Wonderful/Horrible Life by Alex S.: JTJ

I arrived in Niseko today after flying to Tokyo and then spending another night in Sapporo on the northern island Hokkaido. The crew (Markus Fischer and Christian Öfner from Pleasure Mag, Kevin Bäckström, Philipp Strauss, Peter König and I) crammed in to a tiny van that supposedly fits 10 people. 10 japanese people maybe, but not 6 Euros with boardbags and trolleys. After a 3 hour drive, Fischi got us safely through the lefty traffic and we checked in the "Grand Papa Lodge" in Niseko. It's pretty funny cause it's a japanese hotel trying to look like an alpine lodge. But it's a nice mix of japanese and euro style.
We arrived in the afternoon and took advantage of the illuminated slopes here in Niseko and went for a night ride. It's snowing alot and I hope we can get some stuff done in the next days. The crew is perfect and everyone is happy and motivated.
So far I'm really loving Japan. It's always been my dream to come here. It's actually not as weird as I expected it to be. Nobody really speaks english but everybody is super nice and helpful. And you can't read ANYTHING. But it's possible to get around and communicate with hands and feet. I was just hoping everything would be super weird and different here, but it's quite humane. Especially Niseko is very european. But I'm sure once we go to Tokyo things will get to the weirdo-factor I've been looking for.

Here a few pics from the last days.

Night riding in Niseko.

On the way to the resort.

Öfi and me trying to fit 12 bags in a minivan. This photo was stolen from Fischi (yeah Fischi, I know how much you love it when we steal your pics. But nobody except my parents read my blog anyway;-)