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善光寺さんの五輪記念イルミネーションイベント「灯明祭り」は2014年にまた開催されます。2月8日（土）から16日（日）まで行われる予定。五輪の五色で善光寺の五か所を照らすイベントです。この立派なお寺が彩に光られて、なお感動的になる。
長野の2月の夜は痛いぐらい温度が低いけど、灯明祭りは見るべし。おすすめです。

Nagano City's venerable Zenkoji Temple commemorates the 1998 Winter Olympics every year with a special illumination festival called the Toumyou Matsuri. 5 areas of the temple grounds are lit up in the 5 colors of the Olympic rings. The temple's architecture is impressive in ordinary times -- with being lit up in the Olympic colors, Zenkoji takes on a whole deeper level of mysticism.

For 2014, the Toumyou Matsuri will be held from Saturday 08-February through Sunday 16-February. Every year it is held in the middle of the winter, with the temperature often being brutally cold. But getting to see Zenkoji lit up in the Olympic colors is worth it!

灯明祭り Toumyou Matsuri

先週は菅平・大松スキー場で滑った。ゲレンデがちょっと短かったもうちょっとチャレンジが欲しかったから次の週はリベンジでまた菅平に来ました。今度は太郎とダボスエリア。主の目的は奥ダボスからのスノーキャットツアーだったけどついでに太郎をダボスを息子と滑った。

菅平スキー場は場所的に割と便利。上信越高速道路の上田・菅平ICから車で約40分。（上田駅からバスも出ている;約50分、冬には一日11本。）

しかし、問題はこの旅館の若旦那はお客さんのチェックアウトと次のお客さんのチェックインしか時間を取れないので短い間しか滑れない。

菅平・大松は3時間のリフト券もスキーセットレンタルもあったから割と親切でした。太郎・ダボスエリアは3時間リフト券があるが、レンタルは一日レンタルしかない。「三時間しか滑られえんやから安くならない?」と交渉してみたが、負けました。

ぶーぶー言いながらリフトへ。ダボス、奥ダボス、太郎、皆を滑りましたが、結局大松に負けないぐらい短い。初心者には良いかもしれませんが、中級（?）ぐらい私には物足りなかった。

One week ago, I went skiing at Sugadaira's Ohmatsu Area. I was a bit disappointed with how short the courses were and the lack of variety. So this week, in making a 'revenge' trip back to Sugadaira, my son and I tried the Taro and Davos areas. One ulterior motive was to take the Oku-Davos Snow Cat tour -- more on that later.

Sugadaira is one of the most conveniently-located ski resorts in Nagano. It is only 40 minutes by car from the Ueda Sugadaira IC on the Joshinetsu Expwy, and there is bus service from Ueda Station (approx. 50 minutes, 11 runs a day in winter).

Unfortunately, for this innkeeper, my time was limited to the period between customer checkout and checkin. That was fine for at Ohmatsu, as they had not only 3-hour ski lift tickets but 3-hour ski set rental as well.

At Taro/Davos, while they did have 3-hour lift tickets, all rentals were for full day. I tried to negotiate with the guy for a 1/2 day discount, but to no avail.

So with an unexpectedly light wallet, it was off to the slopes. Kenny and I skiied pretty much all the slopes in Taro and Davos, and it turns out they are even shorter than across the plateau at Ohmatsu. Great for beginners, but a disappointment for Kenny and I.

Don't take my word for it, though. Check out this review on Snow Japan.

菅平スキー場 Sugadaira Ski Resort