montoya
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Posts posted by montoya
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It's kinda like the new JR-Suica railpass cards, but for ski resort gates. You zap your Swatch
Snowpass watch with the desired time-length, and
swipe it at reader at the ski gate, the turnstile then opens automatically. The old SSAWS indoor slope had an electronic system sorta
similar, but with no watch, just a 4x4cm electronic token that you used similarly.
Pretty cool stuff, wondering why never caught on
with the J resorts here. Memory is a bit hazy, maybe Niseko Hirafu had some similar electronic
system as well? Anyone??
-montoya
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Just wondering, is Boarder-X that popular in Japan? If so, any ideas
on hot-spots (eg Nagano, Niigata, or Hokkaido??). I've seen a few
events on videos, would love to catch this wild-n-crazy sport
in person, though...
-montoya
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Just wondering, can the Swatch Access/Snowpass
system be used at any resorts in Japan? I had
seen this during my last trip to Europe, it
looked like a pretty interesting ticketing-ski pass system.
peace,
montoya
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Montoya here,
I live in Tokyo, but have been thinking about buying a small mansion in Yuzawa.
Anybody have any recommendations for the
better fudosan agencies that can handle this?
Nihongo is no problem.
peace
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like someone else remarked, it kinda depends
on your job/industry. with stuff like securities, marketing, advertising, for example, it's actually better being in the Tokyo rat-race, since most of the big clients/contacts are here.
Anyway, kinda depends whether you prefer
fast-paced, info-overload blur or not.
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Probably, your experience in Tokyo really
depends on how much money you're brining in,
and where you live. The slightly run-down,
quieter shitamachi areas are WORLDS away from
the more fashionable areas like Daikayama,
Omotesando, etc. Chiba/Saitama are loads
cheaper than Kanagawa, but you get more style
points for the latter. So yeah, just depends
on what you're after.
-peace
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Just heard on the local tv new that the
indoor ski dome SSAWS Zaus in Chiba will
cease operations in September 2002.
oh well...
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Quote:Originally posted by Ocean11:
I'd like to read a report about some of these places. Would anyone who's been care to put something together? One gets kind of desperate out of season...
This is nothing definitive, but as a
Tokyoite, I used to visit Ssaws way back
when I was starting out. Anyway, it might be
ok if you find yourself in Tokyo during the
summer with nothing to do and wanna stretch
your legs. But that's about it. Runs are
pretty short (eg 20-30 seconds), and the
artificial snow is nothing to write home
about, but hey, think of it as a warm-up and
it might work for you. Maybe riding fakie
or something might make it more interesting.
It's a couple stations past Disney on the
Keiyo-line. -
Quote:Originally posted by Ocean11:
montoya, whatcha riding now?
um, sims montoya 156.
I did see the Burton Fish at a Minami in
Jinbocho today. it looked pretty cool, but
upon closer inspection, I had a feeling
somebody at the shop had taken it for a
test-ride... 86000 price tag. -
Just read in the Asahi Shinbun Feb 17 that
this will be the last year for Hachimantai.
Same article mentioned that other Tohoku
resorts are hurting as well. If you can
read Japanese: http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0217/007.html
[This message has been edited by montoya (edited 18 February 2002).]
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Man, I was up to waist-deep pow at Kagura
and my board just wasn't cutting it. Looks
like time for a real powder stick.
What do ya'll recommend? Winterstick Swallowtail or Burton Fish?
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If you can read Japanese, the current (March)
issue of Transworld Snowboarding Japan has
a very interesting feature (7 pgs) about backcountry riding in Japan, including some
great coverage of David Enright's clinics.
very cool.
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I went to Family Hutte a few weeks ago,
wife-husband owners seemed friendly enough
and the food was delicious. They can arrange
for pickup/drop off at Yuzawa station, if
that matters. Not sure if they speak English, though. Here's their info:
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Originally posted by brit-gob:
Shut the f*** up ocean"11".
ouch..
The Nail That Sticks Out Gets Hammered In
(especially in Japan)
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Too much Yuzawa slush has gotten me keen on
checking out Hakkoda. Anyone know of info about package deals out there? Info in Japanese or English is fine. Will be coming
from Tokyo.
peace
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Hey SJG, here's an idea for an article - how
about some interviews with some of the local
Yuzawa resort management to see what their
thoughts are? Looking at the latest tourist
numbers, it seems each year they're seeing less and less visitors. They've gotta be concerned about reversing the trend, right?
And maybe improving their resorts (off-piste access, etc etc) might be _part_ of the answer.
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Quote:Originally posted by miteyak:
just boycott the ones that do, should leave you smiling.
I think alot of us already do just that.
But instead of just voting with your yen,
why not become vocal as well?
Consumer power, dude... -
any tips on tackling moguls on a snowboard?
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regular. slight duck-stance. 157 montoya sims.
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Quote:Originally posted by Ocean11:
I've seen Japanese people riding powder. I've been followed by packs of Japanese who are looking for powder.
My colleagues who snowboard all say they're bored of riding the piste but don't want to get in trouble going off it. So what do they do? They don't go boarding any more. It really is that simple.
Yeah, I'm with Ocean11 here. Face it, it gets boring riding the same slopes over and over again, no matter the variation (hi-speed carving, fakie, etc). And it's by no means only foreigners doing tree-runs, at least not at Kagura when I was there last week.
Just a thought, if we all did real BC and avoided resorts altogether, wouldn't the resorts then lose even more money??
peace -
how about some ideas for action?
*if any of you are journalists or have contacts at winter-sports periodicals
(eg Yama-kei, etc), start writing articles about the virtues of powder,
off-piste, tree-runs. I'm sure that there will be more than one of us
who will be influenced to take a visit up to Hakkoda by Hutch's upcoming
article about it.
*contact various resorts and let them know our feelings about this.
And, instead of framing it as complaints, think of it as constructive
suggestions to help improve their resorts, and our sport. It could be
another way that they differentiate their resort from others.
*start compiling a list, and publicize it, of resorts that are and are not
off-piste friendly. For example, in the Yuzawa region, Kagura vs. Kadatsu, etc.
any more?
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[maybe we should start a massive campaign...
Snow Riders For Better Snow Riding in Japan
flood every ski resort with email complaints...would SJG sponsor this?]
I'm down with that, sign me up..
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Of all the places in the Yuzawa region, I've
heard tha Kagura is probably the least
urusai about a little rope-ducking/tree-run
fun (maybe cuz it used to be an old yama-ski
area)
Any other places out there with similar policy?
Glasses and goggles
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
ugachuga,
I used to be in the same situation, believe me
it's MUCH better to use one-day disposable soft-contact lenses, rather than trying to muck around
with alternatives. If you biff hard, you really
risk serious eye-injury, no joking. Plus, the best
goggles don't seem to fit glasses, they fog up
like hell and it's not fun when you can't see,
and even less fun when you have to stop and
try to wipe off the fog on both your glasses and
goggle lens.
I use glasses regularly. But for snowboarding,
soft-disposables are ok, even though I lose a
little sharpness. Give it a try! Just make sure
you don't put them in backwards.
-montoya