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Well, I wasn't going to gloat, but this was something I had pegged for a blog post for a while. We've had a lot of snow here:
That was like, over a week ago, and there's been a lot more since then. So while it's got dirtier, it's also got higher. And of course in Sapporo, nothing stops. Everything just carries on as normal - sorry England! This is my third winter here, and actually I think there's been a lot more snow this December than in the last two years, it just came very, very late. There was almost nothing for the first two weeks of December (which is unusual) and then... it's just been snowing every day since. Therefore this has been the whitest Christmas I've had here. It was pretty awesome.
In winter in Hokkaido, there is lots of snow - this much I have made abundantly clear. And on the island with "the best powder snow in the world" (quote from... just about everybody), winter sports are a big deal. There are countless ski resorts in Hokkaido, so how, pray tell is one even supposed to tell them apart?
I saw posters for Rusutsu resort plastered all over the subway at the start of December, and I'm sure there'll be posters up for other destinations too, but as I was climbing out of a subway entrance I noticed that there were free DVDs stapled to one of the posters. I snagged the last one, and was delighted to find that rather than a boring tourism video, it's a weird collection of three slightly arty short films made to publicise the resort. The shorts are all set at the resort, and I think they might be having some kind of Short Film Festival out there this year, so I guess this is a nice tie in.
There are films from three different countries: Taiwan, Australia and Japan. I don't know how they chose those three countries to contribute, but it possibly ties into the fact that they are the three biggest tourist targets for Rusutsu. I mean, that might, maybe have some slight bearing on it. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.
The Taiwanese film is the best. I mean, that's not saying much, but it's saying something. A cute Taiwanese girl eats a snickers bar:
...goes home, and reminisces about her recent holiday to Rusutsu. She went there on her own, apparently with no intention of skiing, but after a bunny-based meet-cute with a big-chinned Japanese hunk, she heads to the slopes. They have fun, she goes back to Taiwan and looks longingly at the snow-globe he gave her. It ain't gonna win the Palm D'Or, but it was nicely made and the girl was cute.
Don't worry, I can say that, my girlfriend thought she was cute too.
The Australian one was where the DVD lost its way. An Australian man returns to Rusutsu, where it seems his son went missing - presumed frozen to death or eaten by huskies or something - the previous month. It turns out that the kid was stolen by a snow-ghost-woman-thing, for reasons unknown, and that he wasn't returned because the father's hope was so tiny and futile. Look, here she's asking him:
If he had had a strong powerful hope, his son would've come back to him! So when he finally allows himself to hope that his son might be alive (when he's right in front of him), the son comes back to life and they play in the snow. There's a nice story in there somewhere I think... but this involves shoddy ghost effects and crap singing. It's shit.
Finally the Japanese short was a kind of comedy drama, where a new recruit to the Rusutsu ski patrol longs for adventure and excitement, and despairs of her goofy colleague. Of course when excitement comes calling she gets conked on the head by a ski and her goofy colleague turns out to be a stand up guy.
Oh, you'll eat those words missy.
Who knows, now that I'm learning snowboarding I might head out to Rusutsu this winter, and frankly this collection of weird films is a better ad for me than some kinda skiing/snowboarding montage could ever be.
Yeah, like I said it snowed:
Last night it was all powdery and dreamy and lovely. It made me happy to remember what this city is like in the winter, which is cold and clear and white and peaceful. Today I remembered the other side of winter in this city, when last night's snowfall was stomped to slush and then froze into ice in the "minus-holy-fucking-shit" temperatures. My whole neighbourhood is a gleaming icy deathtrap right now, but I instantly remembered the shuffling, furrow-browed gait that is required and I was ok.
Snow, mmmm.
I got new trainers today:
No, wait! I didn't just by these because I'm developing an alarming "Sneaker Habit" (although several people today did take one look and say "More sneakers?"). These shoes were primarily a pragmatic purchase, because they're Winter Sneakers. They're not real leather they're some kind of waterproof pleather; the tongue is sewn into the shoe with extra panels to make it waterproof and snow resistant; and they have ruthless looking grips on the bottom too for snowy and icy weather. Pretty much designed for a Sapporo winter y'know.
Now I'm curious as to whether these shoes are available outside Japan. All the big sneaker companies make them, basically a rugged snow-ready version of one of their other shoes, but mostly they're only made up to 28cm which is the standard Japanese upper size limit. I really dug the New Balance and Vans ones, but they didn't stretch to 30cm. Converse miraculously did, so that's what I got, and they're tagged with Converse Japan labels. Last year I emailed Vans to ask if I could get their snow sneakers in my size and they didn't seem to know what I was talking about, so I have to figure that this is another one of those lines of awesome shit that is made by the Japanese arms of western companies, only for Japan.
And hopefully I'll fall on my ass less this winter.
