Ocean11

Dunno, always gone by car, but if you tell us whereabouts you are, that might help. If you're nearby, I could take you somewhere local...

danz, I think it's OK for places to say no this or no that, and compete in the marketplace on the basis of their discrimination. I read somewhere that those places that have recently banned snowboarders have noticed an upturn in the_overall_number of customers - that means skiers. Far from losing 50% of their customers, they've increased the number of customers. I think the same would apply for resorts that banned skiers. Certainly I'd be delighted not to have ride moguls, avoid people skiing uphill, snowploughing right across the slope, and resting on their stocks in the middle of

gorilla, in a civilized country it would be, but we are among the heathen. Happy Kurisumasu.

Well, as for being bitter, it'd be a mistake to think that rhetorical heat was anything more. But I suppose my antipathy to the whole ski style and gear did keep me away from winter sports for longer than necessary. And in practice, we do get along, but venting in a forum like this doesn't result in broken bones now, does it? I think that as some resorts do ban snowboarders completely (and get more skiers on account of that), it'd only be fair if some popular boarding resorts banned skiers. My point was, how long do you think it'll be before the sense of this begins to strike the res

Absolutely nuthin'! Well now, I happen to think that moguls are a fine way of ruining a perfectly good slope (and I also think that skiers look like queer bunnies when they go about making them - boink, boink, boink, bum twitch, boink). If resorts are going to let skiers on the slopes, they should at least require them to get to work with shovels at the end of the day to repair the damage they've done. So when are the resorts going to start saying no to skiers? Which resorts will lead the way? How long before the local news has one of those overviews of the Nagano snowboard scene wh

Hey gorilla, you're working, I'm working, and the point of my observation was that it's not a holiday. Trust Ocean11 to point out something like that...

And the same to you! I was thinking I'd post a review soon as I'm getting mighty familiar with Nozawa.

Well that's fine then Wizz... Don't go taking my loathing of moguls personally now...

"Maybe not the biggest hol in Japan" It's not 'not the biggest holiday in Japan', it's not a holiday_at all_. If you can go, why don't you?

Went up to Nozzle again this Sunday. More snow than the previous Sunday, so the terrain looked a good deal different, but also more grooming and more people. Moguls are beginning to form on the steeps, a most unfortunate and lamentable development. Still some good powder at the sides of the runs and at the top. In the evening we went looking for drink and grub and went to a fav haunt called 'Kaze no Ie' in the hyperbolically named 'Nozawa Plaza' building. This is a French/Italian style wine bar with good food. However, when we got there, the mastaa told us they were all booked up for the

I want long mogul runs like I want a dose of an incurable variety of the clap. Vandalism. Waste of a common resource.

Well that's got to be good news about Yumi leaving that little squirt, but my taste is rather more in the direction of Ami. Looks like I'll have to rethink French rap then...

The smell is indeed different - there's often a smell of snowbikes and burning plastic rubbish - verrrr nice. Talking of canned beverages, I like the milk tea - it reminds me of the taste of rice pudding.

Utada-chan is well cute, but her voice grates after about the third listen. I remarked elsewhere that 'Can You Keep a Secret' drove me nuts on the slopes last year. People stared when I kept shouting 'No, I can't, now shut the f*ck up!' Surprisingly, Japanese rap is OK - better than French rap anyway.

I think it might make a very boring read, but you did ask. I've been 9 times so far, and tomorrow should make it 10, God willing. Now would you like to know how many women I've slept with?

Read 'The Enigma of Japanese Power' - there's something in there about it I think. Also about 'tell no lies' Hata Tsutomu lying about Japanese guts being different, hence they can't eat foreign beef. S'all different over here y'know.

I'm a daytripper so I can't help you, but Nozawa isn't a big place so wherever you stay, you can walk to one of the lifts in 5 minutes. Have fun now, and look out for the red skidlid.

We did this topic already. http://www.skijapanguide.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000654.html

That's what I heard too, although I haven't been. Indeed, that's one reason why I haven't been. I read that they have 'great mogul courses', a form of vandalism that only comes from lots of our friends on split snowboards. There are few places like that - Echo Valley is another. As of last year at least, snowboarders had to pay \1,000 to be appraised by a guy on skis then get a 'snowboarder' license. Also, in the snowboard school they used ski poles, those crucial snowboarding items. Nozawa apparently was also very snotty about snowboarders long after other places opened up to us, bu

I don't see any substance to these claims concerning the awfulness of Puffy. OK so they're easy listening, but there's nothing wrong with that. I first realized how good they are when I was driving for two hours with a pop station on the radio, and at the end when they played a Puffy song, I thought, Jeez, this is the only memorable, foot-tapping song by people who can actually sing! Coolness and posing be damned, if a band's lead singers set the dog a'howling, f*ck 'em. Does anybody like Izumiya Shigeru? Great Japanese rocker. Good follow up when you want something with a bit more grit t

Actually it's a remake of an old movie called Ocean's 11, and it has got nothing to do with me. Or maybe it has, I dunno. The handle comes from the Desmond Dekker song 007 (Shanty Town) of which I am inordinately fond (even if it isn't by Puffy...) Maybe Desmond was talking about the original film, it's rather hard to tell.

How's the skateboard? I could never stay upright on one above 3 seconds, although I had a scoot around Alpen on one of those groovy newish long boards and that was better. Not being able to stay up was my main concern about starting snowboarding, but no probs there. Also, how do you slow down on a skateboard? Has anybody tried the Flowlab http://www.flowlab.com/index.html or the Freebord? http://www.freebord.com/index.html Both of these look pretty good for those days spent stuck in town.

Then again, 7,000 yen would pay for a day's lift pass and a few bevvies. Think I'd rather do that - unless you're paying...shall I forward my bank details then? Has anybody tried any of those computer only snowboard games?

Not kidding neither. Sure they can sing. Compare them to any of those sappy Komuro klones and they have a full range - or at least they sing songs that fit their range which is half the battle. Plus they sing many songs written by great songwriters like Inoue Yousui. Also their backing bands are usually more than competent. Go on dez, treat yourself to a couple of albums. They hold up well against a lot of American bands, and their early CDs can be had verrr cheap.

I LIKE Puffy! I bought one of their albums cheap the other day and it's goood. They have good tunes, they can sing, and they're actually two tasty looking girls to boot. If there was more Puffy on the slopes instead of that godawful whining shite, things would be much better.