Metabo Oyaji
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Posts posted by Metabo Oyaji
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Originally Posted By: thursdayno it's not. Domestic travel in Japan is very cheap. Even more so now that the toll roads are free.
They're not free yet, still the 1,000 yen flat rate on weekends and holidays with ETC. Still a good deal, though. It widens my affordable range of day trips considerably.
If they do become free as promised, though, they will probably be rendered unusable. Just not enough lanes -- and road widening projects have been frozen. -
The end of March still had good snow conditions and new snow falls at the Ura-Bandai resorts.
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Originally Posted By: JynxxAND Nikkei is the best.
Sure, we hear that all the time. Bin said 30 years ago. Snobbery .
Frankly I can't tell except that a lot of Japanese don't talk all that much and the vocabulary is ever changing.
All I know is that the Asahi sends me reaching for the dictionary a lot more often than the Yomiuri. Nikkei certainly has a lot of investing/economics jargon, but Asahi is more all-around challenging.
Thursday, if you want to talk about the English versions, the Yomiuri's English website reads to me like a tabloid. Much less professional-seeming than the others. -
Nasu Onsen Family Ski-jo is skier-only. Definitely geared to families with small kids, but a very nice place for that demographic. Cheap, too. Only problem is if the closer parking lot fills up, the far lot is quite a long ways away, so bring snow boots for the kids in case you need to make the hike.
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Originally Posted By: stemikOriginally Posted By: Jynxx
Asahi bin left wing and Yomiuri right wing.
really - i always thought it was the opposite....not that i read them much these days.
You can tell by the difference in vocabulary levels they use.
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Originally Posted By: thursdaywaste of trees
Reading the paper version feels relaxing and luxurious. Reading the electronic version feels like downing fast food. Illogical, perhaps, but there it is.
Paper also handles morning coffee spills more gracefully. -
Asahi, paper-and-ink, dagnabbit.
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There is a claim on Wikipedia that after SSAWS was dismantled, it was sent to Dubai. No source given, but if it is on the internet it must be true, right?
Has it found new life as the symbol of yet another bubble's excess? There do seem to be some superficial similarities between the two structures.
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Originally Posted By: thursdayBut for us punters on the ground we can only hope that one day there would be some real hospitality venues which can make international visitors go "wow, that is swish".
Ah, so is it mainly an issue for overseas seekers of swish, and not so much something that would impact weekend warriors with kids?
If so, I could live with that. -
Originally Posted By: JynxxAre you Italian ?
Are you trying to suggest that my idea of "well-run" may not be finely tuned?
It was a sincere question. As I said, I've never been to Hirafu, but Thursday keeps making these comments about the place, so I'm wondering what the issue is. A quick search in the forum archives didn't turn up anything, but perhaps I haven't looked hard enough. -
Originally Posted By: thursdayHirafu - Tokyu Fine Management Limited
Is there something one should know about Tokyu Resorts?
The ski areas of theirs that I have been to seem like friendly, well-run family resorts. But I've never been to Hirafu.
Is there some sort of dark side to watch out for? -
Don't suppose Honshu counts as overseas?
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Try going to a rice tasting; now is the season.
Or better yet, don't, because then you won't be satisfied with the cheap stuff any more...
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Koshihikari is ok, a reliable standard if a bit generic.
Milky Queen is where it's at. Check it out.
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Originally Posted By: MamabearThe arm band came in handy again
My kid is an expert at losing those arm bands. Don't ask me how, they just somehow work their way off while the arm is being flailed around. -
SJForums: Got it. I will be more careful with the links in the future.
Thanks for an excellent site!
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Originally Posted By: FunskiWhat's the Happy 7 lottery? Where can I find out more about it?
Looks like it has been renamed the Hakuba-mura Monitor Season Pass, and is only 6 areas now: Sun Alpina, Goryu, 47, Happoone, Iwatake and Minekata. Lottery entry starts tomorrow, ends 10/14: Monitor Season Pass. -
I don't know how well they advertised it, but here is an example from the 2005-6 season: Prince Niigata area pass
Can't find a current example, though.
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Originally Posted By: RobBrightWould be great if there was one for the Yuzawa area. Is there one?
Googling around, it seems that Prince has offered some kind of Yuzawa-area Prince resorts pass, covering Naeba, Kagura, Hakkaisan, and Yuzawa Nakazato. But I see no evidence of such a thing being offered for this year, at least not yet.
They have also had a 5-resort pass covering Karuizawa Prince Hotel, Manza, Ura-Manza, Myoko Suginohara, and Yudanaka Shibu Onsen.
Hmmm... as I think about it, the Kan-etsu is always such an unrewarding experience, heading out the Tohoku Expressway seems more appealing. Too bad the weather (especially wind) at the Tochigi resorts is such a dicey proposition. -
Been looking at season passes that can be used at multiple resorts. Some were mentioned in the Hakuba 47 thread, but Hakuba is not the most convenient location to me, and anyway it would be nice to find something a little more wide-ranging.
One that caught my eye is the Gran Deco season pass (40,000 yen for adults if purchased before 10/31, 24,000 yen for kids, with further 10% discount for family purchases), which also lets one ski for 1,000 yen at several other Tokyu resorts: Mt. Jeans, Hunter Mountain, Tambara, Tangram, Togakushi, Fujimi Panorama, and Ski Jam Katsuyama. Plus, for 2,000 yen one can also ski at Inawashiro (Chuo and Minero) and Niseko Grand Hirafu. Don't think Hokkaido or Fukui are in the cards, but we had a great time at Gran Deco and Mt. Jeans last year, and most of the other areas on the list get reasonably good reviews (except for Tambara, which seems to be universally panned). Depending on where one goes, one would only have to go 7 or 8 times to break even, too, but then again, we are unlikely to make it out more than about 10 times anyway, most likely, so the savings would not be huge in any case. But anyway, fun to think about: Gran Deco Season Pass
Another pass I found, a true multi-resort pass, is the JTB 23 Ski-area pass: JTB 23-Ski-Area Season Pass. Again, a reasonable (if somewhat random-seeming) selection of resorts, but probably even tougher to justify economically, with a price of 49,800 yen for both adults and kids.
One nice thing about both passes above is that they cover relatively wide geographic areas, which suits the exploratory stage I am in at the moment; I'm not ready to settle down and get married to one hill yet. (And I'm not close enough to any one hill for there to be an obvious choice anyway.)
Anyway, just wondering what other multi-area passes folks may know about. I cannot, for example, find anything for the Prince resorts -- do they not offer anything like that? Any other resort chains (similar to Tokyu) or aggregators (similar to JTB) I should be looking at?
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Originally Posted By: Tubby BeaverSasuke is that Adventure Course TV show that they bring out once or twice a year, I love that. Watched a bit of it yesterday as well. They usually get well known athletes, sportsmen and such like to compete. kinda like a serious version of Takeshi's Castle
Yes, it is an insanely difficult obstacle course. Only 2 people have ever managed to complete it in something like 15 years. One of them came within a couple of seconds of doing it again last night, but no dice.
A taste:
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Originally Posted By: Metabo Oyaji
Before the final stage of Sasuke is done???
And now that it is done: oshii!
Oh well, off to bed myself.
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Originally Posted By: grungy-gonadsIt deserves it's own thread. Anyone willing to take the trouble?
I'm off to bed, yawn.
Before the final stage of Sasuke is done???
Lifts moving at Ishiuchi Maruyama! (Only rice allowed!)
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
It was featured on Hodo Station tonight. Nationwide coverage!