One week Nozawa Christmas

Can you believe it, Christmas is only one week away?!

As Japan is not a Christian country, but rather follows the religions of Buddhism and Shinto, Christmas isn’t usually celebrated in the traditional “Western” sense. What this does mean, is most restaurants, bars and shops will be open! AND, the slopes will be open too!

Japan does have many other big celebrations, however, including the Nozawa Onsen Fire Festival.

Yesterday, locals from the village were putting up a Toru (or shrine) in preparation for the Fire Festival on January 15th. The Toru is erected in celebration of the birth of a child in a local family. It is then burnt to the ground on the 15th of January the night of the festival.

Note this year the Fire Festival is only open to people living or staying in Nozawa and your host will arrange passes for you.

TODAY:

Temperature at the top; – 9 degrees with a windchill down to -19 so make sure to bring a few extra layers. Glove liners are always an easy way to increase your body heat.

New snow since yesterday; 3cm total.

Base at the top; 40cm

Snow conditions; Fresh dusting of powder. This will hopefully be topped up all day as snow forecast throughout the day. Still watch out for rocks or branches underfoot on the popular areas, especially near the end of the day. The Uenotaira course revealed many branches yesterday.

Weather; At the moment, it is quite cloudy up top on Yamabiko (1615m) and Uenotaira (1400m), but the sun should push through the clouds soon.