SKIING IN JAPAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 222, 19 September 1936, Page 4

SKIING IN JAPAN

HIGH POPULARITY A CHANGE SNOW AND HOT SPRINGS To most New Zealanders the idea ot skiing in Japan seems quite out of keeping with their ideas regarding Japanese cherry blossoms,” said Mr T W. Mitchell, captain of the Australian representative ski team, in the course ot an interview. However, the gigantic volcanic upheavals which had formed Japan, he said, had thrown up a fantastically twisted and tortured mountain backbone, which was admlrablv suited for skiing, as well as exceedingly beautiful. For six months of the year the great gales from Central Asia kept the whole of the upper levels liberally covered with snow and mountains like Fujiyama (12,365 tt.) only a few hours from Tokio provided first class skiing grounds It was curious to note that between the highest summit in Japan (Fujiyama! and in New Zealand (Mount Cook) there was less than ten feet difference m surveyed height. Irenes The sport of skiing was founded in Japan m 910. am. received considered h n . umber of years ago with the visit of the great ski eXpert, Hannes Schneider. Now the sport has a tremendous hold on the younger generation, particularly the students, and the Government is narks'» S ‘’•'T lhC splendid national parks as winter sports resorts. The ma P kin e „ Se t Wt!re P ar,icu >nrly fond of makmg touring trlps on rkjs a that had an almost greater erin nn Peopie than competitive skiing. Their langlauf or long-distance acing technique was of a high standard Mr. Mitchell gave a very interestin" ViSi ‘ l “ Akakura . the St • lontz ot Japan, and one of a nest of ab ° Ul . Ihc -me distance b °y

E aln Tokio as National Park is hotrt and' nglOn ' U had an excellent onlv hv i Was ". C " Pa'ronised, not n Japancsc but b -v large partie, u ™ peans Shanghai. Mi. Myoko (approximately 8000 ft), at the oot of Which Akaku'ra lay, used to he an active volcanoe, but it had now n 110 , rotireme nt, being content with the less spectacular but much more popular task of providing hot Akaki f ° r ‘'T d , Skiers ’ A " aro| ind the Akakura Hotel were pools of hot sulphurous water, and little streams of it flowed down each side of the tinv Village street. Steaming water amongst so much snow appeared very strange and every now and again a smell of sulphur struck the nostrils. The hotel bathroom contained a bath some ten feet square with natural hot water Uowing in continually. Community bathing was the rule, and quite iften it was mixed. One washed in a little wooden bucket before entering the mam bath. There was nothing so refreshing as a good hot-spring bath after skiing, as many of the skiers at National Park had found, to their delight, at Tokaanu. When skiing in Japan one must be prepared to live in the Japanese style said Mr. Mitchell. The day of the foreign” hotel in Japan had yet to dawn. Japanese rooms were floored with woven straw mats, called tatmi, and as these were easily soiled and cut, shoes or boots were left at the front door. There were no chairs, and everyone had to sit on the floor. If there was no central heating, one sat on low cushions round a large pot full of embers. Everyone slept on the floor on a kind ot eiderdown called "futori,” which was quite comfortable. The inquisition suffered a great loss in not knowing of the Japanese pillow which was some four inches thick, a foot long, and packed hard with oat husks. However, a cushion packed hard and secured with a tie made a good substitute. There were no single rooms in a Japanese ski hotel. Generally there were between six and a dozen of both sexes in a room. The food eaten at the ski hotels was typically Japanese. Breakfast consisted of a bowl of soup, a raw egg, some dried seaweed (nori), green tea, and rice ad lib. The packed lunch at lunes appeared meagre. The menu —and it was his Christmas dinner three years ago—invariably consisted of "negrimeski,” a ball of rice wrapped in seaweed, looking like a baked potato. Inside was a sour plum. Some-

times some small pickled fish, rather like whitebait, were supplied as well. Dinner in the evening consisted ot soup, rice, and tea, with dished of fish and vegetable. Fortunately chopsticks were not hard to handle. European food of a sort could be obtained, but it took a long time to get and was often unpalatable. Living as the Japanese lived was wonderfully cheap. He and a Japanese student from Cambridge enjoyed three meals, bed, and bath for something like 3s a day. The evening dress problem was solved by the hotel providing over and under kimonos and an obi or sash. This form of dress was particularly welcome after the martrydom of stiff shirts, braces and collars. Sitting on the floor in Japanese style, with tight dress-suit trouser-legs, would have been an abomination. The Japanese ski fields, Mr. Mitchell said, were of a very high order, but suffered from the absence of guides and teachers. Mr. Mitchell favours strongly the introduction x>f a skiteacher. as in Australia, for the National Park snowfields. New Zealand, in this respect, was feeling the same lack as Japan. Mr. Mitchell favours very strongly the project of holding Pan-Pacific ski games in New Zealand in the not-too-distant future and believes that skiing visits will go far towards improving the amenity and friendly feeling of Pacific powers.