obliterated, largely because it was almost immediately below the hypocenter and the force of the bomb was downwards rather than sideways. Amazingly, one person survived in the basement of the building. The city of Hiroshima, notwithstanding it's unfortunate history, has been rebuilt into a great city located on a lovely inland sea, shown here (in black and white cause i wasn't paying attention to the settings on my camera).

Japanese ski hills are overly cautious on roping off on-piste areas. After riding this chair and looking at the untouched powder below for half a day, Jeff and I decided that we'd have to duck under the rope and ski some first tracks. Unfortunately, Japanese skihills also have a strong surveillance system, because the ski patrol was waiting at the bottom for us. Thankfully, our dumb and dumber routine got us off with only a stern warning.

Jamie and I posing for a photo on a skihill at Niseko on the North Island (Hokkaido) of Japan, with "little Mt. Fuji" (Mt. Yotel) in the background.

Jamie carving some turns in the great powder we found at Grand Hirafu Ski Area.