Welcoming 2015 In Style

I've let this blog slip down the priority list. One of my goals for 2015 was to change that, but it's taken me two months to renew that resolution. Anyway, I'll try a lot harder to keep everyone updated of my life here in Japan.

I should start by saying that I'll be spending another year here. Although I'm yet to sign the contract, my company, school and I have agreed on the terms and I'm pretty happy with them. This will be my fifth year in Japan.

And I consider myself so, so lucky to be living where I am. Not only am I surrounded by friends in the same apartment building (such as Phil and Yukiko right next-door), I'm only a two-hour trip from Nagano City, where I used to live, and where many of my friends still reside. In fact, I've been lucky enough to make the trip to Nagano City several times in the last few months - one of which was for New Years.

My friend and colleague Tsukasa (who I may sometimes refer to as Miyao-sensei, since that's what I call him at work) invited me to his parents' house over the New Years break. We left our apartment building in the morning of the 31st so that we could fit in a half-day of skiing at Sugadaira - one of Nagano Prefecture's many famous ski resorts.

One hill was only accessible via a "snow cat", so Tsukasa and I packed our skis/snowboard inside and rode it up the slope. It was a jolty ride, and more than once I thought it was going to topple back down the hill and crush everyone inside. What an amazing vehicle though - it powered on up those snowy slopes, and once up the top, we were treated to spectacular views.

Me and Tsukasa

The ride down was even better. I put my skis back on, Tsukasa jumped on his snowboard, and from there it was barely-touched, powdery snow. A magical experience.

Before we continued on to Nagano City, where Tsukasa's parents live, we made a stop at Tsukasa's favourite onsen (hot spring). It was the last day of 2014 and I sat outside in the hot water, leaning against a pile of rocks, soaking in utter relaxation and realising how lucky I am to be back in this marvelous country.

I had met Tsukasa's parents twice before: once when they came to Shimosuwa last summer for the big fireworks festival, and again when Tsukasa, myself, and some friends dropped in on them after a day trip near Nagano City. His mum is one of the most generous, giving, accommodating people I've ever met. She spent the whole evening offering me so much of her amazing home-cooked food that I worried my stomach would explode. His dad, a friendly ex-firefighter, did the same thing but with alcohol: at most points during the night, I had three drinks in front of me - beer, wine, and sake.

At 11:50, we walked 150m to their local shrine for a Japanese-style New Years. It was pretty exciting for me, since I hadn't done this for four years.

We lined up with the crowd, with Tsukasa introducing me to some of his friends who live in the area. When it was our turn, I pulled the rope dangling from the front of the shrine, ringing the bell above us to get the attention of the gods. Then we each threw a coin into the offertory box, clapped our hands twice, made a head-bowed prayer, and finally bowed. A beautiful way to spend my first few minutes of 2015.

I gladly accepted the free sake and mandarins being offered at a stand beside the shrine. Then we headed back to Tsukasa's parents' house, with some of Tsukasa's friends joining us for New Years morning drinks, games and conversation.

I was pretty exhausted after half a day of skiing, so I lasted until about 2:30am. It was a great time, but I was pretty happy to hang around and just recover the next day! We did a bit of shopping together, and I was shocked to see some Cadbury's Fruit and Nut in the supermarket (it's incredibly rare in Japan), so I bought some for Tsukasa and his family.

His mum repaid the kindness three-fold, though.

Edamame beans, a mandarin, coffee with a marshmallow, and rum and raisin chocolate.

The next couple of days were pretty active though. Tsukasa had plans on the 2nd, so I jumped on a train into the city center and caught up with my old friends Michie, Luke, and Reiko. When I got back to Tsukasa's family that night, his mum was asking if I'd like to help them make udon (thick flour noodles) for breakfast the next day. Even in Japan, making fresh udon has become a very uncommon practice, so I leapt at the opportunity.

First the flour is mixed with water and a bit of salt.

Then you cover it up, put it on the floor, and knead it with your feed.

We let the dough rest overnight, and got up early the next morning to shape it into rectangles and feed it into the noodle maker.

I'll tell you what, though - this would have to be the best, freshest udon I've ever tasted.

After such a warm, hearty breakfast, Tsukasa and I took off skiing with some of his friends. Being back at Hakuba brought back a lot of memories, since this is where I originally learnt to ski. It was a pretty magnificent day.

We got back only to discover that Tsukasa's mum had made us little pizzas. At some point in our conversations over the last few days, I'd mentioned how I loved Hawaiian pizza. Since she'd never heard of it before, she got excited and made some for us. They were pretty damn good, which is a huge testament to how good a cook she is.