All alone on the chair lift

I just came back from my first weekend of skiing in Japan. It is absolutely FANTASTIC! The snow was so beautiful, all soft and powdery, and there was more than I think I have ever since in my entire life! We went to Naeba for those who know Japan, an hour and 30 minute shinkansen ride from Tokyo. Given how close, I am thinking mountain near the city must be like Camelback or Hunter Mountain. Um, no! This is like Steamboat or Winter Park or anywhere else in the Rockies. They don't call it the Japan Alps for nothing. Absolutely fantastic skiing...

Two strange things about skiing n Japan; (1) there is no apres-ski and (2) you are guaranteed to ride the chair lift alone. The apres-ski...doesn't exist. In fact, we found the one bar in town and it was run by couple of Aussie gaijin. Don't really know why the Japanese don't do apres-ski...maybe because Japanese women don't really drink and Japanese men drink to oblivion which is not so good for one's skiing the next day? Or because people tend to stay in ryokans where you eat dinner in your room, have a bath, and go to bed? I don't know...if anyone does, please share with the group. All I know is that there was no slopeside bar that you skied up to for a cold microbrew or warming whiskey and some country tunes.

And the chair-lift...Japanese people will not ride the chair lift with you. Just like they usually won't sit next to you on the subway. Why? Again, don't really know. I think the theory is that gaijin are bad news. We are trouble in some way. We are either going to cause trouble or invite trouble or just not be like everyone else which therefore is bad. They just don't want to be associated with the possibility of trouble or someone so different. That or they think we are so big the tension line might just snap under the extreme weight. So, on that high-speed quad lift, you could be standing there with another person and the two people behind you when they realize that they might be positioned to get on the chair with you, will very slowly stop shuffling forward to create some distance between themselves and the amazon gaijin. It's very subtle and discrete but still you can almost see the terror in their goggle covered eyes. At first, I thought it was funny but then I started getting kind of upset by it. I mean, it's not like we are going to eat them or anything. We all just want to get to the top of the mountain, you know?

It's funny because when you are a single they still do it but it's different because you have the power to make your own rules. The power comes in the singles line. Saturday, a big group of us skied together and it was good fun. I only knew my friend Timon who invited me along on the trip so it was great to meet new people and I hadn't skied in over 3 years so I needed to get back into it. By the end of the day, I could see that Sunday was going to be some alone time. I, frankly, do not need to hang out at the top, hang out at the middle, hang out at the bottom, make sure everyone is here, go to the bathroom, hang out some more...no, we're here to ski so let's ski. Yes, that evil Parker trait of impatience rears it's ugly head. So, on Sunday, Timon went to find some trees to snowboard in while I popped in my iPod and hit the long, wide, snow covered intermediate slopes to get some good practice on my technique and just ski. It was absolutely brilliant. I went where I wanted, when I wanted. I skied so hard my thighs were burning. Skiing alone means getting to take advantage of the singles line. Ski right up and onto the lift, genius. And best part is that you join another group so you force the Japanese people to sit with you on the lift. And I can assure you that no one died, no trouble was caused, and everyone made it to the top in one piece. Amazing.