stayed in a suite with wide seaview of Toba coastline. Picked a French dinner course with wine pairing options. Free shuttle bus to its nearby annexed ryokan with pearl onsen, which we stayed in our first visit in Feb 2014.
Day 4 – drive along Shima coastline. Had Italian lunch in Spanish resort with lovely bayview.
D5 drove to Matsusaka. Visited Matsusaka castle ruins and nearby former Samurai residence. Returned car then went back to Nagoya by train.
Picked up rental car on D2 in Ise. Visited Kawasaki area which used to be a warehouse area along a stream. Had a stroll around the morning market. Drove to Toba town, had lunch there. Skipped the Mikimoto HQ where we visited in our last trip.
D3 – drove to Shima. Re-visited old and new observation points in the beautiful Shima coastline with plenty of estuaries. Had delicious Italian lunch in Ichigohama, with a beautiful beach and sea as blue as in Cote d’Azur !!
After skiing in Hakuba, travelled to Nagoya to meet up with wife flying from Hong Kong.
2nd visit. Took Kintetsu train from Nagoya and arrived at Ise. Had a great (fresh with varieties, good service and yet inexpensive) sushi lunch in local shop. Visited Oharai-machi near Naiku afterwards. As we visited the Outer and Inner shrines in an earlier visit just 1 year before, we skipped both this time.
Next to the Naiku entrance there was a long street with Meiji-style shops. Did not spend too long in the first visit. This time we spent a whole afternoon starting from Okage-yokocho. We happened to witness a drum performance, had several rounds of delicious snacks before settling down in a traditional tea house, with a nice Japanese garden.
meeting Tokyo friends before heading to ski in Kagura
returned to Tokyo after visiting Izu in 3 days by self-drive. Visited Omotesando, Ebisu, Ginza and Daikanyama.
Had Kobe award-winning A5 beef dinner in Ginza !!
Strolled in Daikanyama before departure
headed north into the mountains to visit the below before returning car. Stopped by Nirayama to have sushi lunch and also the strawberry farm with self-picking. However, the strawberries were less tasty than our first visit in Mar 2005 and thus we gave it a pass.
Headed to the southern tip in Izukyu Shimoda for a bay cruise. The cruise was named after the “Black Ship” to commemorate the arrival of the same commanded by Commodore Perry from US in Shimoda when Japan was still in self-isolation.
5th visit to Izu but first time to self-drive around the Peninsula in 3 days. We commenced from Atami and headed south to Izu Atagawa onsen, stopping by a few spots.
Day 1 driving
Skied in Niseko for the 3rd time in mid-March. Lucky to have lots of snow dumping everyday while we were there – the greatest pow of all my visits !
stayed in a modern apartment in Hirafu with ski in/out, ski rentals and onsen.
Teine
With a day in Sapporo, visited Teine ski resort nearby. Snow was slushy and some ski lifts/gondola were not operating – maybe not many skiiers on weekday and also strong wind on top. Later in the day, heavy rain poured thus I left before 4pm. Gears were in poor condition but rental was more expensive than in Niseko.
4th time skiing in Kagura/Naeba, 20-50min bus ride from Yuzawa onsen town uphill respectively.
Kagura is in fact comprised of 3 ski resorts – Mitsumata, Kagura and Tashiro. The last two are a bit higher up @1400-1500m on the top, thus they have better powder than in Naeba. Runs are in general longer and wider, though more for intermediate than advanced. We were lucky to have ample snowfall while we were there – Great pow so thick and bouncing not inferior at all to Hakuba, Niseko !!
Skied in Naeba for 1D. Power snow was on the upper slopes on top of gondola, which would stop running under strong wind. At the foothills, snow could be hard here and there. Thus, we prefer Kagura to Naeba in general, and would ski here on calm days.
Good dining options in onsen town. Visited a small izakaya run by husband-and-wife twice. Both of them were so cordial as if we were having dinner at home. Husband is the chef having a chef-teacher award ! Delicious food but inexpensive at all.
