It's So Close You Can Spit On It DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE

I always try to tell myself that I took this job with lots of legitimate reasons in mind. After all, one of the requirements is that I speak Japanese nearly exclusively at this job, even if it is ostensibly, an English teaching job. Of the twenty some-odd English teachers I work with, about four will actually use my native tongue. A little strange-sounding (at least to those who have not spent some time on "An Island of Gods with the Emperor at the Center"), but it should be good for practicing my Japanese, and developing my language skills are a primary goal at this job. My other endeavors are also reasons to be here. Writing opportunities continue to develop, and recording guest host slots at a local commercial radio station, cannot hurt towards my eventual goals of graduate study in International Relations, and work in some form of international media. To add to that, my friends at the local International Association find interesting volunteer opportunities for me, often involving my "Japanese Immersion Study". These are all "legitimate" reasons for me to be here in Nishine, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

However "it" lurks just seventeen kilometers away from me, beckoning me to visit at least fifty times this ski season. Can there be a more tempting lure for the 1999-2000 Iwate JET Program member voted "Most likely to never have a ‘real’ job?" It allures and vexes me by showing it’s secondary base area, lifts and trails, in plain view of my apartment!. It offers one of the best ski experiences in Japan, at least in terms of variety of terrain offered, services available to the ski consumer, and night skiing that is first rate going nearly two-thirds of the way up the mountain. "It" consistently makes most "top-ten" Ski Area lists in Japan, usually in the top five with only Zao close to it in the "Famous Tohoku Ski Areas" category. "It" can offer me a season pass, bought quickly enough, is a steal for the potential return in skiing value. "It" is a mere thirty minutes away by car, I tested this out in May, as soon as my car insurance was valid, and I could drive legally? "It" threatens to return me to my halcyon days of skiing forty-four times a season (from December to JULY!), and getting the bill paid in large part by the Japanese Ministry of Education. "It" threatens to soil the appearance of my legitimate efforts, by tacking on that "dirty but FUN!" word, "SKI-BUM".

Just what is this "It" lurking in the "not-too-distant" distance? A distance that I gleefully described as "So close I can SPIT on "IT"!" to my ski and snowboard-involved friends. That, coupled with a larger than normal sized apartment will make this winters guest list relatively decent sized, apparently.

"It" is a ski experience that (deserved or not) brings crowds of people to tiny Ashiro (pop. approx. 9,000 people), Iwate Prefecture from Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and parts of Japan even further away, by-passing Niigata, Fukushima, Yamagata, and even Nagano Prefectures (among others) and their wonderful, sometimes legendary ski areas. Of course, these crowds of people often push the "locals" to seek refuge at some of Iwate’s lesser-known but still good resorts on the weekends, such as Geto, Hachimantai, Hachimantai Resort, Amihari, and Okunakayama. Shizukuishi, Iwate’s most enigmatic resort is actually as much a "tourist" resort as a local resort, though development (for that matter even some better investment in the current facilities) by its penny-pinching owner could vault it higher into the strata of Tohoku`s leading resorts. Though, for now, between Shiga Koogen and Niseko, only Zao comes close to "it", for being a popular, famous, and even sometimes deserving of that reputation, "first-rate" ski resort (Zao may have endless trails and facilities, amazing ambience, and the legendary "juu-hyoo", but, it is hurt by its lack of challenging terrain).

"It" is without a doubt, the flagship resort in the area, Appi. It also can derive about as many different reactions as you can possibly get from skiers. To Japan’s skiing elite, it is one of the major resorts in the country, well worth the money spent on shinkansen (bullet train) tickets that take you to Morioka, the last stop on the line, both literally and metaphorically.

My ski-crazy friends, especially those used to the powder of the Rockies, the back bowls of Colorado, the just plain difficulty and blue ice of Northeast North America, and the glitz and glamour of the European Alps, very often give a snort, and express their derision at "crap-pi". They find their sense of adventure, and search for "steeps" and powder, is better quelled at places like Hachimantai, the off-piste wonderland, Hakkoda, the pile of powder with a tramway to serve it, at Shizukuishi, to attempt to break to sound barrier, or further off, at Hokkaido’s legendary (Niseko, Furano, and Ryutsutsu), and semi-legendary (most of the rest) resorts.

The locals - well of course some go, but very rarely on the crowded weekends, and some would just as soon avoid it all together. Your chances of sharing a lift with a Iwate denizen or a city dweller, are around fifty-fifty I would guess. I can sympathize to a point with the Iwate clan. When I grew up in Vermont’s Mad River Valley, half of New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut would come up to Sugarbush Valley, one of Eastern North America’s major Ski resorts. This would drive half of the local skiers to neighboring Mad River Ski Area where they would grouse about the "Turkeys" invading their pristine Vermont rural paradise. Do you think Iwate "sukii-minzoku" grouse about the "ShichiMenChoo" ("Seven-Face-Bird" or "Turkey" in Japanese)?

So what is Appi; legend? Over grown tourist trap? The bane of existence for thrill-seekers, speed demons, and powder hounds? Or a pretty decent place to park your bags and stay a while?

To quote the famous "What’s My Line?" television show; "Will the REAL Appi, Please stand Up?"

Well...actually it is all of the above, and more. Appi, was built in the early 1980’s, which was right around the peak of Japan’s economic "Super-Power" Era, and the accompanying boom in the ski industry. Countless times, Appi has been referred to as the "quintessential" Japanese "Economic-Boom-Bubble" Ski resort, or some similar moniker.

The advantage of Appi’s relatively recent construction, is you get a very modern resort, with lots of lifts and trails, with high-speed quads and two gondolas that whisk you quickly to the slopes. You have a huge base lodge, ski rentals that can accommodate even my size thirteen (30.5 centimeters) feet, and then some, a huge food and beverage selection, that includes a few small restaurants and cafe, and a cafeteria that can double as a jumbo jet hangar if necessary. You even have a gift shop with a selection so huge that some of the gifts even make sense to westerners, a few will even fit, never something to take for granted in a Japanese ski resort.

That is truly what Appi’s claim to fame is. It can offer a greater variety of services and ski terrain to the consumer than any other resort in Tohoku. Toss in some nice places to stay right next to the ski area, and you have the making of one of Japan’s better resorts. I have had the opportunity to ski it a few times in a few different contexts, and it always has been a decent place to ski even if my idea of "ideal" skiing lies elsewhere.

If one wants high speed cruising, then Shizukuishi is the place. Appi has had a reputation as that of a "wimpy" ski area, but it does have some nice places to pick up the pace, especially on the upper half of the mountain. More challenge can be found elsewhere, but still Appi is not totally bereft in that aspect. As a matter of fact Zao, its only challenger for the pre-eminent Tohoku resort, it notoriously lacking in that department, which Appi is not - it is just not overabundant. In fact, Ski Japan, by TR Reid (aka the "English-Language bible on skiing in Japan") rates Appi’s "Hayabusa" ("Falcon") as the best intermediate trail in Japan (incidentally, the best beginner trail in the same book was an Appi trail too!). A fun early April day, with loads of sunshine, and some fast skis convinced me that "Hayabusa" may be just that.

For those who want powder, well Appi will accumulate it at times. On those same days Hachimantai (a half hour away) or Hakkoda (about 3 hours away), would be your best bet for finding knee or hip-deep powder. Appi can offer a lot to many types of skiers, but perhaps this is not its forte. It has a ski patrol that is rumored to be very strict about out of bounds skiing. Fortunately I have not encountered them yet in my out of bounds ventures at Appi. It was fun, explore at your own risk, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Appi certainly is popular with a variety of skiers. Of course, the upper strata of Tokyo resident skiers will spend all the dough to take the bullet train to Iwate, and then shell out some more exorbitant prices for some of the fine resorts near the mountain. Why do they do this? Well first, I think it is because they do have the money and want to flaunt it, just as at Aspen, St..Moritz, Stowe and Vail, and Appi has the reputation as a place to flaunt your yen. Beyond that and probably more importantly, for the money spent you do get a lot in return. Of all the resorts I have been to in Japan, Appi is the best for being able to offer more types of ski consumers, more services, trails and facilities than any other resort, it is certainly the best in Tohoku for that. I have had opportunity to stay in the nearby and slope side resorts, on more than one occasion, and they are quite the experience. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I have never had to pay full price. It has always been through the occasional gift connection that falls in your lap. Everything from up to the minute snow conditions, and a video display of the ski area, everything being carpeted, to a huge onsen/sauna facility, to an all you can eat buffet of some great food was memorable. Appi will not be cheap, but you will get something in return for what you pay.

In addition to the slope-side resorts, the ski facility itself is quite notable. It contains a huge half-pipe for those inclined (my guess is, that except for a token attempt or two, I will not be one of them), which exceeds just about anything for snowboard use (at least for ski area constructed facilities) in Iwate.

It also has some of the best night skiing around. It’s night skiing trails are well lit, and there is a lot of real estate to ski at night, you can get about three-quarters of the way to the top. The only drawback, is that the lifts serving the night-skiing are open air or shielded, needless to say, it can get a wee bit cold, perhaps all the way to the "freeze your cojones off" kind of cold, on those nights.

Appi always sticks out in my mind for another, essential reason. That important reason is consumption of foodstuffs and beverages. Bringing to a ski resort a healthy appetite, and a need for caffeine, to allow my body to keep up with my ability (experienced skiers in their thirties and above know just what I am talking about), food and beverage services tend to stick in my mind. Appi has them in abundance. From being the one place in Iwate that has a cafe/bakery, to a huge, and I mean huge cafeteria with ample selection (lets just say it goes at least a little beyond curry & rice, and a choice of spaghetti or hamburger with your limp fries), and a few other restaurants, Appi has it all, in a culinary sense. May I recommend the kimchi donburi served at the restaurant in the west corner of the main building facing the peak? If that is not enough, local dairy treats are sold in abundance, and if you just cannot break the convenience store habit, there is a Lawson Station at the base of the summit access road. So even the cheapskate trying to cut corners (like me, a week before the next paycheck) can find what they are looking for at Appi.

If there is one other metaphor I could use to elicit Appi's customer orientation, it would be the high-pressure air hoses that are in the gondola terminals, and also by at least one of the slope side hotels. You can use them to blow the packed snow out of you skis and bindings (and play a great trick on an unsuspecting friend!). I have never seen anything like that back in the states, even at Vail, Sugarbush Valley, and Killington. Truly, the designers of Appi consulted skiers beforehand, which is not necessarily a truism in the Japanese ski world.

That is probably the main reason people flock to Appi, especially over long distances. There is more "bang for your buck", than at many other Japanese ski areas. Other ski areas have their niches, and certain clientele, but when viewed from a distance, Appi has something that attracts a whole lot of skiers. It can offer a good portion of them more than may other places, and one would certainly have to venture south to a very crowded Chubu region, or to the far north (Hokkaido) to get a similar experience.

Appi is a ski area that certain skiers, like the American servicemen and women who come in busloads from Aomori, or the elite, and even not so elite of the Tokyo/Osaka ski crowd, will swear by. It is also a ski area that many others will swear at for one reason or another.

What kind of ski area is Appi? Well I do not know for sure. Rest assured, armed with a relatively inexpensive (If bought in the fall) season ticket, I will research that question this winter, THOROUGHLY! Perhaps thirty times or more I will do this. After all, isn’t writing this column, and its associated research a legitimate professionally-related task?

Dean H. Ruetzler