NoFakie
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Posts posted by NoFakie
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47 has music on most of the time, as does Goryu. Low points of last season included a day of early Beatles (obscure album tracks included), Koyanagi's album (poor covers of poor English songs) back to back three times, and a daily hour of C+W in the spring. My personal nemesis is whingy love songs. I can handle inane throwaway stuff like MiniMoni no bother. At least it's upbeat. It's "sayonara daisuki na hito" and all that sentimental tosh by women who look and sound like they've never had a bf in their lives that gets me mad. Who wants to listen to that when you're out having a good time ?
Of the Hakuba resorts, I think the music is on loudest at Sanosaka, where you get the added pleasure of heavy speaker distortion. The most noise I've encountered though has been when there's a slalom contest on on part of the hill. Come up against one of them and you'll want to go home, believe me.
In a vid, I've seen a North American resort (it might even have been Whistler) boasting of having DJs on playing all that Limp Biskit-type stuff that "you can hear all the way up the lifts!" Maybe music at resorts is not just a Japanese thing.
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I was up the road at Hakuba Cortina on Sunday. We had a big booze up nearby on Saturday night and in the ensuing snowball fight, we found the snow too light and not sticky enough to make snowballs. We just ended up throwing each other in the snow. All in all around 60cm of snow over the weekend, though I didn't have a tape measure on me.
There were only two lifts going, but thankfully they were the quad that's straight up the hill and then the pair that follows it. It was only 1500 for the pass. The upper courses were almost deserted with lots of pow and enough gradient to enjoy it, but there were a lot of people lower down, including a very large group of skiers doing what looked like a test. No lift queues though. There was little snow during the day, and it was getting quite crusty by the end, so I wouldn't drop everything just yet. It's not snowing today, btw.
I've heard of at least five separate traffic accidents in the past three days in the Hakuba area, including one overturned car, so watch what you're doing if you are going out.
[This message has been edited by NoFakie (edited 17 December 2001).]
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Quote:Originally posted by Matt:
Work and live in Matsukawa about 20 minutes from Hakuba.
Non-stop at around 90km/h ....
Yo Matt
Where do you ride ? Let's hook up sometime !
I is in Omachi, 10 minutes ?!?! from Hakuba. -
Just thought I'd share this one with all of you. The info is there on the map of Hirafu if you can read the Japanese.
Anyway the deal is 6 tickets for 15000 yen. You've got to buy them in advance thru the Internet. One of the tix can only be used on a weekday. The tix can be used by different people on the same day. There are only so many available, so once they sell out, they're gone.
You can use them at Niseko Hirafu, Sugadaira, Katsuyama, Tangram, Tanbara, Tateshina ...
The link is here. There may be an English link, but I don't know what it is and can't be chewed to look for it. Grab a Japanese person to help you if you can't read the page. Note that while the Tokyu hotel group have their fingers in the Hakuba resorts, the tickets are not valid for Hakuba.
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Sounds like what's known as a "family buro" that you can rent out and use as you like. Buy one of the onsen guidebooks and it should be in there as part of the price info, unless it's in one of the lodges and is only available to guests.
It's nowhere near Hakuba, but one onsen I can recommend with a family buro is Marukoma Onsen. It's right on Lake Shikotsu in Hokkaido. I haven't been in that bath, but the men's part was wonderful.
I've never heard of a mixed onsen in Hakuba. If you're there after late March, you can go to Obinata no Yu which is probably the pick of what there is. It's way up the road past Omoshiro Hasshinchi and closes pretty early. It's really primitive (no shampoo or showers, just a bath), but it's outside and the view is very good. Otherwise, I would recommend the one at the bottom of Hakuba Highland. It's quite high up, so you get a nice view across to Happo. Maybe worth a try when the ski jumping is on.
Unless I've got the wrong end of stick, there's a mixed bathing (konyoku) area at Kuzu Onsen in Omachi. It's a lovely place, but is located around half an hour from Route 148. You could call in on your way home, I suppose, but it's too far from Hakuba to be worth a round trip.
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The Gulliver restaurant in the Hotel Scott at Niseko Hirafu was pretty good for a ski resort. Tasty, decent size, and around 1000 yen. The food at the KFC there was pretty stale and the restaurant was so full of smoking kids that the non-smoking area was totally meaningless.
You can get a good pizza at the bottom of Hakuba47 but they're thin crust (not filling) and are pricey at around 1500. You sometimes have to wait 40 minutes as well. You can get a donburi at the place called Kitty (written using ateji kanji), but they're not very big.
The evil empire (McDonalds) does their value sets at Happo, but you can't have the kokosei special (3 hamburgers for 200 yen) since they're not half price during the week.
The only Haagen Daaz in Nagano is at the bottom of Hakuba Goryu. Always helps keep the woman happy. There's a Mos Burger on the other side (iimori ?) but the prices are 20% higher than normal branches. The other branch in Hakuba (at Omoshiro Hasshinchi) closed earlier this year.
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It's nowhere near the same rank as the Prince Hotel, but I'm in the Niseko Kogen Hotel at the moment. It's a really good deal. It's 9000 a night until Dec 21 with two day passes for Hirafu and breakfast if you book through the Internet (two in a room). It's 70m or so below the 1A and 1B lifts. The passes say Hanazono and Kogen, but they worked on the Alpen lifts as well. Half the rooms face the slopes with the other half facing Mt. Yotei.
No view of Yotei today, only half a dozen lifts going and very windy, but wicked wicked snow. Fantastic ! The top lift and Hanazono open up tomorrow.
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While Hakkouda (one of honshu's most northerly resorts) looks pretty good, it doesn't have a pipe or a park. Yep, nothing. Just lots of pow and offpiste-like tree runs.
Many pipeheads have the wrong setups (short boards, duck stances) for serious pow. Floating's not their thing.
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You got a fat pipe or lots of patience ?
If you have, Japan's most bloated website (www.yanaba.co.jp) will give you the skinny on the terrain park at Yanaba (just before Hakuba on R148). Small resort, dodgy cafe, but lots of jumps and rails. Last year, you could test ride the entire Burton collection there, and hopefully that will continue. No medics at the resort so it's a thirty minute drive to hospital if you get crocked, or at least so I've heard.
That "Snowboard World Heights" place at Yamanouchi in Nagano has four pipes (one for private hire). I've not been though, and it looks very small.
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Here we go, same question every year. As if one area has to be "better" than another. Every major ski resort in Japan is better than sitting on your backside at home (period)
I heard that the most popular destination for school trips that have been switched from North America following 9/11 is ....
Shiga Kogen.
Maybe some AETs out there can confirm.
That said, Shiga is a great area with loads of linked slopes. My memory's a little hazy and I was a skier at the time, but I don't recall having to walk too far between the runs.
I live in the Hakuba Valley and I can reassure you all that it's only loud in Hakuba if you go looking for it. Quaint Japanese mountain village it ain't and there are places to have a drink and a laugh, but that doesn't mean it has to get up your nose unless you want it to.
If you can be bothered to get back in your car, there's a Hakuba Super 7 ticket available this year in case you want to switch resorts during the day. Nowhere near as convenient as having the resorts linked like in Shiga, but at least there's no anti-boarder rules like you get at OkuShiga.
If you're talking Nagano, Myoko and Nozawa are also worthy of at least a mention. Nozawa is the single biggest area and is more laid back than Shiga. The Myoko/Seki/Arai(technically Niigata) area gets the most snow and is possibly the most fun.
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Yo Nat
Try searching the Internet in Japanese. Funnily enough, the best info on Japan is in Japanese.
It didn't take me long to find this page
http://www.htb.co.jp/bigair/2002/tour.html
Your friend is about right with the fare. Sounds like you'll have time to get some boarding in, though you might be better off staying close to Sapporo. Why it's so cheap on a weekend at that time of the season is a mystery indeed.
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Darkest day in the Hakuba Valley for a long long time (source mywindow@home).
And yes, it did snow. Not a dump, but every little helps.
http://www.hakuba47.co.jp/today47.html
But no need to give mr/ms hakubanow a hard time. He/she isn't getting paid, unlike the folk at yon nana. And the speed at which the weather can change up here means that any report posted first thing may not prove correct. The resorts only fully opened around Christmas Day last year, so no need for concern just yet.
Where's Suwa ? Christ get a life man.
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You can often get tix even in resorts without electronic barrier gates. You'll just have to be more patient and wait near the car park. Ask anyone on their way to a car. A token 500 yen may coax a ticket from a reluctant owner. I've done this at several resorts including Arai. If there's a blizzard, you should be able to get tickets very early in the day, and then have the bonus of still being able to lay some tracks.
When there's been decent overnight snow, you're still better off paying and getting on the hill as soon as you can. Otherwise bust out the snowshoes and go hiking like the man says.
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Dodgy straps by the sounds
http://www.dryslope.co.uk/news_burtonrecall.htm
Anybody out there got any experience of winged bindings ?
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I was checking out some bindings the other day and I see that the some of high end models from Burton (Mission GT), Salomon and Flow have high backs with "wings" that extend sideways to curve around above your ankles.
Anybody have anything to say about these ? While I presume that they must make it easier to put your bodyweight on your heel edge, does that not encourage bad technique ? Are they only for folk with highly angled stances ?
BTW, Mission GT were recalled last year, so anyone buying non-official Burton seconds in Japan be warned !
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Sounds a bit like one for Denpa Shonen this one...
You'll not get back soon enough to take an organized day trip, so you'll probably have to hire a car. This year, you're talking who's got the most snow machines. In a decent radius from Osaka, my guess would be Winghills Shiratori in Gifu, but you're talking 5 hours by highway from Kansai Airport. For the same price as the car, tolls and gas, you could buy some top of the range X training gear (inline skates etc.), which'll probably do you more good in the long term.
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Quote:Originally posted by Jinja:
NoFakie,
I gotta say, it's got absolutely NOTHING to do with money that there is no apres-ski scene in Japan.
It's just in their culture; Japanese people need their relaxation in a hotbath and then a big sleep. Japanese sleep every chance they get.
True about the magical ability to sleep anywhere and in any position. However, sometimes the reason they can do this is that people are burning the candle at both ends. When I used to work at an office, almost everyone went to bed at the same time as me but was getting up well before me at 6 or thereabouts. I had bed-to-door down to the bare minimum. So I don't think a big sleep is what everyone is getting on a regular basis. Hence the "I sleep on my day off" or "my hobby is sleeping" answer to the old eikaiwa questions. All they are doing is trying to catch up for a lack of sleep, something I think some of us do after the weekend, not during it.
As for the changing economic climate, it's just one example but once upon a time someone spent an awful lot of money building that club at Omoshiro Hasshinchi in Hakuba. It's bigger than a lot of the clubs in Tokyo (Loop, Maniac ...) and Hakuba only sees young people four months a year. Maybe the owners are only using it to write off some mean sum against tax, who knows ? It wouldn't be the first club in Japan built for that purpose. However, on the whole, Japanese behaviour during the good economic times, as witnessed by some of the "baburii" buildings that remain, was quite different than it is today. There were no half price burgers, 100 yen shops or Uniqlo in 1990.
If I may say something about the mentality of some Japanese, skiing and snowboarding seem to be affected with the omnipresent nerd/anorak/otaku factor here. This results in people being incredibly into snowboarding/skiing, as opposed to being into just having a good time (by being active and doing things like snowboarding). You know, the type that can identify your bindings at 20 paces and then reel off all that brand's riders. That kind of person or the kind of people that go down the baby slopes in a line doing esoteric carving exercises behind sempai are hardly going to cut loose at a night time. At least, not as much as someone whose just into having fun in whatever shape or form it comes along.
The popularity of this thread seems to suggest that a lot of party people are looking for a party. If I'm not wrong, then all we need is a time and place... -
Otherwise known as riding "fakie". Most people angle their bindings forward, so when you ride switch /fakie your feet end up pointing up the hill rather than down it. This makes riding switch/fakie difficult to get the hang of.
Quite a few riders who do spin tricks that leave them riding switch ride with both feet pointing outwards. This kind of symmetrical set-up is called a "duck" stance. Believe or not, the Japanese for this is "dakku".
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The photo on that link
is dated December 1, 2001
Either way, it's snowing in Hakuba right now on November 27 (source:mywindow@home)
Get the studless on folks ! It all starts from here !
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Quote:Originally posted by Nat:
Fakie, sweetie, I tried 'suppamucho'... taste not same!! (NOOOO!!) BUT I found WALKERS-Salt&Vinegar at the bar in Akasaka, Tokyo!!(Wooo Hooo!!)
That's why I said "not as good".
Anyway I still think Walkers crisps are crap. Salt'n'vinegar in a green bag ? Cheese'n'onion in blue ? Crisps in the UK went seriously downhill with that Spice Girl campaign, and they've not recovered since. No wonder people buy Pringles and other reconstituted and genetically-modified rubbish.
Yo REBO ! If you want chewing gum, I wouldn't bring it with you (well, maybe some cinnamon gum), because there are many quirky flavours to be sampled here in Japan. If you're into caffeine, get yourself some Black Black gum or any of the ones marked "for driver" because they're heavily laced with the stuff. That and the oolong tea should keep you going all day all right.
Japanese apples are large and expensive, so you'll probably be on bananas and tangerine oranges that are harvested in winter. Muesli bars sound like a non-starter. -
Quote:Originally posted by barok:
Also wondering,
Is the party scene in Japan a downer in
general ? or just that associated with
skiing, snowboarding, and the villages ?
I suppose it depends on what do you mean by party. In the big cities in Japan, I think there is every kind of event you can imagine (well, thankfully no toga parties or similar). Even if you're more into dancing than drinking, the club scene (i.e. club music, i.e., people spinning mainly vinyl) in Japan is still vibrant and there are great events on all the time in Tokyo and Osaka at least. Some of the foreign DJ tours even hit Sapporo. Just get a techno/house/dnb/whatever magazine and check the listings. As a warning, most clubs only go off when there is a big event on, so if you begrudge the entrance money, you're best off doing a bit of research and only going to see a name DJ.
I don't know about other ski resorts but Hakuba has a couple of gaijin bars that rock into the late hours if people are there. The folk there are nice, the drinks are cheap, the music is loud, etc. Whether gaijin bars are your cup of tea is another matter, but they're there if you want to go. There's also a large club that's got a great system in it, but normally it doesn't get enough people in. Fewer people on the slopes:good. Fewer people in the club:bad.
While it's easy to chastise the people in resorts, free market economics states that supply will meet demand. I think the problem is that after spending a fortune on transport (often inc.buying a car), passes, kare-rice, accommodation and equipment, the vast majority of people don't want to go and spend another 3000 yen each on five beers. At a lot of those parties in the pensions, it's that nasty beer-like happoshu, 100yen chuhai, and conbeni snacks. If more people had the money, I'm sure they'd go out more. If the numbers of skiers/boarders weren't going down as fast as there are, I'm sure you'd see more bars in the resorts.
While this is an English page, it should go without saying that the more Japanese you understand, the more you'll get out of being in Japan. Especially in a social context. -
You can sometimes get salt'n'vinegar in Japan. The crisps are called "Suppamucho" and come in a similar pack to the "Karamucho" chili pepper ones you see everywhere.
Not as good as the ones from the UK, I'll grant you, but most of them aren't what they used to be since Walkers wiped out a lot of the competition. Phileas Fogg are still pretty good though.
I don't know why but frozen cocktails made with conbeni ice stay frozen much longer than ones made with ordinary ice from the fridge. Try knocking up some daiquiris and you'll see for yourself.
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Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbboarder !
Put on my old ski boots (1993 vintage cheapo) one morning last March, waddled around a bit like Frankenstein, thought "Oh I don't like these" and went boarding.
That said, a fair percentage of the folk left skiing are pretty hardcore, so rrrrrrrrespect to you guys ! A lot of the snowboarding posers could learn from the other side of the rubicon, methinks.
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Konbu ? Never heard of that one. Isn't it a bit hard and scratchy ? Also bone dry. But if that's the way you like it.... I've heard of people doing things with stinging nettles, and this may be the Japanese version. Everyone says the seafood is better in Hokkaido, and this may be why.
Some of the locals cut holes in konnyaku but that's far too conventional, don't you think ?
Snowboarding video game
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Anybody tried one of these out at Kiddyland ?
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20010822/toy11.jpg
It's called GinGin Boarders. The thing's 7000 yen and might be a laugh after a few bevvies. Those of you with kids could always get them one for Xmas. It can withstand 90kg apparently. It plugs directly into the tv so you don't need a console.