The idyllic onsen at Kaikake, purported to be good for the eyes. EDEN OF THE ALPS The road is steep and narrow, just wide enough for a single vehicle, with 10-foot snowbanks. It requires a sharp right at the end of an avalanche tunnel on the main highway to access, followed by a quick chicane to the left. There are no signs for Kaikake Onsen—a tradi-tional ryokan with tatami-matted rooms and communal baths—and it only adds to the anticipation. Travis has finally convinced us to join him at Kaikake. It’s only 15 minutes from the garish Hotel Naeba but feels as if we’d been trans-ported to a timeless corner of Japan. A well-kept elderly woman who must’ve been 80 years old greets us and swiftly shows us to our traditional rooms with spongy tan floors and tatami-mat beds. In the lobby, Iwana (mountain trout) smoke on sticks next to an open fire. Handwoven children’s snowshoes are but one decora-tion. The onsen out back, which is split into female and male zones as is the custom, is about as idyllic as it gets. An inside pool steams hot beside washbasins, while a glass door leads to another, cooler pool among boul-ders and falling snow. Two paper lanterns blow in the wind. Snow-cov-ered boulders frame the scene, a spindrift settling onto the water’s surface occasionally. A small wooden trough channels spring water into the pool. “This onsen is known to be good for your eyes,” Shin explains. “People have come here for centuries to cure their eye problems.” I can’t help but believe him. He then describes the fish we’d passed in the lobby. “The trout is smoked all day with only the flavor of the mountainside, a little bit of salt.” Cue dinner: eight courses, featuring various mushrooms, hot pots, pickled salmon forehead, Iwana and so much more. The flavors are delicate, fresh, different, but never overwhelming. Local sake accom-panies each course and we dine for hours. Despite riding some deep snow, it feels like we’d been skunked up to this point—the shots aren’t coming easily, and a big crew with big cameras moves slowly. Now Travis has led us to the Eden of the Japa-nese Alps to reset mentally and physically. A late night moves back to the onsen, to a conga line through the snow, to an early morning ac-companied by blue skies. YUZAWA 065
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 17.1: Page 65
