Our visit to a snow playground started with a meltdown. No, not the emotional type, thankfully, but of Tokyo’s railway system.
We had to wake too early in order to make our 8.36 Shinkansen to Gala-Yuzawa, a JR East owned snow resort accessible on the Joetsu Shinkansen line. We thread our way up to the Yamanote/Keihin Tohoku Line platform at Akihabara, board a Keihin Tohoku train and go… nowhere.
“Due to a power failure, no trains are running.”
There is another option. We can possibly just make it to Ueno and our Shinkansen if we catch the Subway Hibiya Line.
We squeeze our way out, catch the Hibiya train and get out at Ueno where we are stuck. The crowds! Mostly flowing in the opposite direction to us. A solid human river and we, and a few others, are a thin stream against the flow.
It is a relief when we finally emerge into the quiet Shinkansen section of Ueno Station. But our train has long gone. We try to exchange our bookings for the next Tanigawa Shinkansen more than an hour later, but all reserved seats have gone. We’ll just have to sit in the unreserved section.
Exhausted by the ordeal, we sit in the Shinkansen waiting area opposite an unmanned Ra-Men Stand (that’s what was written).
Heading up to the platform early, we watch a series of Tohoku, Hokuritsu and Joetsu Shinkansens pass, before our Tanigawa arrives.
Fortunately, there is a spare three seaters row available. The E7 cabin is modern and stylish, but the headrests need to be slid right up for a gaikokujin like me. The seat power function is very welcome.
It looks like a wonderfully clear day outside. After Takasaki the Shinkansen splits to the Niigata Line and we head past mountains and (mostly) through tunnels. I fall asleep for a while.
At Echigo-Yuzawa the line branches to one more station of Gala-Yuzawa, open only during the snow season. This is the first time I have travelled on this branch, meaning that the Nagasaki extension is the only Shinkansen route I haven’t caught.
The mountain scenery outside looks spectacular. The platform is crowded with a range of local and foreign tourists, including many Indonesians. We head up into the “Cowabunga Base” and book Gondola, chairlift and Snowmobile Sled tickets. Many activities are already sold out or not running (snow tubing).
We buy Alex a pair of sunglasses after getting scolded for not having any when we did our sole ski lesson in Perisher a few years ago.
The first step is to take the gondola up the mountain slope. The initial rise is a bit shaky and scary, but the rest of the ride is smooth and the views of the mountain valley are incredible as we head up the steep mountainside. Below us are ski runs.
The gondola ends at Cheers Rest House, where there are a range of eateries and rental facilities. The snow is quite hard compared with the fresh powder of Takayama a few days ago. Skiers and snowboarders fly down the slopes and head back up to the chair lifts.
We meet the snowmobile sled tour, which is a short ride in a trailer towed by a snowmobile, heading off to Restaurant Ole. I get a lung full of exhaust and feel quite sick at the end of it.
Restaurant Ole is a small hut serving curry rice and udon. B and Alex order butter chicken curries and I have a vegetarian udon, removing the mushrooms from the soup. I also order a hot chocolate, which is nice after the cold.
Unable to the take the chairlift and ski, we ride the sled back after lunch. Fortunately with less exhaust this time.
Back at Cheers, Alex hires a yellow plastic sled for twice the price we bought one in Finland. It’s only a short run at the Snow Enjoyment Park, but he has fun going up and down multiple times, sometimes with B joining him.
The clock is ticking for our return trip, so we catch the included Barouche chairlift further up the mountain. I was nervous about the very steep initially section, but it’s fine. The only issue is that my hands are freezing holding the bags and taking photos with my phone. But it’s a spectacular view of the mountains and the folks skiing, boarding and falling off below.
At the top is the Bell of Love observation deck with views across the valley and above. Although the weather is coming in and light snow is now falling.
We hurry back to the chairlift and begin a vertiginous return ride down the mountain. Then we swap to the gondola to the bottom and the train station. It’s warm inside.
After browsing the expensive omiyage, we reboard the Tanigawa Shinkansen back to Tokyo, this time with reserved seats. Once out of the tunnels it looks like a bright and beautiful day outside.
Leaving the Shinkansen at its terminus at Tokyo Station, we take a walk to nearby Ginza. B has been raving about the Henri Charpentier cake she at for her birthday in Singapore when I was home in Australia with covid. There is a branch in Ginza.
We don’t realise what is involved in dining in. An hour’s wait for a table, and when we finally get one, an expensive compulsory order. We walk out without ordering.
Close by is somewhere Alex wants to visit: Itoya, a luxury stationery store. The goods on the multiple floors are beautiful. None of us has the patience to properly use stationery, but I do buy some lovely stamps and Alex some pens.
We buy more pens at nearby Loft, along with the kind of travel document wallet I’ve been wanting for years after the last one I bought from Loft started falling apart and now replacement could be found.
It’s late and we are starving, but the queues aren’t finished. B decides that she wants Italian/Western food, so we queue for another 45 minutes at a Saizeriya.
We order salads and pasta, French onion soup, doria (cheese covered rice) and a hamburger (patty only) plate. It’s a little too much food, but also very cheap and a nice change from Japanese food. Then back to the hotel for an “early” night. Which hopefully means before midnight.
