The Fukui Fellowship - mixing it up with the Mixture Crew by Sam Baldwin DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE

A Japanese ski and snowboard posse speak of Global Warming, Tree Spirits, and the world’s longest rail.

I grab four bottles of Yebisu beer from the fridge and give the landlord a customary nod. I’m at Bar Yumeya in Ono, Fukui, a cosy hangout for local lovers of snow. Yasu, the owner, is somewhat of a legend in these parts, having conquered several Himalayan summits in India, Pakistan, China and Nepal. An ice pick, snowshoes, and many pictures of sabre-toothed peaks decorate the walls; souvenirs from past expeditions.

Like many foreigners in Japan, I came here to teach English, an easy option to pay the way, having heard intriguing tales of deep powder and amazing tree skiing in an exotic land. Though snow was not the only reason for my desire to visit Japan, it certainly played a key role in my decision to leave gloomy Britain and explore more of the world.

But things don’t always go as planned; despite my placement requests for the snow Meccas of Hokkaido or Nagano, to my initial dismay, I ended up in Fukui - a small, rural prefecture in west Japan, not known for it’s skiing and largely unheard of even to the majority of Japanese!

On arrival, I was sceptical on what Fukui could offer me as a snowboarder. Though I knew there was some skiing here, little detailed information on Fukui’s resorts existed. Snow had already led me around the world, but having visited the mountains of Europe, New Zealand and Canada, I wondered if little Fukui could live up to the competition.

I was lucky to get placed in Ono, a small town in the east of Fukui, completely encircled by a 360 degree ring of mountains that had eight ski areas within a 45 minute drive. I remember well my first night skiing trip to the tiny area of Kadohara, one snow stormy January eve. The snow was falling in dense sheets, the roads were completely covered, and I had never seen so much snow in my life.

As I sat alone on the chair lift, hooded, gloved and goggled, I realised I was outnumbered by lifties, 3 to 1. I was the only person in the whole ski area! It seemed the snow storm had persuaded everybody else to stay at home, and every ounce of that fine, thigh deep Fukui powder was mine. That night put a whole new slant on the mantra “no friends on a powder day” and was the start of an excellent season.

As the winter progressed, I visited all of the resorts in range and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Fukui was comprised of several small, yet fun ski grounds that were never busy. Although Fukui’s tallest mountain was around just 1600m and most ski areas had short runs and some just a couple of lifts, there was plenty of snow, and the sheer number of different ski grounds offered much variety and kept us entertained all season. In fact, despite going snowboarding up to four times a week and clocking up over thirty visits in total, I never felt the need to leave Fukui and only snowboarded outside of the prefecture once that winter.

As the season drew to a close in late March, we wanted to extend the skiing and were lucky enough to find Yasu. A 47 year old Ono local who was once a student at the school that I worked, Yasu not only knew all the local mountains like good friends, not only had experience of some of the world’s gnarliest peaks, but was also a cheerful, friendly character and the owner of bar Yumeya, the best bar in Ono (and quite possibly all of Japan!)

Owning a bar gave him the freedom to continue to climb and ski mountains, sometimes for days at a time, whenever the desire presented itself. Often, we would turn up at his bar ready for a night of drunken revelry, only to find the lights off and the door locked; Yasu was out climbing mountains again!

Our friendship quickly blossomed during the long winter nights through a mutual love of mountains, snow and music, over cups of sake, and his famous smoked cheese (which he smokes himself!). Though his English and my stumbling Japanese often made communication basic at times, with fellow snowboarder and nihongo jozu Brandon Wright onboard, we laughed and joked, as Yasu led us deep into the backcountry of the Okuetsu mountains, up tree studded slopes, and down steep snowy chutes.

The lack of English information on Fukui’s ski resorts prompted me to carefully document my season and compile the much needed Fukui Ski Guide, which included photos of the area, and reports of my back country trips, and would inform future generations of snow loving foreigners living in Fukui.  It was though my many experiences of snowboarding in unusual locations and meeting so many amazing people like Yasu, that I was spurred on to set up Snow Sphere Magazine, an online publication that aimed to blend a snow sports mag with a travel mag, thus featuring snow stories from the less well ridden peaks of the planet.

It was also through Yasu that I was introduced to other local skiers and snowboarders, including the “Mixture” crew, a collective of Japanese in their late twenties who ski, snowboard and skate in Fukui.

The Mixture group was conceived by Yomei Daisuke, who wanted to meet other like minded locals to ski and snowboard with. Using his web designs skills, he created an online forum which allowed people to get in touch, and hit the hills together.

Since its inception in 2004, Mixture now has a core posse of 30+ regular skiers and riders, who ride every weekend during winter. As a group of jozu freestlyers, it seemed natural to film their rail riding and aerial endeavours, and they have just released their second DVD, Mixture Vol. 2, showcasing their talents on the local terrain, which is distributed via their website and through Fukui’s ski shops.

Yasu the godfather with some of the Mixture crew. Bar Yumeya, Ono
 

I got together with Yomei Daisuke, Adachi Kenji, Yukari Kawagishi and Rie Ozawa, four core members of Mixture, to get their take on Japan’s world of snow sports.

How long have you been skiing/snowboarding?

Adachi: I started skiing at elementary (primary) school, so 21 years.
Yomei: I’ve been skiing for 13 years.
Yukari: I’ve been snowboarding for 9 years.
Rie: I’ve been snowboarding for 7 years.

The 2005/6 season started early with record breaking snowfalls that buried west Japan - did you get to sample the pow?
There was so much snow, so we couldn’t go skiing! We were too busy shovelling our roofs and parking spaces. It’s a shame, but it had to be done - several houses collapsed under the weight of snow this year.

We notice that there are still a few places in Japan that don’t allow snowboarding.  For example, Imajo 365 and Karigahara in Fukui only allow snowboarders at night, why do think this is?
We don’t really understand it. The ratio of skiers to snowboarders is pretty much 50:50 now, so it’s bad business sense to ban half of your potential customers. Perhaps older people still think snowboarding is dangerous. I ski, but I like to ski with skiers and snowboarders because it makes things more interesting, that’s what’s great about Mixture.

One of the mixture crew's core members, Adachi, spinning at Izumi
 

Where do you normally ride?
We’ve been to all the local resorts, but our favourite hangout is a small area called Fukui Izumi, because it’s close, cheap, quiet, and has plenty of jumps and rails. We’ve been further a field to Nagano too, but we love our local hills best and we have a lot of fun here, even though they are small.

Outside of Japan where have you been/want to go?
Adachi: I’d love to go to Whistler; it’s really popular and I’ve heard so much about it on TV and in ski magazines - it sounds awesome. One day I’ll go...
Yomei: I’ve never been outside of Japan, but next season I’m going to Alaska with my girlfriend Rie. It’s somewhere we’ve always dreamt of going and in complete contrast to Whistler, Alaska has a very mysterious air surrounding it, as few people go there.

Global Warming is a hot topic right now with skiers and boarders, are you worried about the future of snow in Japan?
Yes. Even over the last 20 years, we’ve noticed a reduction in snowfall. When we were kids, it was common for snow to reach the second floor of our houses. We would have to enter and exit from our balconies, and we could dive from them into the snow in the road. If you did that these days, you’ve probably die.

In terms of reducing energy consumption to ease global warming, I think Japan is trying. For example, our recycling policies are strict and recently new workplace dress codes have been brought in by the government to save energy on heating/cooling systems.

In summer we have “Cool Biz”, so rather than cranking up the air conditioning, employees are encouraged to remove ties and jackets. In winter we have “Warm Biz”, when we wear extra layers, rather than turning up the heating.

Mixture man Kinosita, going large
 

How popular is backcountry skiing/snowboarding amongst the Japanese?
There’s been a recent boom in backcountry exploration. 10 years ago, the only people doing it were mountaineers first and foremost, and skiers/snowboarders second. But now a lot more skiers and snowboarders want powder and fresh tracks, so they’re venturing further a field. We normally hike in spring after all the ski areas have closed.

We’ve heard a rumour that Japanese people don’t tend to ski the trees because they don’t want to offend the “Tree Spirits”. Is there any truth in this?
The only trees that we believe have sprits are the ancient giant cedars and they are not found in ski areas, they are normally near temples and shrines. So no, there is no truth in that rumour.

We’ve noticed that a lot of resorts are a bit heavy handed with the ropes, and cordon off seemingly safe areas. Why?
It’s a legal issue. It all comes down to covering their backs, as they are responsible if somebody gets hurt on their grounds. Therefore, anything which is remotely dangerous tends to get roped off.

Mixture crew's founding member, Yomei
 

In Europe and North America, people tend to duck the ropes a lot if the terrain looks fun, but here in Japan, we’ve noticed that few people do this. What’s the story?
Most Japanese tend to obey rules, and if something’s roped off they don’t even think about ducking under. They tend to think “it must be roped off for a reason - e.g. a hidden stream, a dangerous drop etc”. Saying that, we’ve ducked plenty of ropes to reach the good stuff!

Several small ski areas seem to be downsizing or closing all together. Why?
Well, the number of skiers and boarders in Japan is decreasing every year, for two reasons; firstly, our birth rate is declining, so there are less young people to take it up. Secondly, our economy is on the downturn, so people have less disposable income now a days.

Ten years ago, I remember having to wait in line for 30 minutes at my local hill to get onto the lift even though a run there took less than 2 minutes to do! Nowadays, there are almost never any queues, and sometimes the ski area employees outnumber the customers. Whilst this is great for us, it’s obviously bad for business and the small ski areas just can’t afford to stay open.

Unfortunately I think this trend will continue until only the bigger ski areas are left. I’ve heard rumours that our favourite ski area (Izumi) is in financial trouble.

Night Skiing is very popular in Japan, what do you think are the reasons for this?
People in Japan tend to work long hours, so the evening is often the only time they have to get to the slopes. It’s also a good money earner for the small ski areas, although now a lot of kids are just hiking the jumps and rails and not buying lift tickets!

Mixture member Doi at Ski Jam Katsuyama
 

Japan’s strong performance in the summer Olympics was not matched in the winter Olympics, why do you think this was?
We don’t know really. The percentage of people who practice snow sports in Japan is quite low, at least lower than for the summer disciplines, so perhaps that had something to do with it.

One of your local spots - Kastuyama Ski Jam, (West Japan’s biggest resort) has a 55m rail, thought to be the worlds longest! Have the Mixture crew attempted it?
Yes we have, and in fact Okabe-chan, a skiing member of Mixture, jibbed the entire length at a competition last month, winning the 55,000 yen prize money (1000 yen per meter)!

Can you tell us a little about Mixture Vol. 2, the latest DVD you’ve produced?
Well, we realised that the Mixture crew is comprised of some pretty good skiers and snowboarders, so we thought we’d shoot some footage of everybody having fun at our local hot spots and put together a short film. It’s mostly filmed at Fukui Izumi ski area, and it’s just everyone having fun on boxes and rails, and pulling some nice big spins and flips off the kickers.

We also got all the local ski and snowboard shops involved by giving them a little slot on the DVD. It’s a good souvenir for the crew and a nice way to show everybody what Mixture is all about and what Fukui has to offer.

A big thanks to Mixture for taking the time to speak to us.
No problems, see you on the slopes!

Yasu cooks up the local delicacy - tonchan or intestines. Back country on Kyogadake

Interpretation by Brandon Wright.  All photos copyright SnowSphere/The Mixture Crew.

Sam Baldwin is the owner and editor of www.snowsphere.com, an online magazine blending travel with snow sports, publishing articles about skiing and snowboarding on the less well ridden peaks of the planet, from India to Iceland. He has also written for White Lines, The World Snowboard Guide, and Student Traveler.