Fujiten Snow Park

Winter weather in Tokyo has been wonderful. It's quite opposite from the recent snowfall and sub-zero temperatures of our hometowns of Windsor and Columbus. Many residents say this is not typical weather in Tokyo for the month of February. It's usually known to be the coldest month of the year. Last week our temps rose to approx 13 degrees Celsius (mid-50's Fahrenheit). I guess it's global warming in effect.

Last Sunday, we took a drive out to Fujiten Snow Park to have some fun on the slopes. It was mainly for Markus' benefit to have the opportunity to see and play in the snow. As planned, we left our apartment at 7:30am. What was supposed to be a two-hour drive ended up being nearly four hours! Traffic in Japan can be a total nightmare! It seemed like the whole city was flocking to Fujiten that day! We debated many times while sitting in traffic if we should turn around and head elsewhere, but since we had drove all that way, we decided to grin and bear it. When finally arriving to the site, we were told there was no parking available....so we waited some more.

We probably took about 30 photos of Mt. Fuji alone enroute to the snow park. The sky was vividly blue and clear. Here is one photo we thought offered one of the best angles. It's simply an incredible site.

Here's Markus having loads of fun in the snow. Looks to me like some familiar yoga moves.

It was a blast dodging people on our way down the hill.

The red gadget in Markus' hand is a snowball maker. It's a neat tool that scoops and packs the snow all in one simple tong motion.

Though it was busy, it was definitely a nice afternoon retreat outside of the city. Having the beautiful view of Mt. Fuji amidst the horizon made the day all the better.