What do you think when you hear about the words "winter"? I think, you imagine about wonderful view of snow granules fall like white cotton and how fun to do winter sports such as ski and snowboard. So do I. As soon as winter comes, I could not wait for going to the snowy area to have fun playing in the snow and doing winter sports. During the 5 years living in Japan, every winter, I always go to Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture or Yamanashi Prefecture for skiing. But this year, I want to have a different experience for going to snowy area where I've never been before, also for trying to snowboarding. Finally, I ordered a ski / snowboard package to one of the ski resorts named Inawashiro Ski Resort in the area of Fukushima Prefecture. This package price was quite economical, it spent only ¥ 6000 already included round-trip bus, rental ski / snowboard equipment and clothing, also to get in a Japanese-style bath after skiing (Onsen).
Inawashiro Ski Resort is located in Inawashiro City where precisely located in the eastern slopes of Mount Bandai. The trip time from Tokyo to Inawashiro Ski Resort took approximately 3 hours by bus. The bus trip was not non-stop, it stopped 2 times in rest areas to allow the passengers to go to the toilet or to buy some foods and drinks. I arrived there at around 11 am. When I arrived at Ski Resort, I was struck by the beauty of the city of Inawashiro I can enjoy from a height of ski locations. The sky looked so bright and residential of Inawashiro City were covered with white snow. From the location of this ski resort, I can also enjoy the view of Lake Inawashiro located in the city center. The scenic beauty was like in the land of fairy tales.
After I finished enjoying the view and taking pictures, I headed to the main building located at the site of the ski. Inside this building there are a wide range of facilities such as restaurants, souvenir shops, rental ski / snowboard equipment and clothes, also Japanese-style bath (Onsen). Before skiing, I had my lunch at a restaurant in the building. Because of the cold weather, I want to eat warm food with soup. Finally, I choose a menu of Udon (Japanese noodles). The noodles tasted very delicious especially coupled with tempura as a complement. After lunch, I immediately dressed in a special snowboards’s clothes that I rented from rental shop, then be ready to play snowboard. When I was ready, I headed to the ski area and began playing on the sloping area. Since I was a beginner, I did not take the ski lift that took skiers / snowboarders to the higher slope area in the ski resorts.
I spent 3 hours to have fun for playing snow and snowboard. I took a lot of photos also enjoyed watching the high-skill skier / snowboarder. After I satisfied playing in the snow, I had taken a bath and soaked in the onsen to get clean and warm up my body before I returned to Tokyo. On the way back to Tokyo, I stopped at the rest area where there were souvenir shops. I bought milk with strawberry flavor for my friends in Tokyo. I felt very happy on that day. I hope, before at the end of winter, I can go back to Inawashiro Ski Resort to enjoy playing snowboard again.
・Store name : Inawashiro Ski Resort
・Address : 〒969-3102 Fukushima Prefecture Yama-gun Inawashiro-machi Hayama 7105
・Phone : 0242-62-5100
・Hours : 7: 30 - 15: 30 (weekdays ) 7: 30 - 16: 00 (Saturday and Sunday)
・Holiday : no
・Average budget : ￥6,000 - ￥8,000
・URL : http://www.inawashiro-ski.com/
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