Hello and welcome to the first episode of Snow Country Stories Japan* – a podcast about life in Japan’s legendary ‘yukiguni’. In Episode 01 of the podcast I sat down for a chat with Mark of Madarao Mountain Lodge. Originally from Sydney, Australia, Mark has been living in Japan for years and operating his ski lodge in Madarao since 2017. He’s a big part of the community and a wealth of knowledge about Madarao, life in the snow country and Japan in general.  The interview starts with Mark and I talking about the season that’s been and the return of inbound tourism before discussing Madarao Mountain Resort and why Mark rates it so highly. Along the way he drops the ‘orographic effect’ into the conversation and we talk tree zones, backcountry and the need to follow the rules before moving onto Mark’s story and just how a Sydney native came to be living in the snow country.   Madarao Mountain Lodge:    https://www.madaraoskilodge.com/ Madarao Mountain Resort:   https://www.madaraomountainresort.com/ Kaesa Farm Stay: https://www.madaraomountainresort.com/japan-farmstay.html For more information about the podcast and your host, visit our website: www.snowcountrystories.com. Make sure to subscribe, rate and review the podcast and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  *please note, at the time of upload of this episode, the name of the podcast was 'Snow Country For Old Men'. It has since changed to 'Snow Country Stories Japan'. For more information about that change, listen to the special announcement uploaded on April 24th 2023.