Driving around the Akita and Iwate Prefektur we chased the best conditions for the day. We spent our days on the mountain, mostly ski touring to get to the untouched snow and nature, but occasionally taking the ski lifts in the resorts. The snow quality in Akita is hard to describe. Coming from Åre, Sweden and being used to ice packed slopes it is a dream to ski in Japan. The snow was light and fluffy, treating us like gods on the mountain. The ”State of Elevenate” was not hard to find in the untouched snow, skiing between the big and beautiful trees in the sparse forest. 

The nights we spent in different hotels, most of them visited by a majority of Japanese tourists there for the Onsen experiences. The third night we spent on the countryside in Akita, a Japanese hut outside of the city Sumiyoshicho. We drove to Sumiyoshicho for dinner, visiting the restaurant of a chef who got tired of Tokyo and moved away yo this small city to start his own restaurant, not much to see from the outside - But the food. Let me tell you, it was an experience.