I HEART Niigata Winter After All

Due to National Foundation Day, Wednesday was a holiday… which means SNOWBOARDING!!!  During our Saturday adventures we invited the whole bar and then some to join us on the slopes of Tainai. 

Since we would all be getting up early on Wednesday morning, Ru and Futoshi invited me to a sushi event at one of their favorite sushi restaurants in the city.  I had to book it after school, but was still late due to rush hour.  I got to their place, threw my stuff down, and we left on three of their 5 ‘mama-cherries,’ or bicycles to the other side of the station where the event was happening.  So what exactly was this event you ask??  Well, every now and again, the restaurant gets a huge TUNA, and cuts it up on the sushi bar in front of everyone and serves it immediately after.  We had the cheapest, middle, most expensive fatty tuna (maguro), the part behind its gills, liver, salmon, buri, raw Murakami cow meat, and other fish that I tried to learn the names of but can’t remember right now.  Since I’ve been born, I’ve never tasted sushi THIS DELICIOUS.  The sashimi melted in my mouth, and the maki (rolls) combined the most amazing sushi rice with the most mouth-watering raw fish, UGH words can’t even begin to explain how happy my mouth was!!  They had janken (rock paper scissors) tournaments for a giant slab of tuna, and then by the request of Ru, another tournament for a slab of Murakami beef.  Unfortunately our group lost both BUT fortunately, Ru fussed enough to get us a secret piece of the raw beef :p  Of course Ru and Futoshi are friends with all of the sushi chefs and were able to get dishes that aren’t even on the menu!! 

  We met us with Jenelle who would also be snowboarding at Tainai the next day, and had to run away when she tried to kill an octopus on the walk back to Ru and Futoshi’s apartment ~ HILARIOUS!!

Futoshi not only brewed us Weasel Coffee in the morning, but also cooked us a gourmet western breakfast including eggs, sausages, bread, lettuce, jam, and mayo.  It hasn’t snowed much in the past week or so, so Tainai’s snow was icy in the morning.  The more I go, the more courage I build to go faster, but I fell pretty bad on a narrow part, bounced, and nearly fell off of the mountain.  Luckily the sun rose, and the snow turned to slush by the afternoon, becoming faux powder.  A group of nearly 20 of us showed up on Wednesday to ski/snowboard and then take over the onsens to make me LOVE winter in Niigata finally!!