Thanks to a recommendation from Gary Vaynerchuk, the author of ‘Crush It!’ and founder of Wine Time TV, one of the first and most successful video blogs on the internet, we are now distributing our videos on www.TubeMogul.com
TubeMogul.com allows you to distribute your content via various online channels, taking the leg work out of distribution for you, and getting you and your videos more exposure online.
Jess form TubeMogul.com was kind enough to increase our upload limit to allow the upload of our trailer. Thanks Jess!
Well we have been hard at work reviewing and tagging all the footage we shot for our Snowboard In Japan documentary in Furano 2010.
As you can probably imagine, this is a very time-consuming process. Deciding what is quality, and what won’t make it past the cutting room floor is both a cathartic and heart rending experience as you realise that shot that took you 1 hour and 10 takes just isn’t up to par.
To give you an idea of how the editing process takes place, we produced a trailer for Snowboard In Japan this evening. The total running time for the trailer is just over 4 minutes. This video took over 3 hours to assemble. This includes shot selection, editing, sequencing, audio editing, addition of soundtrack, adding transitions, adding titling and producing the final exported video.
Here’s another sneak peek at Snowboard In Japan – Furano 2010 The Trailer
We are currently in post production of our DVD ‘Snowboard in Japan’. During our trip to Furano in February, we managed to get over 20 hours of high definition video footage including:
the journey to and from Furano
action on the mountain
5 high quality interviews with high profile Furano identities
a vast array of Japanese cultural activities
The challenge now is to craft the best story we can from the highlights of the footage we have.
We’ve decided to make 2 DVDs:
Snowboard In Japan, &
The Making of Snowboard InJapan
We have new equipment, and gave it a test drive this week by doing a 10 minute rough cut of the DVD
Okay, I admit it – I’m a doria addict. What is a doria you ask? It’s a baked rice dish popular in Japan. I am lead to believe that it has Italian origins, and if you google ‘doria’ you will find some good recipes. Think Spanish paella, and you will be getting close to what we are dealing with here.
In our time at Furano, we spent probably 7 or 8 of our 12 nights at R’s restaurant opposite Bar Ajito, and once I tried the doria the first night, I never deviated. R’s also make a great omelette curry, another favourite Hokkaido staple. Once I convinced Iao of the virtues of the doria,he also became a massive fan. In short, if you are in Furano – goto R’s and order a doria!
Upon my return to Australia, I googled ’doria’ to get the recipe. I found something close here which is a great low fat recipe, but it seemed a bit complex to me, and was missing some of the essential elements that made R’s dorias so oishii (delicious ).
I decided to make my own version of the doria. Forgive the approximate quantities and method, but this should give you a good start to replicating the famous R’s doria:
Ingredients
2 medium potatoes
1.5 cups brown rice
500 grams minced chicken
2 portobello mushrooms
1 small tin of corn
1 small packet of cherry tomatoes
1 onion
1 small jar of pasta sauce
10 slices salami
2 eggs
100 grams low fat grated cheese
Method
Brown chicken mince and onion in a pan with some olive oil. Slice the mushrooms and add after 2 minutes. Cook until all ingredients are cooked, then turn off heat.
Boil rice for 40 minutes.
Boil potatoes for 20 minutes.
When all ingretients are ready, add rice to the bottom of a large baking dish.
Add chicken, onion and mushrooms to top of rice.
Cover entire ingredients with the pasta sauce.
Chop potatoes into quarters and add to dish spacing evenly.
Add corn, tomatoes and salami evenly throughout dish.
Cove entire dish with grated cheese.
Crack 2 eggs on top of cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Voila! You now have an authentic replica of an R’s doria! Of course nothing can substitute for the real thing, and I’ll be back for more in 2011.
If you’re thinking that’s quite a bit to cram into one title for a post, you’d be right. But the simple fact is that former champion Alpine Snowboarder Kojima Hiasyuki has put his heart and soul into the businesses he runs at Furano. In fact when we had the privilege to speak with Kojima san for our upcoming documentary, he was justifiably proud when speaking in depth about the business and lifestyle he has built for him and his extended family of “snowflakes”. You see for Kojima san, his staff are not just paid help, but part of a vision to raise the profile of Alpine Snowboarding as a sport, and to get local children fit and active. Kojima san calls his staff his “snowflakes”, as snowflakes are all unique, but they stick together.
We also met Rumi Itagaki, herself an accomplished alpine snowboarder and former champion alpine snowboarder. Working as one of Kojima san’s snowflakes, Rumi balances teaching snowboarding at Kojima Academy in Furano’s Kitanomine zone, hosting at Tirol Cafe, Supervising the junior snowflakes at Kojima Academy Kids Park as well as helping out at Tirol Lamb BBQ and Pension Snowflake. That sounds like a massive workload right? However, I struggle to recall meeting somebody so happy and content with life. In fact, most of Kojima san’s snowflakes are former students who see Kojima san as a father figure.
If you stay at Pension Snowflake, or visit Cafe Tirol or Tirol Lamb BBQ (which you should – the food is excellent), you will be welcomed to the fold and can consider yourself part of the extended snowflake family during your time at Furano.
We’ve mentioned Bar Ajito in a few previous posts and videos, but I wanted to take the time to send Nii the owner of Bar Ajito and his friendly staff Tomo & Miki a special thank-you.
We stayed at Pension Furanui in Furano Village, and Bar Ajito was our “local”. Furano itself has more of a family-friendly laid back vibe, so there are not many bars in the village, and you will rarely find yourself having to line up for a beer or cocktail.
Nii and the staff go out of their way to make you feel welcome. It doesn’t even feel right to be calling them “staff”, as they realy felt like good friends for the time we spent together.
As well as fulfulling our drinking requirements, Nii also took us on an awesome snowmobile tour out at Tomamu, followed by a bonus Onsen vist in the mountains that evening
After spending our last evening with our new Furano friends at Bar Ajito, Nii presented us each with a CD containing photos from our last night and the snowmobile tour. A very thoughtful touch, and something that goes way beyond just great customer service!
Firsly we would like to apologise for the lack of update to the website over the last few days. We had some back to back day trips to satellite mountains around Furano, and had a very full schedule meeting with some key Furano personalities to interview and film for our website and documentary.
Thursday night was our last night in Furano, and after a full day and evening of boarding with Mari San, the manager of the Furano ski host program followed by back to back interviews, we made our way to Ajito bar for our wrap party and to thank and farewell all our Furano friends. Friday morning, we made our way back Tokyo and spent Saturday exploring Shinjuku before flying back to Australia and arriving Sunday afternoon.
We will be updating the website with snippets of footage and more posts over the coming week. We would like to thank all the Furano locals who made our trip so special and memorable and the filming of our footage for the documentary possible. In particular we would like to thank:
Ken McBride – Manager, Furano Tourism Association
Mari Yamazaki – Furano Ski Host Manager
Djan Aston – Manager, Rhythm Snow Sports Furano
Nii Takeyuki – Ajito Bar and Dining owner, Onsen and Snow Mobile guide
Tomo (Tomoyuki) Saikawa -Ajito Bar host and cocktail mixer extraordinaire
Miki – Ajito Bar host and awesome snowmobile guide
Noriko Omori – Personal massage therapist from BB Forest, Furano
Rumi Itagaki – Snowboard instructor and stunning Tyrol cafe host
Kojima Hiasyuki – Alpine snowboarding legend and Furano business entrepreneur
Meguma – Japanese to English translation genius
Yoh Kubayashi – Kitsusuki Bar Owner and local Furano guitar legend
Simon and Roger – Our Swiss powder guides
Takahashi San – Owner of Pension Furanui
The staff at R’s – For cooking the best damn doria north of the equator
Please check back with the website over the next couple of days and weeks. If you have any photos or videos you would like added to the website, please email them to leroy@snowboardinjapan.com.
Lastly, we will be booking out next trip to Furano in the next month or so. Next season is going to be bigger, better and just as much fun. We hope to see all our Furano friends again very soon and do it all again!
Friday 5/2 was a rest day for us after a couple of very active days. We caught up on some sleep, had a late lunch and then an onsen. For dinner we jumped on the local bus and headed to Okonomiake Senja – a sensational restaurant run by a husband and wife team.
Around the corner was a strip of 4-5 bars and the one we settled for was run by a local musician – Yoh Kobayashi. Well known around Japan his traditional music has featured in many movies and animations over the years. What followed was an impromptu performance with one of his friends who played the bamboo flute. We were welcomed by all at the bar eventually inducting them all into the Koala Club by the time we left.
Saturday was also low-key as we were still suffering the effects of the 3hr hike out of the boonies on Thursday. Furano Village put on a small cultural show tha was attended by some locals and tourists. Joined by Carl and his father who had both just arrived from Niseko, it was dinner at R’s then a few game of pool at Ajito and off to bed.
Sunday was back on the slopes at Furano and later on we headed to B.B Forest for well deserved massages. Omori-san is a fantastic local aroma massage therapist. If you are in Furano and needing some rejuvination, drop Omori-san a line on 0167-22-0838 or email on b.b.forest@ezweb.ne.jp
Monday was one of the best powder days of th trip. We had booked bus to Kamui and the powder and runs there were just magnificent. We had no difficulties finding fresh powder all day and back to the pension by 5pm.
Tuesday was a half day on Kitanomine Zone in order to upload some footage and interview Djan from Rhythm Snowsports.
We booked a snow mobiling trip for today. Ni, our local publican come snow mobile guide picked us up from htoel Furanui at 8am in his minivan. We dropped past another hotel and picked up 4 lads from Newcastle who were joining the tour.
We made our way to Kamui and did a stint of rock climbing on an indoor wall while our snow mobiles were being transported to the snow mobile course on a flat bed truck.
Once at the snow mobile course, Ni gave us a short briefing on general operation and safety procedures before we spe off down the snow covered track.
A short while down the track and my snow mobile conked out. Ni and Masa San were unable to fix it, so I hitched a ride with Ni to the next stop while Masa San went and picked up another snow mobile.
We entered a snow covered open field. The powder was about 50cm deep, and we had free reign to carve it up on the mobiles. What started out as a fresh powder field ended up as a tracked out paddock after 10-15 minutes of ripping it up at high speed on our snow mobiles.
Next we made our way up through a forest to an alpine ridge where some of the group slid down a ledge and almost caused an avalanche. After our hike the previous night we opted not to slide down the ledge as we knew how tough the climb back up would be. Masa San drove his arctic cat snow mobile off the ledge and then had a tough time getting it back up. 5 guys were required to pull the machine back up onto the ledge.
We wound our way up to the top of the ridge, before turing around and retracing our tracks to the start of the course.
After loading Ni’s snow mobile back onto the trailer, we headed to a famous eatery called Fortune Bagel. We enjoyed curry soup followed by freshly baked bagels with assorted fillings that really hit the spot.
After dropping our gear off back at Pension Furanui, Ni picked us up 30 minutes later for a trip out to Onsen Takachidake. This onsen was by far the best we have seen. After a scrub down and a quick dip in the indoor pool, we headed out into the fresh mountain air and submerged our aching muscles into the outdoor onsen surrounded by fresh snow.
After soaking our bodies the drying off, we sampled some of the hot food dispensed by a vending machine, then tried our luck on a lucky ball machine at the front desk on the way out. Iao won a beer, I got a red ball and got zip.
Thanks to Ni for an awesome day snowmobiling and sight seeing.
Today was one of the best filming days so far. We managed to get a whole lot of quality helmet cam and stick cam footage which we will be uploading to the site shortly.
We found some great drop offs and small kickers on the side of some runs in the Furano zone.
Late in the afternoon, we caught up with Simon and Roger (a couple of Swiss guys we met at our pension), and took an off piste run beten the Furano and Kitanomine zones.
What was to be a short hike, then a short tree run to an untracked powder stash turned out to be a long tree run followed by a 3.5 hour hike down the mountain.
Caught next to a creek between two ridges, we had to climb out of the gully onto the ridge then hike down through waist deep snow in failing light until we finally walked out into the Furano zone car park at 6:45pm, 3.5 hours after we started the run.
Simon and Roger gave us the tree run of our lives, and the hike of our lives. Having our Swiss mates experience and cool heads off piste helped get us out off what could have been a messy situation safely.
Today was pretty chilled. We had to get some supplies from Furano town down the hill, so caught a taxi in. After wandering around town for a bit, we stopped for lunch in a nice little cafe. A full lunch including miso and side dishes and coffee for 2 was less than $17 – bargain. After we stocked up on memory cards for the helmet cam and camcorder, we then headed back to the village for a massage. We finished the night off with an onsen and a few beers at Ajito’s.
With the morning of day 2 comes another fresh stash of powder.
After a breakfast of eggs, salad and mashed potato, we make our way back to the top of Kitanomine Zone where we find our tracks from yesterday have been filled with fresh snow and we’re starting a new canvas.
With the lure of bigger and better things at Furano Zone we spend the day there exploring and finding even more powder areas. A late lunch at Restaurant Downhill and rest before spending time freshening up on any thing we could jump off.
We ran out of memory in our camera which put paid to the terrain park filming we had planned, so we headed back to the pension for an onsen.
Dinner was at R’s restaurant followed by a pint of Kirin at our ‘local’ Ajito. We’re known there now and the bar tender already had two pint glasses at the ready and was eagerly awaiting the nod to commence pouring.
The staff at Ajito are awesome people and more importantly they’re snowboarders too. One works on the ski patrol so it was good to get some local knowledge about the best runs.
An early night for us to rest up for snow mobiling and some exploring of Furano town.
G’day snow fans, well we finally arrived in Furano yesterday afternoon after 3 days with next to no sleep. There was a small hiccup the night before our flights, and we received a text message from our airline at 1:00am stating that our 7:40am flight to the Gold Coast was cancelled. We had to call the airline to rebook another iternal flight. Luckily we got on a fligh to Cairns at 7amwhich connected directly to Tokyo and got us in 5 minutes before our cancelled flight.
By the time all this was sorted out, it was only 1.5 hours until our maxi taxi was due to pick us and our boards up at 3am, so we decided to stay up rather than sleeping. By the time we checked our bags in and were on the flight, we were ready for a good sleep on the plane. We ended up only getting a couple of hours.
Our flight got in to Tokyo Narita at 6:55pm on Firday night. We were booked in at the Excel Toyu hotel at Haneda airport, so we took the airport limousine to Haneda airport which is an hours drive and checked into our hotel. We were quite tired, but still decided to make the most of our Friday night in Tokyo and took the monorail into Shibuya central Tokyo to grab a bite to eat and a beer.
It was quite late when we hit the hustle and bustle of Shibya so we explored the alleyways off themain drag and found a traditional noodle bar and devoured some traditonally prepared dons. After that we found a trendy little bar tucked in an laneway and had our first Japanese beer for the trip while listening to the smooth tunes playing on the decks.
We woke up Saturday morning at 5am to grab our flight to Chitose airport in Sapporo. The flight is 90 minutes, but we managed to get a bit more shut eye on the way over.
Once in Sapporo, we boraded the resort liner bus to Furano. This is quit a slow trip through the snow coverd plains and foothills of Hokkaido. 3 hours later, we reached our destination of Furano and checked into Pension Furanui.
With everything settled we took a walk around the village. We had planned to do some night boarding but this was cancelled to make way for the annual Furano Snow Festeval comprising of a big air jump competition, food and beer stalls, bonfires, sleigh rides, military band with the evening finishing with a fireworks display.
Over a few drinks and some average pool playing we met a few locals at Ajito – a bar that is just up the street. We should mention at this point that it hadn’t stopped snowing since we arrived, so we headed back to the pension for our first full nights sleep in three days.
Waking to a beautifully clear day we started out with a couple of easy runs and with some minor adjustments to our boards, we headed up to the summit for some serious powder.
Furano as a reputation of having strict snow patrol and limited off-piste runs. This appears to have changed slightly this season as it didn’t take long before we were in the trees and knee deep in powder familiarising ourselves with Kitanomine Zone.
By mid afternoon we made our way over to the Furano Zone snow area where there was more stashes of powder and ever fewer ropes providing loads of free-riding tree powder runs.
Back to the pension for an onsen and a powernap, we walked a short distance to a sensational Mongolian restaurant for dinner – cranking snow the whole time.
After dinner we began reviewing the days footage with great anticipation. We only used the helmet cam today as a test run to perfect our craft which was huge success. We’ll be uploading some of this footage to the site shortly.
We plan to make another post and upload some more videos from Kamui and Tomamu in a few days time, so please stay tuned and leave any comments.
Iao and Leroy are Australian snowboarders who travel the wold in search of the perfect pow.
This blog documents Iao and Leroy's Japanese snowboarding adenture.
Of course nothing can substitute for the real thing, and I’ll be back for more in 2011.
