In the last week I have been snowboarding four times, and I am sore and exhausted.

I went at the end of last week with Alan who was up visiting from Kyoto. (Alan and I went to high school together.) That was a nice easy day - Alan wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous.

Sunday night Michael and Bjorn knock on my door and ask me if I want to go to to Yamagata Zao for a couple of days. 17,000 yen (about $150) for 2 day passes, two home-cooked meals, and a place to sleep. Not too shabby.

山形 (Yamagata) Zao ski resort has about 40 lifts, 5 of which are gondolas, and what looked like some pretty promising boarding. Equipment problems, 70 mph wind gusts and temperatures below -10 C changed that, though.

I had borrowed a board from the school, and the bindings were giving me all kinds of trouble, and my gloves quickly turned into mittens after fingers start to freeze together.

The first day, the top of the mountain is closed because of wind, but we had a few good runs around the mountain. The second day let us see the top (with almost zero visibility - you could only see about 5-10 m away), and a couple of 30 degree slopes. Powder was pretty good in some spots, but there was ice aplenty.

I just got back from a little trip to my favorite resort (面白山 Omosiroyama), where they still had some of the foot of snow they got this week. Powder was pretty solid in spots, more equipment problems, but I felt pretty good overall. I found myself tackling some slopes I didn’t think I would be able to handle this season. A few sections were steep enough that you could reach out horizontally to touch the mountain as you’re riding down! That was pretty awesome.

I left a little early (around 3), and while waiting for the train, a couple in their 50’s approached me and started making conversation. We talked about where I was from, and my major, what they did before they retired, etc., and then the woman remarked that I looked like Tom Cruise. “He looks like he could be his kid!” the man replied.

Call me crazy, but I think I’m a far cry from Tom Cruise (I’m pictured in what I was wearing at the time): <img style=”float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;” src=”http://bp0.blogger.com/pFuEsHQdbuM/RfpY4pFencI/AAAAAAAAAHA/uXWjbjdJiN8/s320/Photo+110.jpg” border=”0” alt=”“id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID5042440462919441858” />

The whole thing reminded me of the following Family Guy clip:

I admit that when I first got here, I had some of the All-Japanese-People-Look-The-Same syndrome going on, but now I find it pretty easy to recognize my Asian compadres.

• Tom Cruise