If you happen to be in the Vermont area this weekend, I highly recommend you check out this show!

Our little fox friend asked us for food, we declined and then packed our bags and headed out to the Sapporo Airport for the flight back to Tokyo. A two-hour airport shuttle to CTS, a quick two-hour jaunt to Haneda Domestic Airport, then another shuttle into the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo. Relatively easy.

I had planned three days of checking out this wonderful city, but since the Snowmad PhotoShowpopped up during my Japan shoot, I have to cut it short and return to the states immediately to get the presentation ready. If y’all are checking out the US Open this year at Stratton Mountain, try to stop by the Simpson Barn on Saturday night…Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray

Bunch of random flicks from our times around Niseko. We’re just about finished with the mission…it’s been a great one for sure! Although the pow days were limited, we got everything we needed for the editorial piece in Snowboarder Magazine (USA). The story will be a good read and I hope y’all will enjoy the action photos once they go to print.

We’re leaving Hokkaido and spending a day in Tokyo before getting back to Vermont for the US Open of Snowboarding and the Snowmad photoshow. Thanks for checking in, Blotto

With the ‘rain event’ that rolled through Northern Japan, much of terrain in our zone has been rendered useless, so we climbed in the van and started the search for obstacles. There’s still a lot of snow around, so it was just a matter of looking past powder filled mountains and keeping an open eye to the unusual, possible jibbing locations and mini shred.

Driving around in a van with your crew is non-stop entertainment, but boredom is bound to kick in when you’re not finding suitable shred locations and snowboarding. One of our favorite activities (besides stopping for more food at Seicomart) is to draw caricatures of each other. The laughs are endless due to the fact that the artwork is borderline horrible, but every drawing is pretty much an exact match. If you and your posse/family is ever board to the hilt, try this activity, it’s sure to please.

We’re hoping for some fresh snow to come our way, but the forecast isn’t super promising. In the meantime you’ll catch us in the rental car enjoying our van life. Blotto

Chairlifts, night riding, driving, hiking, building, cameras. Another couple of days around Niseko. Blotto

Off for a month straight of shooting. Should be a good one. Barely time to breathe, hopefully good moments/conditions/ and times will be along the way . Grind time. First off to Maui to shoot a portrait for Rolling Stone Mag of Clay Marzo. (Fuckin Hyped!) Quick 24 hr mission to loction scout. Meet and feel out Clay, shoot him, and squeeze in a surf session. Then back to the airport. Then off to Whistler to shoot with Annie Boulanger, for Nike for four days. Praying for snow to stay good, and the sun to POP!

Next off to East Coast (saying what up to the homies!) and to shoot at the US OPEN for Kodak for the 3 days. ALso in Stratton, Blotto and I are doing a SNOWMAD photo show. If your around swing thru! PBR will be flowing the brews!

Following that is the mission to Europe to meet up with GIGI for Nike. THis will be only an 8 day trip to get quite a bit of material. 2010 Nike snowboarding ad campaign has quite a different feel than last years. It will be an entirely different mind frame of shooting which is always good to keep pushing yourself.

Finally, I’m off for 10 days to interior British COlumbia backcountry for NIke and Oakley. However, this will be a pretty special trip to document Nicolas Muller and Jake Blauvelt. “Nonchalant” is what comes ot mind when describing Nico and Jake’s riding. Each of them have very unique style of using the mountain as their canvas, and together it could be all time.

Barely time to blink.

The triathlon of a new generation! The ULTIMATE BOARDER is a one-week competition to find both the individual athlete and team who can conquer the art of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. The competitors will embark on a journey of a lifetime. Many have reached success in their core sport. UB profiles individual athletes who compete in all three events as well as the team competition that profiles a relay team of three athletes. Each year, they will be given the opportunity to prove to themselves, and the world, that they can master the art surf, skate, and snow. This event will create a new breed of athletes, a new hero for the X & Y generation and generations to follow. Event Dates: March 13th – 20th, 2010 Surfing – Seaside at Cardiff (March 13th – 16th) Snowboarding – Northstar-at Tahoe (March 18th & 19th) Skateboarding – Grand Sierra Resort & Casino (March 20th)

We got into the house and started checking out the place…and in typical Japanese fashion, there was a couple of radical features I had to talk about. First is the cutlery drawer…yea, you have your spoons, knives and forks…but over here you also get the chopsticks standard issue, so fresh.

You ever roll up to the front door of any given rental location and you can’t see the lock well enough to make a smooth entry? Well, with the keys to this pad you also get a sweet LED light attached to the keyring…extra fresh.

Third, and definitely not last is the super duper toilet. Japan takes their bathroom duties really serious, so they’ve built themselves some mighty technical thrones. This might sound made up, but I’m telling you, it’s next level over here! When you walk into the bathroom, the lid raises up for you, the seat itself is heated and if you have the extra deluxe model, music of your choice pops on. After completion of any said maneuvers, you have your choice of small, regular or auto flush, multiple bidet options for a man and a woman, plus the fan inside the toilet. Bathroom breaks made easy and comfortable in Japan! All things feeling fresh!

Beyond my favorite items here in the Annapuri chalet, there’s plenty of room for the crew, some nice views out the windows and a sweet kitchen. I’ll hit y’all back soon with a mountain report…thanks for checking in. Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray

After Jack and I checked our baggage onto the next flight, we made our way through security, grabbed some fine Japanese chow mein and traded travel stories from the past couple of weeks. Jack had been touring through Europe with Mikkel attending a couple of contests and photo shoots. Jack, the fine filmer and editor that he is, had plenty of comedic edits to show me along with his stories. Good times.

As we’re waiting in the boarding area, two more peeps from our crew showed up…Tom and Corey. They were fresh off international flights as well…Corey came in from Seattle, while Tom flew from Asia (he was working on an editorial piece about snowboarding in Turkey, which is considered part of the Asian territory). We exchanged a few more stories before they called us for boarding.

A quick 90-minute flight landed us in Sapporo where we were greeted by Keegan, Neil and Yui. Those three were already adjusted to the Japanese time zone, while the four of us were completed sacked out from so much travel and international date line crossing. But the funny thing is, once you reach your destination, that fourth wind kicks in and you’re wide awake and stoked!

After claiming all our bags, we loaded them in the van and made the two-hour drive into Niseko…but not before a cople of stops to pick up our first of many fine Japanese treats. I’ll check back in from the house and post some pics of our scene. Cheers, Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray

My next mission is on the North Island of Japan (commonly referred to as Hokkaido) for an editorial shoot with Snowboarder Magazine. Editor, writer and overall epic dude Tom Monterosso has assembled the crew of Mikkel Bang, Jack Mitrani and Keegan Valaika to come and check out this zone made famous by it’s yearly snowfall amounts (lots of it!).

Our homebase is called Niseko, one of Japan’s most recognized snowboarding destinations due to the readily available lift serviced mountains, night riding, hiking and good vibes. We’ll have one week to check out as many spots as possible and document whatever we happen to ride within those zones.

I finished up the shoot in Big Bear on Friday afternoon, made it to LA that evening in preparation for my Saturday morning flight from LAX to Tokyo-Narita Airport. This pacific crossing would involve passing over the international date line, moving 17 hours into the future while flying in the airplane for 11 hours and 21 minutes. I try to book a window seat because the views over Alaska, Siberia and Northern Japan are usually fabulous. AK and Japan weren’t visible this flight, but checking out a bluebird day in the desolate lands of Siberia was cool! I wonder if we’ll book a photo shoot there?

After landing at Tokyo-Narita Airport, I found Jack in the customs line; we cleared our arrival paperwork, grabbed the bags, rechecked them with ANA Airlines and got ready for the next flight to Sapporo. I’ll post some more pics from our travel to the North Island tomorrow. Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray