March 30th ..... Ajigasawa 1st Annual Slopestyle Jam

Rise and shine! After a few hours of shut eye, we woke up and got ready for a day at Ajigasawa ski resort. Toshi came over and picked us up and we headed off for the mountain. I was definitely looking forward to today because it was the first ever Ajigasawa Slopestyle Jam 2008 and all the park riders from near and far came out to play. Of course, I would be there...camera in hand taking pictures.

The event layout was very chill. People riding what ever they wanted with a judge at each position recording score and in the end, the riders with the highest total score would enter the final. Last 4 men and women standing would rock out in the grand finale in classic slopestyle fashion....one complete run to decide it all. No 2nd heat, no redos......winner takes all. Exciting!!

It was nice to see a high level of competitors throwing down at slopestyle in Aomori. Thanks to the NaturaRhythm crew for holding such a well organized event and keeping the park in top form. You guys rock!

March 9th, 2008: Moya Hills SBX Competition

The next weekend after Hyakuzawa was the Moya Hills SBX Championship. Back to back race weekends this year and all my friends from Hakkoda entered the race so it was so much fun. This included riders like Brian Y., Mitsuru, Eiko, Kazuo, Ichiko, Takachan, Hiishi, and myself.

Again thanks goes out to Abe-san for putting in hard work and creating a course that was fun and chill. There were two sets of waves.... right at the beginning and right at the end. It seemed that the last 8 wave set took a lot of people out. Fortunately for me, I didn't have any problems with the course. I had problems with my wax. Yah story of my life. In a previous race I won race wax as a raffle prize and thought I would just save money this year and not spend $40 on the proper temp wax for just 1 race (it was +8C that day). I used -4C to 0C wax and figured I could brush it up really well and get by. Hell its just wax right? Wrong..... I learned that no matter how fast of a rider you are, if you're on a slow board you're not going to win...PERIOD! So I ended up Top16 or better known as the quarter finals. Brian did awesome and made the Top8. Mitsuru did the best out of all of us and he was all drunk! He made the finals but slipped up in the beginning and never could catch the pack... 4th place. I really thought he was going to win. Kazuo and Hiishi were eliminated before the quarter finals which shocked me. Kazuo is soooo quick and so talented.

For the ladies, 1st place was Mika Sensei, 2nd was Ichiko!, 3rd was Takachan, and 4th was Eiko. In the end, the Hakkoda riders all did very well but none of us were able to win it! Hehe, but winning isn't everything and since this will be my last boarder X race...definitely good times and good memories.

March 2nd, 2008: SBX Hyakuzawa Championship

This year, the Hyakuzawa SBX Championships fell on March 2nd of 2008. I was looking forward to this event because last year I tied for 1st place because of some photo finish b.s. Really it wasn't a photo finish because the guy crashed out and never crossed the finish line. I was less than a meter away and saw it with my own eyes (great view of the crash!). Yah, that's another tainted story I'd like to wash out of my memory and just remember that I did well that race. Sorry, whining over.

The course this year was fun. Very tight and very challenging. Abe san, the course creator, made a wave section that consisted of 11 whoops in a row amidst a mild turn. It was kinda fly or die. You either went through it conservatively or go ballz out and risk ejecting yourself off course. Definitely a leg workout.

Eiko and Takachan did very well this year. I thought Eiko had it in the bag but ended up taking 2nd place. She's soooooo fast. Takachan took 3rd. She is just as fast and its a good thing they are best friends otherwise it would be an intense rivalry. As for me, I made it to the semi-finals which is basically the top 8. Last year's course suited me better I think but oh well...not a big deal. Wax was not the right temperature and I had no start wax.....but still a lot of fun.

The car ride home with Eiko and Takachan was hilarious. We didn't talk about the race at all, but about trimmed muffs and pubez. Yah..hilarious.

February 9th, 2008: Hiking Hakkoda

Living in Aomori and having Hakkoda in our backyard is a wonderful blessing. Before coming to Japan, I knew absolutely nothing about northern Japan's snow condition and when I arrived I knew I landed in heaven. POWDER HEAVEN!

This year's highlight has to be the hike up Takada Odake. The weather was pristine, the snow was fantastic, and the time...just perfect. All of us, Nao, Eiko, Mitsuru, Brian, and I were so stoked when we arrived at the destination and got our packs ready in the morning. There's not many days of blue skies in winter and when there is there is no better way to spend a day at the mountain. We arrived about 8:30am and sorted our gear and made our first steps about 9:00am.

This was my first time hiking and I kept thinking, "Man am I really doing this? This is sooooo cool." In my backpack I had my nothing but my camera, my snowboard jacket, and 2 onigiris. I was wearing a fleece jacket, but during the hike I got so hot I decided to take it off and wrap it around my board. I hiked the entire duration in my long sleeve undershirt and t-shirt.

After a long hot and sweaty 3 hour hike, we finally reached our destination. Magical!! It was a moment I will never forget for as long as I live. Until that day, I've never seen the top of a snow covered mountain without riding a chairlift or gondola.....something man made invented to cheat nature and make life easier on us humans. This day, I fully understood what it meant to "earn your turns." The ride down felt like it lasted maybe mere 30 seconds. I was haulin' ballz!!! It was the fastest I've ever gone on a snowboard. Faster than any of the boarder x event I've been in. The adrenaline rushes to your head and all you can think about is going fast and making HUUUUUGE turns!

January 13th, Car LIFE

This was a Sunday usually spent at Hakkoda...however the winds were too extreme at 30 km/hr which stopped all gondola activity. Instead of just packing up and going home, Brian and I decided to build beds in our cars. YES!!!! This means we are gonna sleep in our cars at -10 to -15 degrees Celsius all winter long!

Unfortunately, we were no longer able to stay at Mitsuru and Reiko's house because their landlord enforced a "no friends over for the weekend" rule. Bummer, but since they weren't paying anything for rent, it was best to respect the landlord's obscene rule and go on with life.

Our friend Makoto helped us build our beds since he had a pre-fab bed made for his Pajero and had a good idea on what to do (also he had all the tools at his house). Our first stop was Home Center Sunday!! Here, we rounded up the necessary wood, screws, carpeting and began construction immediately upon return. After about two hours of manual labor our goal was complete. With a total cost of about $20 I had a bed that allowed me to lay flat and get a good night's sleep. I think Brian spent $50 since his is incognito convertible....extra cost for coolness.

Our last year in Japan, a year to remember as we spent Hakkoda winters living out of our cars.