JAPAN SLED MISSION 2016
Tokamachi is in the Nigata prefecture and one of the local boys favorite spots to go shred. On normal years the average snowpack is roughly 5 to 6 meters deep but this year it was only 1- 2 meters. It seems that a lot of the areas with snow are in Japanese National Parks and snowmobiles are restricted. So it is actually quite limiting as to what we can do sledding-wise here. However, Junichi let us know that Tokamach was the spot to be.
Junichi had arranged a 2015 Ski Doo T3 163, which is a sled that I have back in Lake Tahoe. He’d also procured a few Timbersleds and some Polaris turbos. I couldn’t help but wonder how these sled would be for riding the Japanese terrain in comparison to that in North America.
In Tokamachi we met up with some of Junichi’s fellow Japanese slednecks. We where staging at a “Ryoken” which is a Japanese-style hotel with little tatami mat rooms with futons on the floor to sleep. Lots of these style of hotels also have hot springs running through them on the basement levels. Luckily, this was one of them!
The demographic for riders in Tokamachi seemed to be on the older side here. It is so expensive to get a sled that it makes it difficult for young Japanese to buy one and get into the sport. There’s also limited space to ride (not to mention store your sled!) that it seems like snowmobiling is not that popular on the main Island. The roads are also tight and would be hard to travel pulling a snowmobile trailer! Around 400 units are sold country-wide each year. Not a lot compared to the 56K sold in the US and 44K sold in Canada last year.
