Japan and Abby and snow and white trees and Mexican food, et. al.

This past weekend I made that long journey to Nagano once again. I was foraging for snow and meeting Ms. Abby Augusta, whom I hadn’t seen since January when she, her parents and I roved around Kyoto together. It was Friday night, late, when I arrived in Saku--Abby’s whimsical town of birch trees and goat creatures whom appear and disappear as erratically as I tend to this blog.

We spent Saturday sleeping through morning then driving around town in her little red car. We found soggy trails to hike and a frozen pond where townies were fishing for spring.


I remember remarking to Abby that these people looked extremely depressed, squatting in solitude over their small holes in the ice, dormant cigarettes hanging from their lips. But if you squint your eyes, she replied, it looks like they’re all out there taking a crap in unison.

That was the scene exactly.


Paddle boats disguised as a gaggle of swans, made idle by the ice.



Snowpeople. Apparently big fans of ice fishing.


Abby Augusta admiring a lonely white tree.

Later that day we bathed at a beautiful onsen (hot spring)--one of three onsens we paid visits to that weekend alone.

The next morning we drove north to Hakuba, where the winter olympics took place 10 years ago, where we were promised snow. Alas:





We went snowboarding as soon as we got there. Our chair lift ascended over the olympic course, which was a relentless sequence of harsh moguls and flailing skiers. Needless to say, we stuck to the green and blue runs (this being Abby’s second go at snowboarding and my first in two years).

It felt good to see heaps of snow again.

That night we sought out Hakuba’s non-Japanese restaurant selection and fortuned upon a Mexican place on the outskirts of town. When we walked in, the staff said they were full and shrugged their shoulders about how long the wait would be (typical). Luckily, a table full of real Mexicans beckoned for us to join them. We did. They were stand-up fellas--all of whom spoke perfect English and had traveled all over the world (although they kept saying origami when they wanted to say arigato).