Why Riley chose Myoko for his first working ski season in Japan

Long seasons, world-class infrastructure and large resorts with something for everyone, … Why would a Canadian want to leave his homeland and venture off to work a season in Myoko Kogen, Japan? Is it the cold Siberian winds or the ramen calling? London, Ontario native, Riley Bain, helps us uncover the answers.

“Although I’m originally from London, I’ve spent the last ten years in Canmore, Alberta and Revelstoke, British Columbia — two mountain towns in Western Canada,” Riley explains. “I started snowboarding during the 2018/2019 season,” he says.

Riley Bain. Image supplied

Riley makes no secret of his fondness for the Land of the Rising Sun, and this won’t be his first ramen rodeo, but it will be his first taste of Japow. “I’ve been to Japan as a tourist four times,” Riley reveals, “but my fifth time is on a working holiday visa. I’ve never snowboarded in Japan before. I know most foreigners come here strictly for that, but my trips were always for sightseeing, culture, food and to visit friends”.

Neither the allure of powder snow nor the food and cultural aspects of Japan are secrets that may be any longer considered well-kept. One need only count the heads of inbound tourists for any confirmation of this. But while a tourist comes to spend money (when not geisha chasing or taking Fuji-filled konbini photos), a working holiday visa holder comes to make money — whether or not they spend their riches on Strong Zero is a matter of personal preference.

With a well-developed and genuine fondness for the country and its people, in particular his Japanese partner, Yasue, Riley is chasing Myoko powder snow as opposed to geisha photos. But even with this solid foundation, how does someone who has never experienced a Japanese winter in the mountains perceive what will come to be?

“My image for Japanese skiing is purely about Japow,” he explains. “Ever since I started snowboarding, I’ve wanted to experience a season of constant dumping snow like it does in Myoko. The Canadian Rockies certainly offer some amazing terrain, but the snow levels can completely differ from year to year and resort to resort. I’m also excited to experience so many different resorts compacted into a small area. In Canada, no matter where you go it’s typically just one resort.”

“I’d say places like Niseko and Hakuba are well known to skiers and snowboarders in Canada but smaller places like Nozawa Onsen are being found out about as time goes on as well. Almost everybody I know who has experienced a season in Japan only has good things to say. It’s a way for foreigners to experience Japanese pow, make a bit of money to support their travels and take in some Japanese culture if they please”.

Interestingly, Riley points towards the unique opportunities a ski town offers for those who want to stay months rather than weeks. “It’s a bit of a rare situation as jobs and friends are a little bit harder to come by if you’re living anywhere else in Japan,” he says.

“I’ve wanted to experience a season of constant dumping snow like it does in Myoko. The Canadian Rockies certainly offer some amazing terrain, but the snow levels can completely differ from year to year and resort to resort.”

“Jobs and friends are much harder to come by when you don’t speak the language. Luckily being based in a ski town, you can work without Japanese and meet Japanese people who most likely have some level of English or are happy to try to communicate with foreigners”.

“My Japanese is a work in progress, to say the least,” Riley reveals of his own language abilities while also looking forward to a snow season where he can do some Japanese practice with the safety net of English not far away in cases of spectacular failure. “That’s something (Japanese language) that I both really want and need to work on while in Myoko”.

Why Myoko?

“I chose Myoko Kogen as some close friends of mine had been snowboarding there and had great things to say about it. Also, having a mate who was hiring at the time helps,” Riley says of his decision to spend a season working in Myoko Kogen. “I was able to visit this summer which helped prep my brain for what to expect the coming winter, but my impression is that everything is a bit spread out with lots of terrain to explore.

“I’m really looking forward to finding my go-tos for food, bars, etc. The overall image in my brain though is snow constantly dumping as I feel that’s what I’ve seen on social media for years regarding Myoko,” he froths.

“When it comes to season pass pricing, I’m extremely excited to know I won’t need to spend $1000-$1700 as I did back home in Canada. I haven’t looked to see the exact prices in Myoko Kogen, but I’ve been told by friends that it’s only a fraction of the price I was paying back home. Even better, a season pass comes with my job, so it seems I’ll have more money to spend on ramen”.

Like a lot of foreigners who come to Japan and earn a soak in an onsen at the end of a hard day’s mountain conquering, Riley has the common tattoo concern. In fact, he more so than most, due to both numerosity and the fact that many are in a style carrying a little more stigma than your regulation phrase, picture or Aussie Southern Cross tattoo.

Riley explains it best. “I’ve definitely experienced the highs and lows of how tattoos are viewed and treated in Japan. Being a heavily tattooed person, I’ve had Japanese people of all ages and sizes stop me in the street to compliment them. From a little girl at the train station yelling to her mum “He has a picture on his arm!” pointing at me, looking fascinated. To an old man in a capsule hotel onsen who really liked my Irezumi backpiece (*see footnote) and thanked me for being interested in Japanese culture. Those are the highs. The lows are the rotten stares I’ve gotten on the train as I’m looked up and down as if I’ve done something wrong, to being asked to leave a shower room in a capsule hotel because of my tattoos, even though there was nowhere else to bathe.

“I know onsen culture is a big thing in ski towns here in Japan so I hope I can experience more of it this winter. I’ve pretty much just stopped thinking it’s even a possibility for me while I travel around Japan as so many of the country’s onsens seem off-limits to someone like me”.

*Irezumi, literally “tattoo” or “inserting ink” in Japanese, has in modern times come to represent a distinctive style of tattooing, one often holding connotations of criminality. In the interest of peeling back the layers of undue stigma, perhaps the reader might like to do some DYORing as to the reasons why this is the case.