modern_messiah
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Posts posted by modern_messiah
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@tokyo....is that a video? I can't see it :-( I'll have to wait till i get home damnit!
Snowhunter: I don't have the lonely planet guide but I have Periplus' version. I think they are very similar. If I actually used it for picking up I imagine it'd be the most akward conversation I've ever had lol. A mate of mine has Pimsluer's audio guides as well (cost like $400!!!). He lent them to me but my attention span may be too short to actually learn anything.
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Yeah - see we are trying to avoid that situation lol...
Guess we'll just see what happens
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Hi all,
Myself and 5 mates will be in Hakuba from the 21st of Feb to the 8th of March next year. Three of us are 23, Two of us are 20 and one is 17. As I understand it the drinking age in Japan is 20.
What can we do in regards to going out and having fun with a 17 year old in our midst? Seriously at this stage our solution is to hope that he gets knackered from snowboarding, waiting until he passes out in his bed and then ditching the poor guy in the room and running wild (or rather as wild as socially acceptable in Hakuba).
We would like to go out for dinner every now and then, and have a few drinks with our meal then maybe cruise around afterwards. We're staying at the Wind Jacket Lodge. I'm not exactly sure where that is located yet. infact I've barely had a chance to research the town at all yet so I have no idea what is there thus far.
Might get googling when I get home.
Anyway...stories, suggestions or age old advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
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lol....I don't speak japanese (did it for 4 years in school but dropped it as soon as I was allowed to), but I wouldn't take these dudes translations seriously. Obviously we're all nice guys so they're not be a-holes, just having fun
I can tell you one thing. 'Ski Lift' in Japanese is 'Skee Rift'.
Given the reputation of Japanese people speaking English in popular culture I laughed my arse off when I read that.
Just buy a phrase book and see where that takes you lol. The one I've got even has pick up lines in it!
Maybe even see what Google can turn up?
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From reading this I'm simply going to take some cash with me (say the converted equivalent of AU$1000) and then maybe AU$2000 on a travelex card, and get the cash off it from a post office when needed.
I can get the cash commisssion free and the Travelex card nearly commission free so it makes sense in my head (I work at the Brisbane airport so we get discounts
). Even though the travelex card suffers from the same exchange rate problem as traveller's checks they are at least easier to use and have a little bit more protection to them.I could be completely wrong of course!
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No Idea as I've never been lol. But on feb the 21st we will be there and from all reports its still good up untill late march.
'm guessing that January would be the best time. though I'll wait and see what the regulars drum up!
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Hey Blue...
Myself and 5 mates are going to hakuba in Feb as well. We organised our whole thing through Oz Snow Adventures. We land in Narita Airport and are getting a coach from the airport to Hakuba Direct. No train Switching, nothing. Might take a little bit longer (and I'd love to catch a bullet train but ah well...) but its a load easier, especially after the 11 hour flight to Japan from Aus in the first place lol.
Unfortuantely until I get my itinerary finalised I can't tell you exactly what bus company it is, but absed on the information that there is actually a bus between the 2, google may help you find the name of the company as well.
Hopefully it's not a special unit that deals only with the company we are going through.
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Hey, sorry I am in Australia but I'd imagine the deal would be pretty standard in England as well...I'm with 3 Mobile over here (not sure if they are in the UK...might be under a different name or not at all)
I am Also going to Hakuba next Feb and looked into phone rental etc but after contacting 3 Mobile I obtained a price list for the associated carriers in Japan - DoCoMo and Softbank. My Mobile is 3G capable and thus works on Japanese networks. Its a Nokia E71, though my Old N70 and HTC p36600i will also work.
The call rates while fairly pricey are not rediculous if your using it for emergencies and random enquiry calls. Yes I will be charged 23c per 30seconds of any call I receive but if I want to make a long distance call back home for an extended period I'll just use a phone card.
Of course it depends on what your using your mobile for...
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Quote:Other than that, I have put 60 years of effort into getting to the shape/fitness level I am now at. Why ruin it by exercising?
lol. I often think along those lines. Onsens sound good...really good. -
Might have to get into the squats more lol.
Meh, whatever happens happens. The waits the real killer!
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Is it really that hard?
I've never been snowboarding but I will be for the first time in 3 months (Hakuba) My brother struggled when he went last year and reckons situps are the go but he sits on his arse playing WoW all day....
I play rugby league (Train twice a week and a game on Saturdays) and indoor soccer, then do weights at the gym the other 2 nights of the week (with sat night my party night and sunday's for relaxing).
Will I struggle? Is there anything I should be doing? I don't want to get out there first day, and spend the next day recovering! I have 10 days I intend on taking maximum advantage of...
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Approximately negative 3 months.
My first ever time to the snow, let alone snowboarding will be on Feb the 21st 2009 in Hakuba.
I'm pretty excited by it as it's a long way to go for your first trip to the snow (I've never been to Japan either) and as an avid board sports fanatic (I skateboard and windsurf and have dabbled in Surfing) snowboarding looks like a lot a damn fun!
3 Months is too far away mind you...
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Yeah we talked to a girl at snowbiz here in Brisbane who was really nice and helpful. They have a 30% off selected items sale at the moment and she also informed me that you can claim duty free on items if you go and get them sighted at a special booth at the airport. So a potential 40% (very rough lol) off.
Seems the full gear is worth the extra cost, may as well go that way then. Apparently we can get 2 for $50 thermals at the moment as well.
Also seems the Gold Coast store is a better bet than the Brisbane store. Might buy the basics from up here and make my way down the coast for the Jacket, pants, gloves and goggles.
Thanks for the advice!
EDIT: Are there any brands people can suggest to go for or avoid? Even though we are going budget we would like some gear that would last the distance over a few seasons at least.
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Howdy all.
Myself and 4 mates will be in Hakuba from the 21st of Feb to the 8th of March Next year. Only 2 of us have seen snow and snowboarded before, with the rest of us (myself included) been genuine beach bum/skaters who have known nothing but hot Queensland weather our entire lives (and Africa for 5 years - but that sort of furthers my point a little lol).
On saturday after we paid for our trip we went to our local SkiScene and had a look around at gear as even though we have board and boot hire sorted we realised that the hire for jackets and pants for the 2 weeks was approaching the cost of buying outright in some cases. We also realised that we can afford to do this every year so we may as well buy up.
Question is - what to wear? Should we buy a full blown jacket for $400+, or can we skimp out, just buy the shell for $150 and then wear our own jumper/jumpers under neath for the warmth? I've never been to the snow so I'm not sure what to factor in when thinking this through!?
We will be buying goggles, thermals, beanies, neck warmers etc, but what can people recommend in regards to the jacket? Im paying for my brother's entire trip ($3600!!!!) so any money I can save else where would be awesome.
Very noob question I know, but any advice no matter what would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
- Matt.
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I'm so excited now lol. Feb can't come soon enough.
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having never been to the snow I can't really tell how good that is. But I'm assuming it is
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Whats the weather like in late Febuary to early March? Myself and 2 mates will be there from the 21st of Feb to the 9th of March. Will it still be good for Snowboaridng and the like?
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Quote:where are you staying? sounds VERY similair to my trip, we will be there late jan to early feb
I tried PMing you but its disabled or I don't have permission or something. We have had it organised for us through STA Travel here in Brisbane. We wanted to go late Jan early Feb but the $800 per person price difference fazed us a bit. So now we are heading off on the 21st of feb for 2 weeks. The lodge we are staying at is the Wind Jacket Lodge in Hakuba. I checked it out, seems pretty nice - typical wooden lodge in the snow, cant really complain. Though I am about to post a topic regarding the climate in late Feb early March. Fingers crossed its still tops! -
Hey there...I can't really help but I'll tell you this anyway.
I've never been to japan before let alone to go snowboarding however in early Feb myself and 3 mates are going for 2 weeks. I tried doing all the organisation myself and while its possible it is incredibly difficult. You might want to look into "one world" passes available on JAL (Cheap flights for visitors to Japan basically.) I spent a solid week of researching to figure out a ROUGH price for our trip. I then went down to my local Travel agent and they came back with an offer I nearly fell over:
For 4 people to Hakuba 16 Days, 15 Nights. 10 Day Ski pass, all gear hire, all accomodation, all flights and transfers plus 2 nights in Tokyo and a castle tour somehwere for $3200 Australian per person or 1363 Pounds (sorry no pound symbol on this keyboard). In my country thats a pretty darn good deal!
Im not sure if you've booked your flights already but it may be worth looking for somewhere to do a package for you. Seen as Niseko is the biggest destination for overseas skiiers in Japan I would be incredibly surprised if you struggled to find cheap accomodation. Package deals normally get good discounts.
Sorry if this doesnt help at all, just thought I'd mention that I tried organising it myself (and I've been very good at it in the past) but when it comes to Japan it can be a struggle.
Cheers.
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I Googled it, and that's the site I got, and that's where I found the Good gear Shop.
lol.
I've got all night now so I may as well keep trawling the inter-webs.
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Hi again.
As some of you may have seen my previous post regarding where to actually go, I'm now following that up.
We have decided to go snowboarding in Furano....though me been me, that will probably change again tomorrow. Anyway, I've been down to the travel agents and they are busy putting a package together (2 weeks accommodation with 10 days gear rental and lift passes). However I'm sure you all understand that I'd like to see how much I can get it all for if I do it myself.
Flights to and from Japan were easy. Getting to Furano has proved to be problematic in no small part thanks to the sheer number of options available and the absolutely confusing way in which they are presented.
I’m now onto the business end – accommodation, snowboard/gear hire, and lift passes. Thankfully the accommodation is straight forward enough. Prices are available and it’s simply a matter of emailing around until I find a place to stay that’s cheap enough.
However! A quick Google search and a look around this wonderful website has failed to unearth a plethora of rental options (at least not as many as I thought) and I find it odd that I can only find single day lift passes.
So basically I have 2 questions
- where is the best place to hire snowboards and accessories from in terms of overall quality and price in Furano?
- where in furano can I obtain multi-day lift passes?
I can find single day passes fine, but I’m assuming multi-day passes may be cheaper; though then again a lot of things work differently in Japan compared to Australia so I am most likely completely wrong. I have read in a couple of places that hotels offer the multi-day lift passes. Do you need to be a guest to get these deals?
As I have said I have had a look but can’t seem to find exactly what I’m after. Also apologies if this is already in the forum somewhere – I couldn’t figure out a good search phrase that didn’t seem to return every post ever created!
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
- Matt.
Edit: Sorry I forgot to mention I found "Good Sports Furano" and their prices seem to be good at around Y18,000 for 5 Days hire (full clothes, goggles, gloves, boots and board). As this is only one of only 2 places I found I'm not sure if the price is any good.
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Yeah I've pretty much learnt it's not going to matter much where we go. The main reason where going is for the snow, anything else is a bonus.
Thanks for all your help, I've got a much better idea of what to expect. I'll defintely be posting a trip report after its all done!
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Bugger...I've been away for a day (rather nursing a hang over lol). So much to read!
Seems it keeps going back and forth in my head as to where to go. Someone mentions a good thing and it seems thats a done deal but then somewhere else pops up and its all down the toilet again!
I'll read through it all in detail tomorrow (Im in trouble with the gf...something about the dishes) and see where I go. I went down to the travel agaentg and told them what we're after so they will hopefully email me back tomorrow with some qoutes, I'll then see how close I can get organising it myself.
Thanks for the replies so far people. Much better response than I thought!
- Matt
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wow...this is what happens when I dont check the forums often enough! So much to read. That opening by Rag-Doll....WOW! lol.
I have to say that I noticed you live in Singapore. I've visted there twice adn I have to say the place is very cool for me. Seriously living in Australia is very generic (for me anyway) Japan will blow my mind I must say.
However all the points that have been made are starting to move me in the direction of Niseko. The night time skiing is cool, the night life is a bonus and its closeness to other thigns to do seems cool as well.
Bah! So hard to decide. We might take a stop over in some other part of Japan for the cultural experience and leave the slopes for skiing and partying!
Though I am still put off by large crowds...and large Aussie crowds at that. I won't feel so special
Just feels weird doing what everyone else does. Though then again we can just explore during the day ad go different places, and then spend the night at the popular spots.
Hakuba social scene question
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
well his older brother is comming with him so I can leave it up to him lol.
At the end of the day it does'nt effect me or my brother (who is 20) so party on for us