Near miss and unfortunately not so near miss diary
A few bits from memory,
all names and info is all fictional / lies and made up stories.
Don't believe anything here ha ha.
And all the bits in between are the good times^-^!!!
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2009 November
'Timber'
15year old Teenager faints in elevator after onsen
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2011
'white eyes'
Last guy in onsen collaspes just last 2young guys leave,
pull him out and tag team us.
We rush down,
he's lying facedown beside the hotspring,
'Are you ok' we ask and roll him over a bit
He sayes 'oh I'm ok', in perfectly good Japanese, but.....
his eyes have no pupils!!
Ambulance arrives but he's ok.
Next day, he leaves as though nothing happens,
no goodbyes, no thankyou's.
Boy those 2young guys saved his arse....did he know it?
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2012
'Head banger'
Get a call,
party and drinking going on,
guy falls and bangs his head - quite heavy blood lose but his friends bandage him up.
All looks good when we arrive,
but then,....
things change.
Suddenly he's having trouble relaxing,
he has chest pains and he is not copping.
He starts screaming and panicking (and so do his friends around him).
We are all freaked, I step outside and one of his friends tell me he has a heart condition (which I didn't catch the first time they told me - probably).
Ambulance arrives,
jabs him with adrenaline (I think?).
30sec and he (and we all!!) calms down.
Next day, again, he leaves as though nothing happens,
no goodbyes, no thankyou's...(except his cell phone number in my cell phone for some reason - I think we tried to find his son)
I can understand when hospital staff are Not friendly sometimes,
How about you? If this happenned ever week, you'd LOVE a 'thank you' right?
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2015 who knows when, what, why, who, where? (I was not directly invloved, just concerned)
'2 Dead ducks'
Friends tell me something went down.
No-one in town knows anything about it.
Isn't that strange.
Sorry to put here but this is too close to home to be kept a secret:
Sad no-one working at the same place bothered to tell me, come on guys you can look people in the eye, life does go on but formal apologies / reports / answering emails / advice might be a good idea?
People who have to have know also answered 'what accident?' and changed the subject several times before, giving any...
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=118017
Will have a talk with friends again soon to reconfirm facts / try to improve future incidents.
The outdoors and showing the beauty of the area is fun,
we have to show the danger at the same time (before is best really).
Just like letting people know there are bears and snakes and bees etc that could kill you in the summer.
Also NOT advertised locally.
National parks/ Local governments / Ski fields and companies should also let people know the consequences of people actions, to help the people help themselves.
Repeat visitors are best if they are ...er....alive.
Love to visit Argentenia one day, maybe never a chance,... looks like some nice hills there too.
Guess the 2 Argenteinans would have been really enjoying Jason's tour, beautiful landscape / snow / Japanese culture,
guess they would not have been here without him, shame it ended short.
Would be hard for Jason to set things up from NZ: stable / fun / making a profit / safe....that may expalin the friendly side vs nasty side? It 'looks so safe, so beautiful'.
Maybe they would have wanted to return the favour to Jason in Argentia, really must be beautiful?
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2016 April
'Rox'
You know it was one of the nicest dances of my life. (One scottish dance back in auckland was also pretty good ha ha.)
As a birthday special we put on free alcohol and a VIP room,
absolutely a great time.
Enjoyed the special country music so much - a foreign lanuage to me - we hooked up an impromptu audio system,
so much fun. A really great crowd - still feel like family.
I was helping to look after them, but at the same time they were looking after me....not sure how to explain.
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Nagano has many great natural hotspring onsens.
Onsens are great before drinking alcohol, not after.
Unfortunately it was my own mistake of letting people go to the onsen after drinking that caused what happened next.
I am so sorry Rox.
Roxy was my best friend during the time and it couldn't have happened to a worst person in my mind....even though she did complain at every single thing (just like my wife does^-^) ha ha.
To help future people:
DON'T USE THE ONSEN AFTER DRINKING ALCOHOL
YOU WILL FAINT AND FALL.
If you faint while still in the onsen, and you are the last person, as is often the case after a party, your chances of falling to your death are high.
If you make it out of the onsen, to the changing room or elevator - you are lucky. You'll hopefully cool a little and regain consciousness without too much damage.
If you faint in a hot place near the onsen, overheating may not be pretty.
Or if you make it to the stairs and start climbing before fainting - this could be the 2nd worst case.
I'll never forget saying 'goodnight' and Rox waving her hand as she fell backward down the stairs.
A puddle of blood 70cm in diameter,
Yamanouchi ambulance 45minutes to get on the scene
Best friend lying there like that....
Before ambulance arrives, bleeding stops
consciousness happens, little bit by little bit, but it's not like you'd expect
'where am I?'
'what happened?'
'I don't understand' x 1000 times
Ambulance arrives
we take the 30minute ride down to Hokushin hosptital
Rox repeats herself in and out of consciousness /sleep? - she is in a bad way
The ambulance electronic monitors flash on and off as we go over bumps on the road....what the f!
The ambulance guys are rock solid - they are friends too - we can trust, just difficult timing and a difficult situation.
At the hospital:
Xrays are taken, skin stitched up.
Passed off as a drunken old lady and told she can leave at 4am in morning.
No major injuries (we thought). ...although heavy blood lose.
Next was another mistake:
we should have asked that she stayed in the hospital / hotel for a day to stabilize / check she really was ok or not.
I should have known better - something was funny / strange.
Rox's group was on a tight schedule , somehow I should have pulled her off and slowed things down.
It was about 6months before I heard the full story after that,
back in her country, a broken skull and spinal vertibrae, no feeling in her face for 6months, I am so sorry Roxy.
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2017 February
'High flyer'
Hokushin Hospital
Broken leg - screws in place, very nice surgery
Problem - pain killers taken away
Seems laws between USA and Japan are different.
Careful what drugs you take into Japanese hospitals.
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2017 February
'Marieta & Sandra Snow Monkey'
I was called down from the hills to help translate at hokushin Hospital.
- shinshu Nakano city - near the snow monkey park (Yamanouchi-town).
Approx 15:00 got call
15:00 hurried down hill
Then told to wait, as someone else (another visitor / Angel^-^?) was already on the job.
Thought that's fine, that's all I've been asked to do.
Waited
19:00 and still no call to come in...so when to check for myself.
Visitor who was a great help was just leaving.
I met Marieta and Sandra for the first time.
They seemed to be being looked after fine with hospital staff and volunteer translator (Angel name??) was awesome from all accounts.
Just when I thought I wasn't needed.....Just a few small details to tidy up with medical certificate things and transport to Narita airport, and new flight tickets ...doctors signing things in English aswell as Japanese.....to be arranged in Japanese(?!!?)
After midnight back at the hotel, Sandra was still roaring trying her best to get through to her airline and family back in Australia,...seemed things were not as fairy tail ending as they were a few hours before.
Not to mention Marieta with broken arm and leg!!
For more details see Sandra's words here:
https://broomee.wordpress.com/
Oh, the Biyu hotel in Yudanaka started selling 'crampon's - as recommended by Marieta and Sandra. One step at a time.
(Need to put a few tips about airlines and transport here, AND I should have positioned myself closer at the beginning to help behind the scenes while the chief Angel translator was still there. Possibly valuable time lost)
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2017
Nagano Fire Heli Down
Nagano mountains are beautiful and we all enjoy.
Sometimes we make mistakes and are lucky enough to be hepled out by rescuers, sometimes if weather is good enough by helicopter.
Unfortunately, the air today was full of the noise of helicopters looking for helicopters and crew members.
Sounded like a war zone.
Sorry to guys and families,
help has been appreciated, but no where to say 'thanks'.
Thanks guys - it is always great to have you in the background, like Mt Ontake etc.
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2019
Me Down.
Snow shoeing at night above the monkey park.
Really steep really quickly, then icey really quickly, and a night out tied to a tree!?!
4 rescue teams sent to find me.
Nagano Police Heli comes over just as I am clear.
Almost didn't end well.
Unfortunately my marriage ended a few weeks later..
and lead to things hapening in Switzerland,..for better or worse
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2022
Amateur radio talks where operators thought to be in Ukraine jammed and signals lost.
True story yet to be determined.
Next marriage also lost here. Unfortunately not at all near misses.
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2024
3 false fire alarms and one true fire in one week!!!
Puts systems under test. Funny business?
Not sure what happened to the occupants of the the last incident, not a joke at all.
