Originally written December 2018
I spent most of yesterday planning — or more accurately, chasing snow. 
Before we even left Cairns, things were already looking doubtful.
About an hour before our departure, Booking.com rang to tell me that our accommodation in Hakuba would actually prefer that we cancel our booking.
Apparently, if our main reason for going there was to ski, we were going to be disappointed.
They weren’t expecting snow for another two weeks.
Wonderful.
My ski lesson had already been cancelled, and now even the ski resort was basically telling us:
Don’t come here looking for snow.
Graeme and I debated whether we should simply stay in Tokyo.
But we already had two tours booked in Nagano — Nagano Like a Local and another two-day Nagano trip — so we decided to change the plan instead.
Rather than staying at a ski resort in Hakuba, we would stay in downtown Nagano.
My reasoning was simple:
At least from Nagano, we would only be a couple of hours by bus from wherever snow might decide to appear.
So the chase continued. 
Then this morning, while checking the snow forecast yet again, I saw a report of snowfall at Togakushi Shrine.
Had I ever heard of Togakushi Shrine before?
No.
Did that matter?
Also no.
They had snow.
They had my attention.
So after breakfast, we got on a bus and travelled about an hour to Togakushi.
And finally…
SNOW.
After all the cancelled plans, changed accommodation, weather checking and chasing it around Japan, there it was.
Actual snow.
I didn’t care that it wasn’t a ski resort.
I didn’t care that there was no ski lesson.
I just wanted to experience snow.
And I finally did.
One bucket-list item ticked off.
The chase is over.
Stories Along the Way 