One of Pete’s ski students very kindly offered us his apartment in Osaka to stay in. He also recommended a trip to Koyosan, of which we had never heard of. Upon arrival at the train station, it seemed we were the only Western tourists who hadn’t – they were all Read more…
Domestic flights can be pretty cheap so we flew 1 hour to Kobe which is a huge city that in 1995 was struck with a huge earthquake followed by fire. At the great hanshin-awaji earthquake memorial we learned all about the devastation and how it rebuilt itself. This included negotiating Read more…
From Motegi, we drove a couple of hours to Takaragawa Onsen, a natural hotspring in the mountains. Most onsens are separate sexes and nude !! But Janet had researched a mixed one. It had several pools all next to a river, just beautiful. We had to wear their bathing outfits Read more…
From Nikka we headed to Motegi, a race track owned and built by Honda, to watch a round of the Japanese superbikes.I (Pete) had tried to book tickets online but the pricing structure was just too confusing so we were hoping it wasn’t a sell out….. When we arrived we Read more…
We picked up a hire car to drive north to Nikko National Park. It was pretty crazy having to cross Central Tokyo. Even the expressways are a maze with double or triple layers of roads with exits both on the left and the right! Not a gentle intro to driving Read more…
As we’d previously visited the main sights of Tokyo on the way back from Oz a few years ago, our main aim (well Janet’s) was to see the cherry blossom (sakura) in bloom. We decided to stay closer to Haneda airport between the city and Yokohama, as both were on Read more…
So just like that, suddenly 4 months of instructing came to an end yesterday !! I ( Pete) was teaching ski beginners and at the end of the lesson I was promoting them to Club 1 when they asked if I’d still be their instructor tomorrow ( the usual answer Read more…
Suddenly, it is noticeably lighter in the evenings as we head back to the dormitory to get changed before our evening duties. You can hear birds singing. And today I actually saw people out and about in the village of Shintoku (where we go for any supplies on our day Read more…
So we know that everyone thinks we are on holiday for the whole time in Japan but believe me, it is no holiday working from 8am to 11pm, 6 days a week. Don’t get me wrong, some days you have students who are a great laugh, lovely ski conditions and Read more…
The reason we came to Japan is because the powder is famous the world over and known as JaPow. Apparently we are only just coming into the best part of the season but the last few days the Japow has been amazing. With tree runs during our lunchtime laps. Yesterday, Read more…
Who knew that Chinese New Year is celebrated for nearly 2 weeks ? Thankfully the main celebrations are on the eve and day of the new moon, so this year the 22nd and 23rd January begin the year of the rabbit. So what did we do here to celebrate with Read more…
The short answer is yes 🥰 The ski school set-up here is very different to how we worked in Bulgaria last season. Bulgaria was essentially private lessons and as such we normally got to “keep” the same students or families for several days or a week and see them all Read more…
There are some funny traditions that we keep, some we don’t really know why and some that are very important to us. Does letting a dark haired person bring a piece of coal and bread into the house really bring good luck? One tradition the Japanese keep for New Year Read more…
People always ask if it is really magical to be in a ski resort over Christmas. Perhaps as a guest, it may be. Definitely for kids from Singapore or Hong Kong that have never seen snow before. They are so excited to get off the transfer bus and play in Read more…
So, what is it like to be in Japan and how is it different from home? The first thing you notice is how polite everyone is – the bow and say hello, and this continues no matter how many times you see them in the day. The Japanese also like Read more…
It was funny looking out the hotel window, whilst doing some menial “no snow” activity, at all the kids who’d just arrived and had NEVER seen snow. They were lying in it, trying to make snowmen etc having just arrived from 27° Celsius in Singapore or Malaysia and not seeming Read more…
So this winter we decided we needed to get back out there as ski and snowboard instructors before we got stuck in a rut on the island and never did it again. We got the heads up for an opportunity to work in Japan for Club Med, had a video Read more…
So this is Janet and I’m about to try to sum up my summer in a few paragraphs. We have actually had a really dry summer (making up for it since September) so there has been lots of sea swimming, kayaking, walking, and cycling on the island. I had a Read more…
We decided that Sun Peaks is a small version of the Isle of Man. You just keep bumping into people you know and everyone looks out for each other – a great community. Without organising it, we saw loads of people we knew (past instructors, past adaptive sports colleagues, fellow Read more…
So the end part of the adventure is a week in SunPeaks, where the ski/snowboard instructor dream began 3 years ago, before all this covid schizel stopped play….. We loved our previous 12 weeks in SP and wondered how it would/changed for this visit. We arrived late on Saturday and Read more…
With Rik & Emma (owners of The Wintersports Co) driving themselves to Revy, we found ourselves on a transfer with Cam and Bridget who had both been in Panorama on snow-patrol training. The 3 hours gave us a chance to get to know them better and also enjoy the stunning Read more…
After not a lot of snow fall and some spring temperatures we suddenly received a snow report forecasting some fresh snow (much needed) followed by some cold temperatures. I guess winter had made a come back. So the day before our exam, while the rest of the kids undertook their Read more…
Four years ago we were talking to a Canadian friend who celebrated his son’s 16th birthday with a heli skiing trip. I remember thinking that was so amazing but we could never afford to do that. And yet yesterday that dream came true! It nearly didn’t for Pete as he Read more…
It’s been a fun week of training with the focus at the beginning of the week on our ski development (read lots of bumps, moguls, using ski edges and a scary odd cliff) but also lots of carving, fast skiing and fast paced short radius turns on the groomers. The Read more…
Wow, we have had a fun packed week. Training began on Monday and as there had been some snowfall overnight it was straight into off piste, between the trees and through moguls. The instructors call it “terrain assisted learning” but really it’s so we can all have fun. We were so Read more…