Sliding Down a Slope of White →

Since most of us would probably be at home right now, I’d like to throwback to some other experiences I had when I was back in Japan. Around the beginning of March, I went skiing for the second time in my life. This time, I went to a renown resort called Gala Yuzawa. It only took around 1 hour from Tokyo with Shinkansen. Surprisingly, the ski resort is very tourist-friendly and provides various outstanding services, living up to its reputation. As I have learned the basics from my first ski experience in Hokkaido, I was able to ski on my own. The main slope for beginners is very wide and smooth. Going up the slope was much easier as well since we can use the chair lift as we like. Overall, it was a worth the experience.

How I Prepare for Winter Season

To be honest with you, I am that one guy who doesn’t really like winter season, especially when the wind is blowing strong. One of the reasons will be my dry skin. I used to have a really dry skin since I was a kid, even until now. Body skin, however, is not my worst problem. That will be my lips. As the weather gets really cold and windy, my lips get dry easily and will eventually crack. If it gets worse, it will crack and might bleed out. And let me tell you, that hurts a lot. You won’t look good either, right? That’s why, I consider this picture on the right as my best friend during winter, so-called lip balm (リップクリーム). This lip balm is oily and good to fight your soothed sores or cracked lips. It also has menthol/mint flavour which I like and give that nice cool sensation to my lips.

Snow Monkey Park

Since, this is already my second year in Japan, I already had the chance to visit quite a few places in Japan . I was counting it the other day and I came to realisation that I visited almost all of the prefectures already. Hovewer, this Tuesday, I could finally go to a place, which was for a long time on my bucket list yet, I never had the chance to visit. This dream palce was for me the the Snow Monkey Park in Nagano.

I was actually, quite surpised to see that most of the tourusits who visted the park were foreigners.

I think, that in Europea countries and in the US, this Snow Monkey Park has a very great reputation. It is the only national park in the world where you can see monkeys taking a bath in hot springs. In addition, it also offers a unique experince because it is possible to observe monkeys in their natural habitat while they are in a reachable distance. Although, it's not allowed to touch or the feed them they come so close to you as they were ordinary cats or dogs.

The only thing you need to pay attention is the cold weather and the slippery path the leads to the Monkey Park. in order to preserve the natural isolation of the park it’s not possible entirely approach the park by car or public transportation. From the closest parking lot it takes around 30 minites to arrive to the small national park.

Happy New Year 2020!

Happy New Year 2020, everyone! Let’s do our best too this year!!