Sayonara Nagano!

Enough said about the weather, today we've had really good skiing. With all the snow that has come down I got good use of the new wider monster 82 skiis. You could just set off in any direction, forest or not, plenty of snow everywhere. I never thought we would get this good off pist skiing when we started yesterday morning. Tired but happy, on our way back to Tokyo again.

More weather

To our disappointment they closed down the lifts after lunch due to heavy wind. A bit lame I thought at the time but changed my mind to think it was probably for the best when I watched the news showing footage of people littuarly blowing in wind in the storms during the day. After about two hours the wind calmed down a bit, the lifts were opened and we got a couple of hours of really good skiing with decent off pist conditions. And more weather. They said on the news that Nagano got 80 cm of snow and tomorrow should bring another 100 cm. Good skiing or just bad weather, it's a thin line. Another good thing with bad weather is that the outside onsen feels much better. Today with the snow falling it was perfect.

A lot of weather

The sun we have had in Tokyo last week stayed in Tokyo. The weather in Nagano has gone from a bit cloudy but nice to a full flavoured snow storm in less than one hour. To make it even worse the temperature is a few degrees warm so the snow is wet close to rain. Perfect condition to test quality of wind and water proof clothes but for skiing it could definitely be better. Anyway it was good fun to try the new skiis, i think they will be well worth the money, stable and fun even in wet off pist. We'll see if it will be any more skiing today though, currently the crowd in the lunch restaurant start to laugh laud about the all the time stronger wind outside. Onsen could be an a lot more comfortable alternative for the afternoon!

Get ready to rumble

Looking like an RAF pilot ready for dog fight I'm on my way to Nagano for skiing. We'll arrive in the middle of the night and after a few hours sleep it's finally time to get out to the slopes. Weather in Tokyo has been really nice during the last week so hopefully we will get some more of the same during the weekend. By the way, today I had my first japanese lesson. I learnd to say "o-sa-ki-ni", excuse me for leaving (office) earlier than you! Could quite possibly be a very useful phrase to know.

Perfect ride

On the train to Yokohama after work. This is a 20 minute ride on a fully packed train I wouldn't mind beeing without.

Dog style

A dog's life in Tokoy does not necessarely be limited to running around chasing cats. It also takes a lot of hard work to look good. Note the dog in the back to the left who got to have the coolest dog hair do in Tokyo ("tuppkam").

Good day for running

The thirty three thousand people running today had nice sunny but a little bit cold weather. Here some people running in front of Cartiers golden store in Ginza. Definitely want to try to run next year, just a shame it's so difficult to get a start ticket.



Short guys are said to try harder. I like the innovation of this short man who wanted to take good photos despite the huge crowd cheering the marathon runners. A pocket camera, some cables, an external display, a pole and some duck tape got him this modern version of the toy periscopes kids use to play around with in the 80s.

Quick DVD rental

Maki get tought how to use the cash machine like DVD rental machine we passed by on our way home. Very convenient to use and only 300 yen (17skr) to rent a movie for 24h. The selection on the other hand wasn't as good so we continued home empty handed.

New old sofa

The hunt for furnitures to the apartment continues. Today we found this 70s sofa in three parts from norway. It's not especially cheap with second hand furnitures in Tokyo but it was very comfy and we decided it would look very good next to the rifle locker. Deal.

Running man

This morning we went for a well needed run. In fact it's only three weeks until we will go to Kyoto to run the half marathon and I can't even remember the last time I went out jogging. It should be alright though. The weather has been really nice during the last week and it seems to continue for the weekend. The sun is shining as if the spring was just around the corner. Good for the thirty thousand something people that will run the Tokyo marathon tomorrow. Due to the race beeing fully booked long time before we knew we were moving here we will only be cheering on and not running. But maybe next year...

Famous photo spot

Possibly inspired by the photo Maki took of me for the family christmas card two years ago, this guy choose the very same spot in Shibuya for a photo session this morning.

Really fint...

Unpacked the new skiis today. According to Maki they are "maybe not your color but really fint!". Couldn't agree more, the look really fint. First time in fifteen years to have brand new skiis and I'm very much looking forward to going to Nagano the weekend after next. Maybe they won't look as fint after that trip.

Ooh-oh I'm an alien

Went to pick up my ID card this morning so as of today I am a registered alien.

The real deal

After a cold night there is nothing that can beat a steaming hot onsen! The onsen was by the way the best thing with this hotel but on the other hand it was really good and was well worth coming.

Foot onsen

We start our weekend trip to onsen by going for a walk looking at waterfalls. Next to one fall we found this nice café were you can have a cup of coffee while keeping your feet in a hot and nice mini onsen.

White Tokyo

On Sunday morning we woke up to an unusual view - snow covered Tokyo! Can't say that I was disappointed...

Ping pong

Maybe the coolest club I've been to - a large livingroom with a ping pong table in the center. Awesome! Btw, paul and I surprisingly won the double player tournament of the night. Despite, or maybe thanks to, a couple of cold ones.

Rifle locker

If lack of storage place for rifles has ever been a problem than that was solved when we bought this antique rifle stand. Our first furniture for the apartment in Tokyo.

Modern scale

Maki's parents came by with a lot of things, for example this high tech scale that tells you more than you ever wanted to know about yourself...

78.4kg, 23.4 BMI, but still the stupid thing think I have a body like a 35 years old!