March 23, 2023
JETs go skiing
Jessica and I have recently had the opportunity to go skiing for the first time for me, and only the second for Jessica.
We hopped on a bus from Shinjuku and headed up to north Gunma where the weather was both much colder and much snowier than Tokyo. With wind howling round the bus, we watched as the countryside became more and more enveloped in snow as we got closer to the ski slopes.
Once there we picked out some overly colorful ski fits and headed out into the snow to figure out how this ski thing works.
Taught by a very patient friend, we gradually learned how to move forward and progressed to going down the nursery slope with our skis firmly in the 'pizza' or '八' position. While pizza is self-explanatory, I love the how the Chinese character for the Japanese number 8 resembles the shape you make with your skis.
By lunch we were freezing but emboldened by our progress. After a quick snack of some onigiri and a hot coffee, we headed back out to the nursery slop, determined to successfully go forward in a straight line without falling over or going into a snow bank.
The time flew by and I felt we both made so much progress! We returned our gear and got on the bus back to Tokyo, falling sleep immediately after the day's activities and only waking up for a midway snack run.
I really enjoyed my first time skiing and I can't wait to go again this winter ! If you're in Japan over winter, it's a great activity to try out!
