It never used to be this way when I was growing up as a skier. My family would drive several hours to the town below the slopes, stay in a cheap hotel, and then the next morning venture up a long and rough unpaved road to the slopes. The process would then be reversed at the end of the day, leaving us all exhausted & cranky. Today the concept of enjoying oneself “on snow” is both more widely accepted and in fact demanded. Guests stay in luxurious accommodations at the foot of the slopes, bathe in splendor, & enjoy resort dining & Spa services well into the evening. Welcome to the part where one sees, in my case anyways, how the other half has been living!

Read on for the eighth installment in this miniseries within the setting journals - if you have not read the introduction & previous articles to this series, please do so via accessing the links at the bottom of this page - thanks.

The Joetsu region of Niigata Prefecture in Japan enjoys some fantastic weather during the month of May - quite similar in my mind to that of the later summer months experienced in North America’s Pacific Northwest. Nights are cool and dry for sleeping, while the days are warm/hot but not humid. Best of all though is that mosquitoes are few and far between, making outings and the like pleasant.

For the snow on the slopes however, May is like the fat lady singing (It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings). This year, the song of the fat lady has been a long one, as the latter shoulder season of the white season has lasted almost two months! To pick up where I left off last time, skiers and boarders were still able to make it down to the village on snow through to the end of April.

Tuesday 19th April 2005, 9:50AM
Beautiful clear, dry and relatively windless weather held in the Joetsu region yesterday/overnight, and continues presently.

At Arai, the snow at the top of the mountain is still lots of fun when it comes to skiing and boarding. While it is still possible to ski/board down to the village presently, nightly grooming from now through the end of the season will focus on the upper elevations.

The clear weather should hold for the remainder of the day today, with a chance of rain late in the day tomorrow.

Although the number of skiers and boarders tapers off towards the end of April, resorts like to remain open if at all possible in order to attract visitors for the National Golden Week holidays. This year, Golden Week lasted almost ten days for most. Fortunately the resort had snow remaining for it (in previous years when there was less snow, the resort would close on weekdays prior to Golden Week holidays in order to conserve it for the vacation period). As well, the entire half upper part of the mountain, including the half pipe, also remained open - despite conditions being a little rough towards the end of this period of heavy use. Days on the Japanese Calendar that are red over this holiday period found the resort doing well relative to periods before/after this holiday period.

Following Golden Week, the upper left hand quadrant of the mountain was closed along with the half pipe and one lift, leaving only two main runs & a couple of conditional zones open. While the resort received more than a hundred day visitors most days in the last few weeks of the season, it was not until the final day of the season that a significant number of skiers/boarders came out. On Sunday, 22^nd of May the resort hosted over 650 day skiers & boarders - thanks in part to the final event held on that day. The event offered music, presents for guests via a lottery, and two car clubs (Alfa Romeo & Volkswagen) on the plaza. The strong turnout generated strong revenues on the final day of an extremely long white season.

Sunday 22nd May 2005, 11:14AM
The warm, dry and clear skies of yesterday have been replaced with haze & slightly menacing clouds threatening rain.

At Arai, the final day of the white season has started well with a good turnout of skiers and boarders anxious to get in last runs. The snow should hold out until the end of today!

Following showers later today, tomorrow should be clear. Rain is presently forecast to return later in the day on Tuesday, the 24th of May.

Weather reports here throughout the green season (until the beginning of November) will be posted weekly every Friday.

Since the last volume of the setting journals came out, bad and good things have happened (Sun can’t shine every day) as follows:

It was with shock and sadness to learn of the recent passing in April of Mr. Onesimus S. Diasanta, “Nays”, of the house band for the resort, “Trio Latino” (I have been told that his name originated from the bible). This band, of which “Nays” was the singer, has often been mentioned within the setting journals. Although the death was from natural causes, it was unexpected, given his young middle-aged looks & voice. For the other two members of Trio, this passing was tough as the three of them had spent more time with each other over the past twenty years than with their respective families. Despite such hardship, the two remaining members by choice took the stage as usual the following day, giving new meaning to the saying, “The show must go on”. Nays has been buried back in his native country of the Philippines, and Trio is presently auditioning for a new singer. The two original members remaining are looking forward to returning to the resort in the future with a new male lead. I asked if there was any chance of a female lead, but the always-friendly answer was “No, as the band operates on a policy based strictly on business”.

Another death to report at the resort concerns an unfortunate bear. Although the plight of bears at the resort was written about in volume 8 of the setting journals here, this latest fatality offers a new twist. Once a bear is spotted, tracked and shot by some locals from the immediate area, then a sake-fueled party is held in its honor. Following these events, the remainder of the animal usually ends up in the staff cafeteria at the resort. This time round when offered the bear soup I decided to accept it and found myself digging into a bowl. Alls fine and well for the foreigner working at the resort, but the rough and cut snow boarding crew at the next staff table were not having any of it. Although I’m not entirely sure, I am under the impression that they complained to the staff of the cafeteria not about the fact that the soup was made from bear, but instead that it still had bones from the bear in it.

It was mentioned above that resorts like to stay open for Golden Week, and at Arai this entails among other things preparations to the entrance of the resort for the pending arrival of guests. For me, this meant being drafted into a cleaning crew one morning and sent onto a bus down to the welcome sign for the resort, where I was discharged from the vehicle along with some brooms, shovels and three scruffy colleagues (who unlike me had actually dressed for the occasion). Our job was to sweep the drive up to the resort hotels of debris left behind from the receding snows. While it did not make much sense to me why we had to sweep against gravity, I actually used the time to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Also, I wondered why the resort does not have one of those machines designed for such work, as it would be much more efficient given the size of the task at hand…

Golden Week for me meant a quick trip home by myself to visit my parents and brother back in Canada. I heard somewhere that most foreigners in this country leave within three years of arriving here, and such is the period of time for me since I last made it back to my roots. While I am happy and content with my life in Japan, it got to the point this winter just passed when I became very concerned about not seeing my parents in the family home while I still had the opportunity to do so. Sometimes in life one has to do something to spite oneself, and for me this meant putting everything here temporarily on hold. The visit was low key, which is what I wanted, and it was great to spend some quality time answering the call of the blood.

May has meant gearing up for summer at the resort, which will once again feature the Kids Adventure Residential Summer Camps in July & August. These camps are put on by the Arai Guide Center (the division of the resort that offers kids ski/board lessons). The concept behind these summer camps came from the founder of the resort himself, who learned English by participating as a camper at Winona Camps for Boys (Bridgton, Maine, USA) when he was young. Like skiing and snowboarding, the founder also wanted to introduce a similar western-style concept summer camp to Japan. He went about this by first sending staff to Winona Camps, and then from the summer of 2000 the resort has annually put on sessions of these camps. (More information on these camps can be found here.)

These camps are good value for Japan-based families that want their children to experience a western-style summer camp in nature. I am continuing to push the resort to put on more of these camps, partially because the fondest memories of my own childhood were those from summer camp…

Chimes emanate for the last time today from the electronically controlled carillon belonging to the Guest Relations Division. This performance follows similar ones, each featuring a well-known melody, every third hour on the hour from 9 AM - 9 PM. The carillon, consisting of four rows of brass bells, can be found on the heated plaza in front of The Club. It is elevated above five Stonehenge-like pillars, and is meant I believe as a background for people photos at the resort. When the bells go off, they never fail to excite the children running around the plaza, even when the snow is coming down heavily. I always remember the fall day several years ago that the entire structure was put into place, because there was a staff meeting being held at the same time above the plaza in one of the ball rooms. While watching this all being put into place, the topic of the meeting that day concerned how the resort was facing hard times ahead…

Veterans in the snow industry tend to gravitate towards earlier bed times, and that has proven true for myself as well. The nature of the Internet however means that those outside of the business think little of calling the English Mobile phone linked to the Inventory of Skills Division at this time of the evening. Sure enough, the vibrator within this phone (which has remained on manner mode for several years now) goes off. The noise of the phone vibrating on the top of the TV wakes me from my slumber, and I grab it and head for a place in the house where I can answer it without waking others. This phone rings incessantly for the six months of the year when the resort is in white season, and remains stagnant the other half of the year. I rarely make calls with it and instead just receive calls and then follow them up. One time a potential guest called me at 1:30 AM when he got home from work, but I waited until the next morning to call back.

A staff Shuttle Bus operated by the Guest Relations Division departs from just outside the resort “backstage” service yard (this area connects the underground tunnels of the resort with service docks for commercial trucks and the like - the area is shuttered nightly to conserve heat, and also gives staff using the shuttle service an indoor area to wait for the service). The service yard is “serviced” by a service road partially separate from the one that guests use to ensure the guest ambience for resort arrivals and departures. On this downhill milk run, the shuttle will first go through the local area of Ryozenji, then to the dormitory, and finally on to Arai Station. I’ve used this service several times. Initially, I was introduced to the service years ago as a dishwasher at the resort. Following my work at the Terrace restaurant, I would ride the Gondola down to the village, walk through the underground tunnels and once outside catch up with guest traffic leaving the resort and stick my thumb out. Although guests would always stop to pick up the big gaijin, eventually I was asked to use the shuttle service instead. It is one of the things that always impresses me about Japan, most resorts offer some form of this service, even for staff!

A full-time staff member finishes her work at the Italian restaurant belonging to the Restaurant Division, walks through the underground tunnels to an indoor parking lot, and leaves. Returning home in the middle of winter has been made much easier since indoor parking privileges were extended to long-term staff a few years back. Gone are the days of trudging out to the outdoor lot with a shovel in one hand & bags in the other to find your vehicle, a process that could take almost an hour when the snows were particularly bad. Once I had my own wheels, I parked in this outdoor lot and still cannot believe how much snow could fall in a couple of hours. Life at that time was made a little easier by the fact that the Pajero Mini I was driving had a door on the back, so it was possible to enter & climb over to the drivers seat to reverse out of the snow encompassing the vehicle.

Back at home following a long day on the job, a member of the Sales Division is relaxing in front of the TV. While watching the news at this time of night is quite standard, the sales person pays particular attention to the weekly weather report for the Japanese archipelago. After all, the few minutes of the national weather forecast will likely have a big influence on sales in the coming week. Guests in the know and without kids in tow do often book at the last minute. This actually helps the resort because they are always some last minute cancellations of families with a member who has come down with the flu or something at the last minute. While snowmen dotted throughout the northern part of the archipelago in the forecast is good for the industry in general, it is when there are consistently more snowmen in the Niigata area compared to those in others that sales for the coming week should be strong. It is what I believe separates those in the snow industry from others that live with them, those in the business cheer for the snowmen while everyone else groans!

The 3 resort hotels of the Hotel Division go through a nightly procedure about this time to prepare for the “graveyard” part of the night. If the front desk of each hotel is not expecting any late arrivals, then they will lock all but one of the access points, and rely on intercoms for unexpected walk-in guests and the like. Following such, the overnight staff will rotate for a late dinner break (the meal usually consists of a staff dinner prepared at the related canteen during regular dining hours, & then brought via a Japanese-style lunch box to the “front back” of the hotel). I was surprised to discover recently that these “graveyard shifts” are extremely popular & sought after amongst the seasonal winter staff. The reason? The shift starts from 4 PM, meaning that it is possible to get in the better part of the day boarding, before flying off the hill and into a staff shower within the hotel prior to the shift. As long as all is quiet in the wee hours of the morning, then it is possible to catch some sleep before the morning rush. Given that the shift then finishes at 10 AM the following morning, it is possible to head straight back out onto the slopes. Needless to say, only those truly dedicated to boarding can put up with such a schedule for the six months of the white season at the resort.

Other veteran seasonal winter staff prefer grooming duties of the Mountain Division. There is a nightly meeting at this time within the Pisten Bully Base (read more about this world-class facility within an earlier volume of the setting journals here). The groomers on duty will sit in their office on the second floor of the building housing a customized garage on the first floor to divide up duties that will carry them through the graveyard shift to the next morning. The resort requires 13 pisten bullies to cover the entire mountain nightly (as opposed to an industrial standard of three or four). Although not featuring such a high peak at 1400 meters above sea level, the twin facts that the base is 1100 feet below and skiers/boarders can do their thing almost anywhere on top of the bald head of the mountain (Ohgenashi), means a lot of area needs to be covered nightly, hence so many groomers are required.

One of the leading members of this crew has also been interviewed for the setting journals and this can be read here. Years ago as a dishwasher at the top of The Gondola I worked with the other “scruff” (where personnel sends such characters every winter), & met some neat people. One of them was a young shy guy from Tokyo, who was keen to learn English so that he could board in New Zealand. With the years that followed, he made a life of boarding in New Zealand & then returning to ARAI for work. His duties progressed from dishwasher to Patrol, & then the Terrain Park, & finally this winter he “graduated” into grooming. Quite often after finishing a shift I would catch him & his slightly bleary eyes heading out with his board on the slopes to “test” what he had produced overnight. I have no doubt that one day he will get a “real job” & do well, but all the best to him in the meantime as he enjoys his youth to the full.

Sunday night in the service industry can be considered the equivalent of a Friday or Saturday night for those in other trades, meaning that this evening offers a great chance to get out and have a party! Tonight, the Restaurant Division has rented out the party room of a nearby pension to hold a farewell soiree for seasonal foreign workers heading home. An essential part of Japanese culture in my mind, the “Sayonara Party” tonight started out with everyone shedding their clothes and jumping into the hot springs, segregated of course! Following the communal bath, everyone gets dressed again and heads up to a large tatami room set especially for the party. Dinner follows with drinks flowing freely, especially for the departing workers that are being honored. Other staff who are both sober and have private vehicles join the party later to both say their farewells and to make sure that everyone gets home safely. While 10:45 PM does not sound late to some, it is quite late for a party in this industry to break up given that most are due back at work bright and early the next morning.

Snow starts to fall at a more rapid pace at the resort, causing Human Resources Division staff on duty in the central systems center to switch on the heated plaza. This plaza is supposedly the largest of its kind in the world, and is heated by warm water running through hoses just below the brick surface. The effect at this time of the night is picturesque, as the falling snow is illuminated against both light coming from the surrounding hotels and steam rising from the heated plaza (much in the same way one sees steam rising from a rugby union scrum on a cold and wet day). The plaza heating is turned on solely on the basis of the amount of snow in the weather forecast, with the goal of keeping it clear of snow accumulating on the surface.

Some Club Guests are kicking back in the exclusive Executive Lounge of the same hotel belonging to the Hotel Division. This facility acts as a kind of “sitting room” for Club Guests, where like a preferred airport lounge, one can enjoy light refreshment round the clock while checking out periodicals and the like. Alternatively, as it is being used tonight, a group of guests can enjoy a final beverage together following dinner, before retiring to the privacy of their individual guest rooms for the night. I’ve seen large groups of Guests play board games here until the wee hours of the morning, fueled in part by the complimentary Micro Brew in the Self Service Fridge.

A Japanese day skier, not belonging to any resort division, departs from his base within a metropolis to drive overnight to the resort. This is a daily occurrence, and it takes a brave soul to make such a venture, especially if the weather has a chance of deteriorating to a point that mountain operations the following day are jeopardized…

The meeting held at 10:30 by the groomers of The Mountain Division has finished and from there the drivers headed down to the ground level of the facility, gassed up their vehicles and headed up the mountain. The remainder of the night will be coordinated via radio, with the lights of the vehicles high up on the mountain bringing to and end another day in resort life…

Although I never realized it at the time of planning this miniseries within the setting journals, having now penned my way through an entire day of resort life, an epilogue is in order. Next time in the setting journals, I will wrap up this miniseries, update you on developments between now and then, and also shed further light on what the resort is offering guests this summer. Until then, try to stay dry as this Japanese archipelago once again heads into the rainy season. Who can really complain however with all the snow that fell this season just finished? Please feel free to drop a line in the thread linked to this article and thanks for reading, eh?