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