I have been too busy to post much on the blog lately, so these photos are a few weeks old. Wanted to continue to show the progression of the On Cafe construction though, so I thought I should make an update.
Flooring made from 2×10’s and 2×8’s. All were recycled from a housing construction company. Wood that they deem no good for a new house, but perfectly fine for our project!
First coat of stain put on the flooring.
Disco light brightens up the toilet.
Takamasa starting to work on cutting out lettering.
Harada the painting master putting the finishing touches on the stairway.
My first experience laying P-tile in the kitchen. Was able to finish in one day.
We are now aiming for a mid December opening of the cafe. Will keep you all informed here on the blog. Should have our first monthly schedule made sometime next week!
Yesterday was my first day of riding this season! I got an invitation from the local snowboard TV show “No Matter Board” to be a guest on one of the upcoming programs. They somehow got permission to film the day before official opening day at our local mountain Kokusai! It was by far the best opening day I have ever had in my life!
It had been dumping snow for the past five days and I knew it would be deep up on the mountain. Not only was it deep, but we had the entire mountain to ourselves! The gondola was running just for the 8 of us! Four riders and 4 camera/video crew. It felt crazy to be standing in the middle of the course with powder everywhere feeling no pressure to rush. We took our time stopping to set up some shots, knowing that no one would come blasting through. What an amazing experience! Big thanks to Matsui for inviting us on the show.
If you are in Hokkaido, you can see the show when it airs on December the 4th on HTB sometime after 1:00AM (technically that would make it the 5th).
Since I was asked to join the show as a guest and rider, I didn’t take my camera with me, so I don’t have a single shot from the mountain! Sorry, but I was just too excited to be back on a board in the mountains to carry my camera. I am hoping that Kei Photo will send me some shots to share with you soon.
Recently did a photo shoot for the Furukawa hotel here in Jozankei. You can probably start to see these photos on their web site soon. If you want good food with a traditional Japanese atmosphere this is the place to stay.
They have a new service, where you can bring your own bottle of wine to dinner. The meal is steak which you cook yourself on hot rocks. I tried the meat after taking the photos, very good, and would be even better with a fantastic bottle of wine. Sounds like a good service for the true wine lover. I mean really who wants to pay for over priced mediocre wine you usually find in hotels right. Not to say that the Furukawa wine selection is bad, but I am sure you can bring something better.
Here are some of the other shots I did for Furukawa. You can check everything on the reservation page here.
Decided I didn’t like the quality of the video I posted to YouTube, so I re exported it in a different format and tried again. Check this one out for a better quality viewing experience. Thanks
A few photos of mine are being used on the +81/The North Face collab web site right now. These are shots from my trip to Tokyo last month to see the live performance of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. They performed live at the North Face store in Harajuku to a pack crowd of Tokyo’s hippest people.
I also filmed video of this performance. I took me a while to complete the editing and get the clearance to post it. Will be posting to YouTube later tonight. Great band was very impressed with their performance highly recommend the music to anyone who loves, Jazz, Funk, hip hop mixture, and brass instruments. Check out there web site for more info. Hypnoticbrass.net
Will be in Niseko area at the Hilton for an evening of snow movies on November the 28th. Car Danchi will be showing with the aclaimed “Signatures” Check it out. One night only on the opening day for the resort. Pray for big snow! Tickets will be 1000yen including a drink, lots of guest and some give away items.
The new issue of Outdoor Japan magazine arrived yesterday along with the yearly winter sports guide. I like the catch copy on the cover, “Knowledge is Powder think deep!”
The mag cover.
Kei Photo got a nice shot inside, I helped write the review of Horotachi ski area. A minor hill, but great offf the track spot to get some powder.
Check it out my cover shot of Hayato from last year made it all the way to Africa! That is pretty cool.
If you read the small print of this add it says that Outdoor Japan will be starting a new TV show on the NHK global network from November! Looking forward to this new program. I have have put in some snowboarding footage for one of the winter episodes.
