Oh My God! It’s Tom Cruise!

On 03.16.07, In recreation, By Dan

In the last week I have been snowboarding four times, and I am sore and exhausted.

I went at the end of last week with Alan who was up visiting from Kyoto. (Alan and I went to high school together.) That was a nice easy day – Alan wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous.

Sunday night Michael and Bjorn knock on my door and ask me if I want to go to to Yamagata Zao for a couple of days. 17,000 yen (about $150) for 2 day passes, two home-cooked meals, and a place to sleep. Not too shabby.

山形 (Yamagata) Zao ski resort has about 40 lifts, 5 of which are gondolas, and what looked like some pretty promising boarding. Equipment problems, 70 mph wind gusts and temperatures below -10 C changed that, though.

I had borrowed a board from the school, and the bindings were giving me all kinds of trouble, and my gloves quickly turned into mittens after fingers start to freeze together.

The first day, the top of the mountain is closed because of wind, but we had a few good runs around the mountain. The second day let us see the top (with almost zero visibility – you could only see about 5-10 m away), and a couple of 30 degree slopes. Powder was pretty good in some spots, but there was ice aplenty.

I just got back from a little trip to my favorite resort (面白山 Omosiroyama), where they still had some of the foot of snow they got this week. Powder was pretty solid in spots, more equipment problems, but I felt pretty good overall. I found myself tackling some slopes I didn’t think I would be able to handle this season. A few sections were steep enough that you could reach out horizontally to touch the mountain as you’re riding down! That was pretty awesome.

I left a little early (around 3), and while waiting for the train, a couple in their 50′s approached me and started making conversation. We talked about where I was from, and my major, what they did before they retired, etc., and then the woman remarked that I looked like Tom Cruise. “He looks like he could be his kid!” the man replied.

Call me crazy, but I think I’m a far cry from Tom Cruise (I’m pictured in what I was wearing at the time):

The whole thing reminded me of the following Family Guy clip:

I admit that when I first got here, I had some of the All-Japanese-People-Look-The-Same syndrome going on, but now I find it pretty easy to recognize my Asian compadres.

- Tom Cruise

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上山 Yardsale!

On 01.05.07, In recreation, By Dan

I have spent a good amount of time the last couple of days either eating powder or tumbling down the mountain, and the excitement had to be measured on a logarithmic scale.

Wednesday I talked to Keith and he said that he was going skiing with a bunch of friends Thursday through Friday, and I was welcome to tag along, and so I called Collin (a kid I know from Wyoming) to see if he was interested. Keith was planning to go to the town, spend the night, ski, sleep, ski and come back, but Collin and I decided we’d try to get there in time to hit the slopes, and then spend the night, go again, and then come back. Unfortunately, it was about 1:00 AM when we got everything together, and had to catch a 6:30 train.

Little sleep that night – too excited, and no sleep on the train. We get there around 10, get everything in order, get geared up and go for it. The night before I read an online “tutorial” on snowboarding, but that can only “prepare” you so much. I (admittedly a little recklessly) ignored the tutorials suggestion, and just jumped on the beginner course. A lot of wipe-outs, goggles and hat flying everywhere, but I figured the best way to learn is try it, do your best, and get my hindquarters handed to me by the mountain.

By the end of the day, I was going down the intermediate run (very slowly and wiping out a lot), but I was enjoying myself. We got some food and checked into the hotel. Speaking of which, the room we got was enormous and way way better than our apartments. Also, very Japanese.

Second day, and lots of Tylenol and Ibuprofen later, we get on the mountain just as they open, and I’m starting to go a lot faster, and catching about 1/8 the number of edges as I was the day before. Go up to the very top (all intermediate runs), and the view is spectacular. Almost as beautiful as the Rockies, but not quite.

We had to stop around 3:30 to get our rentals in and catch the last bus at 4. We get home around 7, and I stuffed my face, went to bed, and then when I woke up, all my joints had turned to bone.

Will I do it again? Absolutely. As much and as often as my body can afford.

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上山 Snowboarding

On 01.03.07, In recreation, By Dan

I’ve been saying all break that I was going to go skiing/snowboarding, but I’m actually going to be going tomorrow. Around 4:00 PM this afternoon, I called a friend and we made plans to spend the next couple of days in 山形 (Yamagata) skiing/snowboarding.

It’s about $150 US for transportation, a day of snowboarding with rentals, a hotel, another day of snowboarding, and then transportation back. I don’t think that’s too bad relative to the JASSO scholarship.

I feel like a total nerd, but I actually went online and read a tutorial on snowboarding before packing my backpack and getting some shut-eye. We leave for the train station in about four and a half hours, and we should be on the mountain by 9:30 or so. Exciting!

If I’m still alive, I will post pictures.

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