The Japanese Ministry of Education has it written in the school curriculum that students "should learn how to ski".  All of the school districts that I have worked in over the time I have been here have interpreted this as students will learn to ski and send the entire second grade class off to one of the country's ski hills for 2 or 3 days.  Yachiyo was nice enough to include me in the budget and take me along for a 3 day trip to one of the hills about 2 hours from here.

I was on skis the whole 3 days but the conditions were fantastic so I picked up quite a bit.  Its been about 10 years since I have skied so I was eager to try out the new carving skis.  They are fun but I think I will stick to snowboarding.

The first 2 days we were there it must have snowed about 40cm but the third day it was clear when I woke up so I hiked out to get some shots of the sunrise.  A foreigner standing out in the middle of the ski run with no jacket on taking pictures at 7am was enough to put a smile on the grooming guys faces.  Actually there are quite a few foreigners instructing at the hill.  The mountain hires them to make the place look cool.  The funny thing is they somehow got hold of Whistler ski school uniforms for the foreign teachers to make them look even cooler.  

There are more ski pictures in the photos section - including the sunrise pictures!!!!