Having won a free ticket from the kind people at both Snow Japan and Maiko Korakuen resort in Niigata, I happily roped in a driving friend and his son and we had a day out from Kanagawa. Right from the off, the stars seemed to be aligned against us as my mate got lost on the way to my house to pick me up!! The weather report was for light snow but the previous 2 or 3 days had been significantly warmer and there was some rain so I wasn't expecting there to be stellar conditions.
An early start for a drive from Shonan, picked up and on the road for 4.45am....not bad. we had to make stop in T