Abandoned Ski Slopes of Zao Onsen – Episode 17.2

Our reprieve at Central Kogen Station was very welcome and completely unexpected. Who knew we would find a warm area to sit and enjoy a couple hot drinks and instant ramen from vending machines? Not us! It was extremely lucky actually as we were getting quite hungry and needed a rest from the hiking and…

Abandoned Ski Slopes of Zao Onsen – Episode 17.1

Yup, Zao Onsen, along with being a famous onsen resort town, is famous for it’s skiing. The infrastructure to support skiing is vast, and looks like a skiers paradise. To Nicole’s chagrin, who actually knew about the skiing when we selected Zao Onsen as a stop on this trip, we were too early for the…

Discovering Zao Onsen – Episode 16

Sendai was a bit of a sleeper hit on this trip. We didn’t have high expectations for Sendai, mainly because we didn’t have any at all. We were not sure what to expect. We did a little research before the trip, but we put it on the list mainly because it was a larger city…