Jynxx

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a **** big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of **** fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing **** junk food into yo

bobby12, I can imagine it's confusing if you had been studying Hiyo-Jun-Go (standard Japanese) That's school Japanese. Strictly speaking that is not downtown Tokyo tongue. You are in Hyogo, so it's Kansai-ben. Even in your area, you go to south of osaka, which is Kawachi-ben, it get's pretty rough in tongue. On the other hand, Kyoto-ben is soft and elegant. When you are Japanese you can understand the dialect pretty much, except Okinawa which I consider it is a language on its own. Can't understand a thing. May be it's familiarity through TV and listening to people talk.. In general

You got it TB. Yokosuka, Okinawa used to be bit like that. Tune into FEN radio, a little bit of America in Japan. But I still think the draw of Niseko is powder and it's is relatively quick to get their by air. Now there is bullet train everywhere but before it took a while to get anywhere and Zao was a long way. The gaijin factor is just amusement value. You guys ever been to Hawaii? One can get by speaking Japanese there. Lots of Japanese retire there, too.

Amazing... Cheers Muika

Could even be the late 70's... Naeba originally rose to fame hosting the world cup. Hans Hinterseer became famous there as I recall it. Other than skiing, people went to Naeba Prince for tennis. There was a tennis boom in Japan around that time.

Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps I love just love the onions and chutney and mint yogurt dip thingies that come with poppadoms in an Indian. Who needs the main meal? Just 4 popps and a starter and I'm stuffed! With lots of Beer, I presume.

Hey, me-Jane I think there is "Feeling" Intelligence. It's in between your chest and stomach area. The brain in my head gives me directions based on rational, logical, learnt response. It looks for a pattern, missing pieces, reference seeking to understand. But this second brain knows If you can stop thinking in your head brain for 10 min, you will have a clue to what I am on about. I have a friend who is a Sydney Uni, medal winner (meaning top graduate of the dept.) Ph.D in Pharmacology. She has a photographic memory. What makes her intelligent is that she Knows that her

"Stupid is as stupid does" ... Forrest Gump yeah, I laugh a lot these days about the world but some thing are not funny. Like George Bush, or "mini-me" Howard or how we live.. Laughter is good medicine but can be cruel .... at least if I can laugh about myself, I am doing OK... but no one should be laughing about in someones face and we should at least have the grace to keep it to a smile... yeah it is funny though sometimes... Again, a sense of humor is based on ones culture, intelligence, circumstance, analyzing.... and some times it's just purely funny. I wonder how

Red onions ! with yellow capsicums and yogurt balsamico dressing

She sounds like a very interesting person. Original. Unique. Mr. Bean ... People have described me often as a "professional student" with cynicism and I can tell you knowledge is over rated. People say, "knowledge is power" but only true to a certain extent. Intelligence is something very tangible and the way we evaluate it is not really holistic. To me, a stupid person is someone who had read 4 books about Quantum physics written for a layman, and thinks "I know quantum physics" and thinks star trek is close to life. A person with a university BA thinking himself as a specialist.

Bean, Glen, MikePow, you guys are doin'it !

How did you get into olive farming, JA? if you don't mind me asking?

Good suggestion snohuntress ! I was allergic to prawns when I was a kid, and didn't get to eat it till I was 15.

Ma' bear, people don't wear it that much compared to when our family first traveled South Germany 30 years ago. Lots of people were wearing traditional garmets in Holland, Swiss, Tirol, Italy.... My dad still wears a Tirolian Hat with the fluffy stuff and he is probably the only one in Tokyo. No we did not buy Lederhosen. Still I see it sometimes even it is not octoberfest, especially further south of munich towards the mountains. I am not sure as to if I am required to wear one for our wedding. Her parents cracked up when I asked. I might get a longer one not the short one. hehehe

Lost and Found Thread is a Great idea !!! I'll second that. I have a brasillian friend who lost a camera at a ski resort in NZ. One week later his mates went there and found it ! Lucky ! It happens...

GN, now we are talking business... cool. You made a very valid point. we are in line, so to speak. cheers

GN, We are not talking about immigration or multiculturalism here. I have just pointed out that your comment about "insular" is not a significant issue. It happens everywhere. I am pointing out that your view of international tourism is biased. Australia and English speaking background tourism. You don't speak the language and live in a skiing village in Hokkaido that caters for Aussies and yet you have the galls to generalize the Japanese. Hey, Hokkaido is like the Northern Territory of Australia. It's part of Japan for sure, but do you get my drift.. It's like a Japanese who doesn'

I understand where GN is coming from. But I will point out he is mixing issues. There is the local level Japanese culture, different in every prefecture. And in the multinational corporation level. Too simplistic but a good example. hey, most Japanese oversea posting is about 4 to 5 years at one place. My dad was a GM for one of these companies and I was being groomed to take part in the inside strategic meeting of how to to business in the agricultural, coal, steel, finance in Australia. I didn't go down that path, but I can tell you these gentlemen knew very well about their business, t

JA, you clearly have issues. It is clear that you are the one that is judge-mental. well, well.. you seem to be having problems digesting new pictures presented by me and because it's out of you box, is that what you can come back with ?! Piss poor. Have you been smoking too much weed or do you need some counseling? And keep your sorry for your own arse. I've got my own problems trying to learn high German and Bavarian language. Mind your own business... Or are you finding verbal jabbing with me therapeutic? Hey, Japan IS a huge multinational conglomerate. It's Japan Corp. W

GN, some people are there at the right time. You are talking Niseko, Hokkaido. Hokkaido has heaps of developing potential, land is cheaper, one of the reasons some Japanese people go there to open up a farm or alternitive lifestyle. It just happened because of the Aussie factor. It wouldn't have happened any other way. Sure Niseko was one of these places some people who were really into pow went in the late 70's. One hotel in Annupuri and a few Minshuku was enough to cater for those. Probably no one saw it was going to happen in a big way for Aussies. Still small population. Local effec

Gimp, Thank you for explaining. You got it boiled down. Birdman, So true. That was what my Dad said to me when we moved to London when I was 5. Only 3 ethnic families in Wimbledon then.. Subsidies are a way of life in Japanese agriculture and tourism. Before privatization, the only profitable JR line was said to be the Yamanote line. Then you can also look at it this way, Japanese skiers are subsidized by the government. Cool... I also like to add for the benefit of Ma'bear and JA. When Japanese want to spend, They go to Italy (for shopping etc) and Hawaii. There are the place

Imagine being in China.. One time zone. That will do your head in

JA, I don't know how your brain works, but it seems to me you display only one way of (namely your way of) comprehending my statement. I don't know what makes you an expert in tourism. Or how many areas you have visited in your lifetime but one thing for sure is I talk apples and you understand bananas. I find your argument lacking in substance as much as you do mine.. I am just pointing out that the so called lucrative market is a hype created by some of the forum members. Again, compare it with Gold Coast, How many Japanese or Arabs do you see... Do the Gold Coast cater for that marke

JA you like nitpicking don't you. Ultimatly, Japanese local detail don't have to do a thing to change to impress or satisfy the foreign crowd, You sound like some Americans who think they can be like Americans where ever they are. Well guess what? Surprise! you can't read the menu, Tough! Do you think every restaurant in Germany has a English menu or every German speak English? What you are asking is like this. At one time the Australian export was 60% reliant on the Japanese market. Does that mean little local towns like Tamworth has to have a Japanese Miso and Rice with raw eggs breakfa

TJ I don't know you but at least you sound like you know a bit of Shinshu area and peoples ways and tradition. You will do fine! My grandmother comes from that area, and her family prominence goes back a long way. Japan has in the past been through high economic growth of the 70's, the bubble, lot's of crazy investment in tourism and theme parks and we all know the result. It is quite astonishing that people can not understand that ski resorts are like theme parks. So, the locals will decide if they want that kind of development and infrastructure. They probably don't want to rely o