It's a wonderful white world

It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! How I wish... Not in Tokyo at least. But I did go to a place where it is really snowing.

Welcome to Hakuba in Nagano! This town situated in the heart of the Japan Alps, is blessed with breathtaking panoramic views of an impressive mountain range and of course, plenty of light and dry snow (Yes, I tested the snow - it is the best type of snow that falls is light and dry, just like the type of snow in Hokkaido!)

In Tokyo, it is too early for snow. In fact, Tokyo is still sporting 11 - 5Celcius! I wished that we can skip to the part where Tokyo gets its almost-once-in-every-two years' white dusting (Yes, I kept a record of that too!).

Although I may sound that I love snow a lot but in reality, I am happy to see it only on the first 3 days of snow. After that, I will be begging for it to stop because it makes it difficult for me to wake up in the morning because I will be huddling inside the futon, savouring every bit of warmth and resisting any will to wake up for school. Not to mention, the amount of layers of clothing that you have to wear just to step out even for a simple plant watering session on your balcony.

Back to Hakuba, this ski town hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics for Alpine, Ski Jump and Cross country Skiing events. A big progress from its humble beginnings of being located along an ancient salt trade route between Matsumoto, a castle city and the Sea of Japan.

But the absolute awesomeness of this town apart from its numerous ski resorts is its abundant hot springs. All dotted around the town and high up in the mountains. What is more perfect than a soak in the onsen overlooking the beautiful natural scenery of the Northern Alps after a day of play in the snow?

What else is great about Hakuba? Their wide range of accommodation - hotels, B&Bs and private rental accommodation, you will be spoiled for choices. Currently, I am particularly interested in the ski-in ski-out mountain cottage with its private onsen. Despite its increasing presence of the international scene, Hakuba still retains a slightly reminiscent of the atmosphere of old Japan. You can still find old temple, old markers of the salt road, the museum and good old Japanese soba restaurants.

 

Hakuba can be reached relatively easily from Tokyo, therefore it is possible for any Tokyoites to do a day trip, but why rush back to the city when all that fluffy snow and hot springs are waiting for you in Hakuba? For me, I am rushing to go back there again in March next year with a group of friends. 

There are several ways to get to Hakuba from Tokyo, the easiest, fastest and most expensive option is to take the Nagano Shinkansen bullet train departing from Tokyo station heading towards Nagano Station. The shinkansen ride costs about ￥8,000 per way. Upon reaching Nagano Station, take the hourly Alpico bus to the Hakuba station for one hour. The Alpico buses run from 8:20am to 7:40pm and on Friday night, the bus run until 9.00pm and cost about ¥1,500 one way for adults. The whole journey is approximately 2.5 hours excluding waiting time.

Taking the Keio Highway Bus from Shinjuku is the simplest, cheapest and hassle-free way to get to Hakuba. The bus fare is ￥4,700 per way and ￥8,330 for return. The Highway bus from Tokyo which takes about 4 hrs to reach Hakuba. Just note that the highway bus from Tokyo does not actually stop in front of the Hakuba train station, but in their own bus terminal which is a 10-mins walking distance from the main train station. You can check out the highway bus on:
http://www.alpico.co.jp/access/express/hakuba_shinjuku/index_e.html

PS. The weather report says 60% chance that Tokyo will get its snow tomorrow. Excited? I am. ^^

Xmas Illumination at Ebisu Beer Garden

Ebisu is the only JR station that is dedicated to a beer brewery. The town has a good mix of old classic European-style building with the newer, taller towers surrounding a huge promenade which is rare in Japan. In winter, the Ebisu Garden Place transformed into a city of light with the annual Baccarat Eternal Lights display, featuring a lit-up walkway towards a big chandelier.

This promenade is decorated with an 8m tall Christmas tree while the whole area is surrounded by lighted-up trees. I am feeling all festive already ^^. The colour theme for this year is the same as the Tokyo tower, which is gold and red.

Since we are in Ebisu, there is absolutely no reason to skip the indoor Sapporo beer house and also the Ebisu beer museum. The beer museum is a must-see and must-try attraction complete with tours and sampling of beers on tap at the Tasting Lounge - yum! Did I mention that the admission is free?

The museum collects its own advertising posters, beer mugs, gift boxes and other memorabilia over the years. You can do a self-tour, which takes between 10mins to half an hour.

But most people come here not only to learn about the beer's history, but to drink the beer at the Tasting lounge. While the beer in the Tasting lounge is not free (one beer costs about ￥300-500 and you can choose between 4 different varieties), it has a nice selection of light food. Our time was well-spent here.  I got myself a honey beer, which was delicious (sorry, no photo of the beer because I finished it before I could photograph it ^^).

This place is also surrounded by awesome restaurants such as the Sapporo beer garden and the Chateau Restaurant Taillevent-Robuchon, outdoor cafes and eateries and a shopping mall, Mitsukoshi but I didn't like shopping at this Mitsukoshi as it is quite a small one.

The bag adorned window

Anyway, it has been a very nice, but very cold night, which didn't pose any problem since my body has been happily warmed by the amount of beer I drank. Cheers!!!