Year 1997 - few years earlier I got strongly involved in Cross Country Skiing, completed 10 ski marathons in various countries and received a Worldloppet Gold Medal - CLICK.
Time to explore new countries - Japan.
One of my skiing friends visited already this country, his impressions - great snow, language difficulties, expensive.
The last point was important to me, we - family of four - were living comfortably but I treated my skiing hobby as some extravagance. and tried to manage it on shoestring budget.
Japan - expensive?
It denied logic - a country of over 100 million people cannot be expansive for everyone. I found easily cheap accommodation in a Youth Hostel.
Second point - travel so far just for a one ski race?
I found information about another race - Miyasama Marathon - contacted organisers just asking some basic questions. They responded with a formal invitation - covered cost of local travel, entry fee plus 3 days hotel accommodation.
Great - let's fly.
Sapporo - my accommodation was in Miyanomoru, on outskirts of the city - long train ride followed by a bus trip.
My first impression - crowd - so many people - I felt very lonely - no wonder that I approached a group of students travelling in the same carriage.
To my surprise they laughed and run away - I repeated the attempt few times - in vain.
Time to take a bus...
Large and very busy bus station, more than a dozen bus lines, information in Japanese only.
I try to approach some people saying - Miyanomoru - they run away,
A bus arrives - I go to the front door to ask the driver - he closes the door and shows towards the entrance in the middle of the bus.
So I board the bus with 2 backpacks and a ski bag, push my way to the front...
- Miyanomoru ? - I ask the driver.
He turns his head negatively, opens the door to let me go out.
It repeats two times more and eventually I reach my destination...
The receptionist shows me that I have to leave my boots on the shelf and use plastic slippers.
I am prepared for it, I pull out my own leather slippers, old, handcrafted in Poland.
The receptionist watches it suspiciously but leads me to my room.
Some surprises...
No door - just plastic strips.
It remind me my attempts to learn few Japanese words...
- door = door-o,
- shower = shower-o,
- mirror = mirror-o.
It suggests that these items were not known in ancient Japan, they were introduced by English or Americans.
Two bunk beds - very wide.
No wardrobes - that's why beds are so wide - visitors lay there all their luggage including documents and valuables.
The receptionist waits for me to show me the toilets and dining room.
I use the toilet... and here is a catch - I go out and try to return to my room, the receptionist protests - you must not enter any room in slippers which you used in the toilet.
I switch to plastic ones and we remain friends.
Few minutes later I have another friend - Minoru - my roommate - young student - he asks me if we could keep company together, he will help me to navigate in Sapporo, his reward will be a contact with English-speaking person,
A deal.
I tell him my about my adventures on the way to the hostel, he nods with understanding - people are terrified that they may not understand your question and give you a wrong answer and you might get lost.
It would cost them a sleepless night. So they run away.
Three days to the race - we prepare to it diligently on the proper race tracks.
Minoru is very helpful, he introduces me to not expensive restaurants serving great food - ramen soup,
The race day... the organisers got a strange idea to put the senior skiers in the first line...
It was good for a photo ( I am on the right side, No 108, in red pants).
But then... the race started and for half a minute we felt hot breath of elite skiers on our necks. Then they passed us and there was over 4 hours of heavy work on very demanding tracks.
Two days passed and another race.
Surprise - before coming to Japan I contacted Kenichi, a Japanese skier I met a year earlier in Europe.
He apologised that he cannot offer me accommodation in Sapporo and proposed to go to a minor ski race in Ohtaki where he has a holiday house.
We arrived in late afternoon - there was just one large room and the kitchen.
In Ohtaki there are very powerful hot springs, actually hot water is local houses is for free. So, first point - let's have a bath.
I reach to the backpack for a towel and toiletries - you don't need it - interrupts Kenichi, all is provided.So we go - at the entrance we are given small towels, undress and walk naked in a snowy garden. Luckily hot baths are few steps away.
We submerge in hot water and melt there for half an hour - not too long - race tomorrow.
Then we go to the showers - shower heads are located very low, there are low stools and bottles with shampoo and other bathing liquids.
We use our towels to spread liquids and then we rinse and wring out them and tionedtry to dry our bodies - hard work, I am not sure if I am wet from the bath or from the sweat.
Night time - Kenichi pulls out two mattresses from the wardrobe - good night.
He is a professor of geology and sometimes takes a group of students for an explorative tour - I can sleep a dozen people in this room - he says.
Morning, a visitor comes, mattresses go back to the wardrobe and are replaced by a low table - breakfast...
The race was rather uneventful - good warm up after 2 days of rest.
I travel by train to Biei where I am greeted by officials from Miyasama Marathon. They drive me to a large hotel fully occupied by downhill skiers - great mountains around.
- You have a room booked for 3 nights, free breakfast and lunch in the restaurant downstairs, evening meal will be brought to your room.
Tell us what else do you need as nobody in this hotel knows English.
- I need to ski in some park, I notices beautiful parks during our ride here, noticed also some bus stops. Tell me which bus to use and I will be OK.
- Oh, no - after breakfast, at 9:30 there will be a minibus waiting for you, it will drive you to the snow fields. When you arrive there write on the snow at what time you want to be picked up.
- Anything else?
- Yes, I suppose there is a ski waxing room?
- Skiwaxing room, no, downhill skiers do not need it. What does it mean?
- Basically I need just a table with access to a power point. And some plastic sheet on the ground to keep the floor clean.
- No problem, it will be arranged in 2 hours.
I unpacked, had a walk around. Returning to my room I noticed some movements on the corridor, the were disconnecting poker machines.
Few minutes later there was a knock to my door - ski waxing place is ready...
Two days of great skiing, the an official dinner for skiers hosted by Prince Tomohito - CLICK.
The prince was treated with great respect, people approaching him bowed very deeply. On the other hand - he was a great supporter of disabled athletes, specially blind skiers and mixed quite easily with them.
The race - beautiful but hard, the weather warmed up, the snow was very heavy.
Time for announcing results... nice surprise - Australian Jenny Altermatt won the women's race...
... and a problem - she received a winner's cup - a perpetual trophy - that means she should bring it for the race next year.
How can you demand it from an overseas competitor.
After some consultation she was told that a special copy of the cup has been ordered for her, it will be ready in 2 hours so she will not miss the train.
Few months passed and a nice surprise - I received from race organisers a poster for the 1998 race. They put on it photos of 1997 race participants - including me - down-right corner, red pants with a kangaroo on the left leg...
