What other things you can do around Samurai Riders

I may sound redundant, but what a great day! And we didn’t even go skiing. This time Chen and his wife Vivian, themselves Chinese but locals to the Bandai area, took us for a tour around the Aizu area; that is, the area that Alts Ski Area overlooks on a clear day.

Our first stop was Lake Inawashiro, the fourth largest lake in Japan. There we got up close with nature — we played amongst, and fed, the ducks and swans gathered along the lakeshore. We bought some bread and immediately we had hundreds of new web-footed friends. They ate right from our hands.

After the lake, we headed to Aizu Wakamatsu, the largest city (about 150,000 people) near Alts Ski Area. There we checked out the Tsuruga-jo Castle. The history of the castle goes back 600 years, but the present one is a remake of one built 400 years ago. Aizu Wakamatsu was renowned for its samurai.

The most famous samurai story goes thusly: About 140 years ago the Meiji government went to war with the Aizu samurai to reestablish its rule in the region. Twenty young samurai called the White Tigers, all of them between 16 and 17 years old, witnessed the battle for the Tsuruga-Jo Castle from a hillside. The smoke was terrible and it seemed the castle was already burning to the ground. In despair, they committed suicide rather than surrender, disemboweling themselves in a ritual called sepuku. It turns out the teenage warriors were rash — victims of their impatient youth. Only the surrounding area was burning; but the thick smoke made it appear as if the castle had fallen. In fact, it was holding strong and didn’t fall until weeks later. One of the young samurai survived to tell the story of the White Tigers.

From the castle, we headed to a neighboring city called Kitakata. The city is famous for its ramen noodles as well as its hundreds upon hundreds of kuras, or small shops/warehouses. People live in the kuras, sell wares or food products from them, and even brew sake. In the Ohara Brewery, we sampled some fantastic sake. They say the flavor owes to their special recipe. The brewery follows the traditional rules of sake production, with one exception. Apparently, the brewers discovered that “playing music increases the fermentation activity of the yeast." Music also helps more of the yeast survive and keep the flavor clear of dead yeast. Happy yeast makes for good sake.

And what music do they play you ask? Hip hop? Funk? Kenny G? AKB48?

The answer:

Mozart.

Go figure.

The terrain park, the kitchen and the fantastic bath

Today we met Ricki, a ski instructor and well-known freestyle skier here at Alts. He took us up to the park to re-instill in Brendan his confidence on the rails. Let’s just say his laid back, let’s-have-fun, attitude did just the trick. Since his first-day disaster, Brendan had been claiming he wasn’t going to try another rail for at least another couple of days, but within 10 minutes of hanging out with Ricki, he was up and sliding.

Before I go on, I should mention that the Alts area has one of the most extensive and best kept terrain parks in Asia. As a whole, the park consists of zones, each being set up for a different ability group. In total, the park includes a great half pipe that, if you want to, will boost you well above the lip, a multitude of boxes and rails, as well as table-top jumps of a variety of sizes.

We were excited for a full day in the park today, but the only problem was a soggy weather system trickled in and the cold air had yet to catch up, so it was raining. But the basic mission was accomplished. Brendan was back on the rails. His orbs had redropped. He was again a man.

Manhood intact, we immediately hurried out of the rain and cooked a chicken lunch at Samurai Riders Hostel. Let me explain why this chicken we cooked is significant. It’s a bit different here. The reality is that although Japan has 128 million people on a land a bit smaller than the size of California (Cali has 37 million people), there are still some remote areas. At Alts, non-skiing infrastructure is limited. Alts and Nekoma are ski areas — end of description. The pluses and minuses of this are debatable, but it is just how it is. That means when it comes to restaurants and bars, well, you aren’t going to find much. The friendly staff at Samurai Riders Hostel can be willing to take you down to town (if you’re super nice and don’t push your luck) to hit the grocery store. There you can stock up on all sorts of tasty options and cook in the community kitchen. The system works. Cooking in the kitchen also provides a great way to cross paths with other travelers and talk about life, love, food, and most importantly, skiing. In the end, Brendan and I saved a lot of money cooking for ourselves as opposed to eating at the few pricy restaurants. I should mention the beer is cheaper purchasing in bulk at the grocery store too. So, enough said. The chicken hit the spot.

After our chicken, we headed to the onsen. Ah, the onsen. This is definitely worth a visit, or rather, multiple visits. Staying at Samurai Riders Hostel will get you a 20 percent discount at the onsen, or hot spring bath. The 960 yen is worth it. Split for men and women, the bath includes multiple tubs of various temperatures, including a mineral rich (so rich its rusty red, but this is a good thing) pool and an outdoor sulfur pond that overlooks Lake Inawashiro. We enjoyed the hot water just as the rain turned to snow. Powder anyone?

Oh, and did I mention that Brendan got his manhood back?