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NoFakie

SnowJapan Member
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Posts posted by NoFakie

  1. Probably the only people who can comment on insurance companies are those who've had to make lots of claims. Maybe a rental car company or a taxi firm.

    With most people, the insurance company just gets money and remains untested or barely tested.

  2. Wahey! Regular or diesel? What colour?

     

    Some of the more deluxe insurance comes with roadside cover, but you don't need it if you join JAF. JAF can get you discounts at certain places like onsens, and I think you might be able to use it if you're just a passenger in someone else's car, say if they have a flat battery.

  3. Here's Hakuba 47's park taken by someone on the lift. You can also see some of the backcountry in the distance.

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    Late season in Hakuba sees some bowly action as well in the park at Happo or Tsugaike, if you're originally a skate rat. There's an indoor skate park in Hakuba too, fwiw. (maybe turn your speakers down before clicking)

     

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    In recent years, there have three or four big name DJ events a season. The big one last season was Darren Emerson. Its hard for promoters in Japanese cities to fill a club on a weekday, so that's why they come.

     

    There are plenty of Japanese people at either Hakuba or Niseko to talk to, don't worry about that.

    Niseko stays colder longer toward the end of the season, so there's more chance of powder days there.

  4. Bringing on Mikel was a bit of a negative move. They almost saw it out, but with Man U's attacking players, there's always the chance of them getting one goal.

     

    A miracle win for Newcastle means we'll probably have Pardew for at least three more months. Spurs were terrible and are only a point ahead of us. Liverpool and ManYoo are within three. A mad start to the season.

  5. Its just about having a limit on how much data a month your smartphone can download and what happens when you reach your limit. Tethering is one way to use lots of data, so yeah, I guess that applies too.

     

    A 5GB data-only sim is only 1500 yen a month on Biglobe, so get one of them, whack it in an Ipad, and that's a lot of nice surfing and non-HD video viewing on the move right there for not very much money.

  6. Are you suggesting I force my kid to do cross country?! ;) I wish she paid that much attention to what I say :lol:

     

    It's all her choice. Day to day, its much less running about for us than the alpine skiing club would be, but there are more races and so more work at weekends.

     

    She gets to practice on the Olympic course, so the facilities are incredible. The club also has a strong record of producing champions. It being a minor sport helps, of course.

     

    As exercise goes, it burns more calories than anything else, even swimming, so it's good for her. She's a third year now, and they start doing races on the longer courses with the big climbs. Going downhill on them skinny skis is pretty hairy too. The men's races get up to 70-80km/h on them.

  7. I use a goosperry case on my phone. It's silicon but pretty stiff with only a slight give for gripping the thing. Lots of different colours. Only about 1000 yen.

     

    In other news, my provider Umobile upped their capacity this week, so I now get 4-5Mbps! I've had to set Youtube to play HD only over wifi, because my kids can use all my 3GB in a few hours now.

     

    In other cheapo news, mineo, the company selling cheap plans on au's network have come out and said they can't support ios 8. It means that au Iphones are stuck on au with au prices. So if you want a new Iphone, get a docomo one. They'll pay all the fees to carry your number over from au or softbank. There are loads of cheapo providers on docomo's network, so a docomo iPhone is effectively unlocked for use in Japan.

  8. 6km per kWh of electricity for the Leaf, overnight electricity is 12-13 yen a kWh, so 2 yen a km to drive. If you charge the car during the day, the electricity cost goes above 30 yen/kWh, so you're up to about 5 yen a kilometer, only just ahead of the most economical hybrids. In that case, the hybrids are only more expensive because the tax on fuel is higher than the tax on electricity.

     

    Electricity and especially daytime electricity is much cheaper in the States, which is why there is so much interest in Tesla and their electric cars. You'll also get way more juice out of solar panels in the States, so electric cars make more sense over there, notwithstanding the huge distances some Americans drive.

  9. The problem is not locals. Anyone travelling from the city on a ski trip with kids is shelling out a lot for transport (big cars that can carry kids cost more), accom (which charges for kids), very quickly grown-out-of gear (which kids need), onsens (which charge for kids), etc. etc. All of this happens thanks to the existence of the ski resort, who aren't allowed to charge for kids because that would hurt the "future of the sport".

     

    If your kid isn't really into it and can't get value from a day pass, buy single tickets. Granted that the ski resorts could offer more flexible pricing in that regard. They can also offer discounts through local schools (which some of them do already) in day-trippable range, because the closer you are, the greater the importance of the cost of the ticket. The cost of a kids' lift ticket for someone coming to Hakuba from Osaka is a very small % of their trip cost. Half of such people will turn up in a car that cost at least 2 million yen and will happily pay Starbucks 900 yen for two takeaway coffees. Likewise anyone flying into Japan to ski. They can easily afford lift tickets for kids.

  10. A lot of the discounting is silly to be honest. Lets grab a bigger piece of the shrinking pie but make it worth less at the same time.

    It would make more sense to make the experience better, while specifically targeting discounts only at the price-sensitive people who do exist.

    Anyone with a newish car, 15000 yen Oakley goggles, an 80000 yen Norrona jacket, a 120,000 yen fat skis/Dukes combo can afford to pay for lift tickets, even if they don't want to.

  11. It's still two years. The only change for older cars, which I learned from Metabo, is that the yearly car tax starts to go up. In terms of total cost of ownership, it makes very little difference. Its just a nuisance intended to make people think badly of their old car so they buy a new one.

     

    It used to be that after 10 years, shaken went from every other year to yearly. That changed a few years ago (don't remember exactly when), and yes, now the only car-age difference is the 13-year tax increase (Bar Mitzvah present, if you will). But still, that tax increase is less than 10%, so doesn't in itself justify buying a new car.

     

    A bigger factor (for me, at least) would be mileage/燃費. A hybrid SUV or minivan would seem ideal to me for ski trips.

     

    My Hilux must have turned 10 years old in about 2003-4ish, so it must have been before then.

     

    For total cost of ownership, yeah fuel economy is huge, especially for bigger cars. Our Alphard hybrid saves us 200,000 a year compared to our old van. We've also put 115,000km on a hatch Prius. In terms of cost per km to drive, I think the most affordable to drive, decently sized car with 4wd is the diesel X Trail at 1.3million up. 2 million will get you the king of 4wd fuel economy, the Fit Hybrid 4wd. It only came out last year so there are no cheap s/h ones. For a sub 1 million roomy car with good fuel economy and 4wd, look at the Estima Hybrid, or an stick shift or cvt station wagon like a Legacy, Wingroad etc. Automatic ones get 10%+ worse economy.

     

    If you want the cheapest car to drive in Japan, 1.2 million will get you the electric Nissan car, the Leaf. They cost about 2 yen a km to drive, but they are 2wd and limited to whatever the range is. They only came out about three years ago and were 3 million yen, so the value of them has fallen through the floor. At two yen a km plus one yen a km for tyres, I reckon that is cheaper than walking (!!) unless you do it barefoot with no shoes to wear out. Its certainly cheaper than walking in running shoes.

     

    For real world fuel economy number from actual drivers in Japan, see the websites "e-nenpi" or "minkara".

  12. It's still two years. The only change for older cars, which I learned from Metabo, is that the yearly car tax starts to go up. In terms of total cost of ownership, it makes very little difference. Its just a nuisance intended to make people think badly of their old car so they buy a new one.

     

    Shaken is just something you have to suck up. Again it's pitched as something that costs a fortune for old cars, but most of the cost is taxes and you pay the same ones when you buy a new car. The test itself isn't strict and you can often get through with very minimal maintenance if that is what you insist on (this can have consequences in the longer term). Our Alphard was under 80,000 and that is bigger than a midsize SUV. Its a 2003. In our case, any consequences from a "just get it through" shaken are mitigated by us having two years of warranty left on the car.

     

    fwiw, I doubt that many ten year old s/h cars on Hokkaido will have under 60,000 km without someone clocking them. I think you'd be better off looking for up to 100,000km (only 60,000 miles) but getting something with a warranty. Both Nissan and Toyota do three year ones on the second hand cars they sell. Our car was advertised as having one year, but I asked for three and the guy instantly gave us it for nothing. He was just happy to shift a car with 135,000km because most buyers who go to dealers won't touch them. People prepared to buy high mileage (by Japanese standards) u-cars go to cheaper second-hand car merchants, not to dealers.

     

    Standard practice in Japan is to change the timing belt (if the car has one) at 100,000km (overseas it sounds like its 100,000 miles) and that is usually a 10 to 15 man job, depending on who does it and how much dismantling has to be done. They usually change the water pump, a very cheap part, at the same time because of the dismantling involved. A lot of cars started switching to timing chains in the 2000s, so you can avoid a big maintenance cost at 100,000km by choosing one of them instead of a car with a timing belt.

     

    If you must have low mileage, here's a Toyota Kluger (Highlander) with 41,000km. Its full size, so the fuel economy will hurt, but hey, you can kip in it and it comes with a set of studless and at SUV size they are pricey! Tell them you want the three year warranty for nothing.

    http://gazoo.com/U-Car/VehicleInfo/UCarDetailInfo.aspx?id=5013049793

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