I spent the first couple of days of March trying to kill my self snowboarding in Tomamu, Hokkaido. At the time of writing, even while planning another trip this December, I have no clue as to how the intricacies of getting safely down a mountain strapped to a thin, hourglass-shaped board work. Suffice to say I was even more clueless half a year ago and it ended up being three painful but fun days.
Tomamu is a popular snow resort, particularly recognizable for its strangely out-of-place tower-shaped hotels, aptly named "The Towers". The area also boasts an entire village made from ice (including an ice-bar, ice-hotel room and ice-church!) and a giant pool/onsen complex for recovering from a hard day on the pistes.
Oh, not exactly Hokkaido-related but I took this picture on the way there and I thought it was neat. A tender moment between a police officer and a random bald dude:
The rest of the pictures can be seen on flickr as usual!