Anyway, enough rambling, back to Tazawa-ko. The train from Hakodate took about 3hrs and a few changeovers, but we finally made it into the little town station. We had wanted to get off the beaten track and really submerge ourselves. We definately got that here. Two things to note: 1. There is a grand total of about 10 English words spoken up there, so we got lots of charades practice. 2. Winter around a lake in Japan means there isnt much open...
There was however, a local ski resort, and since Doodles was dragging his snowboard around with him, he thought it would be rude to let these hills go unridden. The resort - Tazawako Suki-jo, has about 5 lifts, and the snowbase was about 2m, so it was pretty good. It was also almost deserted - it meant sharing the slopes with about 15-20 other people at the maximum, which meant in the 3hrs that day, so was able to get plenty of runs in. The snow wasnt like Niseko, being a little warmer it was a bit heavier and slower, but there was lots of untracked terrain which made up for that. The camera died about 20mins into the afternoon, so there are only a few pics. From the top though you have a view over the lake below (top left in pics), which makes it pretty special.
I (Sir Doodalot) went out again the next day, but it was very icy and so wasnt that great - it felt like Perisher!
We spent the night in a ryokan (Japanese guest house) and were treated to some great home cooked Japanese meals. The way the food is laid out in about 20 different little bowls so you can just sample all different bits and pieces is definitely the way to go. Again unfortunately for Mandy there was a lot of fish! One day she will learn to eat seafood.. probably around the time Doodles starts devouring eggs raw...
After only a brief foray into Tazawakoian existance we were off again south to Tokyo, where we stopped very briefly before changing trains to head west to the City of Peace - Hiroshima.
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