So as you may or not have gathered from this blog and the various other blogs from people in Japan - it is pretty cold. Definitely colder than last year, and according to locals, colder than quite a few winters' past. It feels a million miles away from the heat of the summer.
Here's a picture of Rob getting ready to attempt some sleep in my tatami room:















Here I am outside of the traditional toilet stop after a day's skiing up at Hakuba. It was snowing like crazy. As we drove back we saw countless trucks either stuck in the snow, or just stopped in the middle of the road! Pretty crazy and not a driving experience that I want to repeat!