RayInJapan
SnowJapan Member-
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SJ'er with 300+ posts
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Non Niseko Hokkaido
RayInJapan replied to AET's topic in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
I am retiring next month, and will be moving back to Okinawa in June so our snowboarding from here on out will be back to Hokkaido via JAL Ski tours...you can go from Okinawa to Hokkaido (Rusutsu) and stay for a week of boarding/skiing for about the same price that air line tickets cost to go from Okinawa to up here in Misawa/Aomori. There are a lot of good resorts up here, but the airfare alone is too much money...I suspect that we'll still try to come back up here though if we can stay with the friends we've made while we've been up here... -
hokkaido ferries
RayInJapan replied to stepchild's topic in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
If you are flexible with your departure time then you don't need a reservation because there are like 12 leaving every day. If you want to leave on a specific one however, then you should have a reservation. My experience on them has been that they are full most of the time... -
Non Niseko Hokkaido
RayInJapan replied to AET's topic in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
I just spent a week at Rusutsu. Never been to anywhere else up there so I can't compare but what I do know is there is a lot of off piste stuff up there and you don't need snow shoes for any of it. Most of the off piste stuff you can hit right off the lifts/gondolas, and when they run out, they put you back onto a regular gerende or right back at the lift. And no walking either. I've been told that Niseko is "better". If that's possible, than one of these days I will have to go there but to be honest, for the money and travel time, and the fact that I now know every nook and cranny of it, -
Unlike baseball, which is generally a guy sport, and where a guy can "throw like a girl", and some girls can throw very well, I see skiing and snowboarding as a genderless sport where the only difference is skill level. I know some timid guys and girls on the slopes, and I know some guys and girls who rock. I've been on the slopes with you Siem, you are very good as far as I'm concerned... p.s...spent all last week in Hokkaido boarding...if I had could only choose one word to describe it, I'd have to choose "epic"...already saving my $$$ to go back next year...
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Hachimantai death
RayInJapan replied to ian.f's topic in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Very sad when things like this happen. I know 2 people who have been up in that exact same spot over the last two weeks...both got lost in there on different days but made it out ok. After reading about this, I don't think they know how lucky they were ... -
Safety on the slopes
RayInJapan replied to Bertie's topic in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Yamakashi, You're right, snowboarders can't see who is directly behind them. With that said, if someone is boarding/skiing right behind them, moving down the slope at the same/faster speed, the possibility for an accident exists. Boarders however can simply turn their heard to the right (regular stance) and look up slope to make sure the slope is clear before making radical turns across the slope (or entering the slope from somewhere else). Skiers however have a blind side too. They can't see whats behind them so they can't see up slope and can't see someone else coming who -
Trains from Aomori to Tokyo
RayInJapan replied to james b's topic in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
If you are trying to go from Aomori city to Tokyo, you'll have to catch a regular train from Aomori City to Hachinohe. From Hachinohe, you can catch the Hayate Shinkansen to Tokyo Station. To get from Tokyo station to Narita, catch the Narita Express... If you're trying to go from somewhere else in Aomori prefecture, you'll still have to get to Hachinohe first before heading south. The website with all the info is: http://www.world.eki-net.com/ Depending on your departure time, you don't necessarily have to spend the night in Tokyo. Also - if you buy your airline -
Don't give me that "more violence only begets more violence" bullshit. I wouldn't give a rats ass about what the kidnappers family would think. And the proof is that as I'm typing this, I'm watching the news on TV about the 8 year old girl who was kidnapped and then murdered. The killer also had the gall to take a picture of the little girl and then send it by email to her mom with a note saying "I got your daughter". I cannot express enough - the rage I feel at this moment. If the killer was in front of me right now, I would do my best to kill him. And if his family was naive enou
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I never said I was above the law, or that I never break the law. I think I said EVERYONE breaks the law. Those who knowingly do so should be prepared to accept the price if they get caught. When it comes to protecting my loved ones, or exacting my own revenge if I thought the the punishment the law dished out wasn't enough, I would have no qualms with "breaking" the law and then accepting the consequences.
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Kinda scary sometimes how OC and I are on similar wavelengths... Momo and I are quite happy with our daughter Jenny and don't feel the need to have any more children so I was gonna see about having myself spayed too. Anyone out there have any experience with that? I'm thinking its still warm outside, no real snowboarding in sight yet so maybe now is a good time so I'm recovered by the time the slopes open. How long does that take anyway? (to recover that is) The alternative is to wait until the spring cause I dont' want to miss any mountain time once they open up...
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Excluding a few part time jobs when I was in high school, I've had just one for the last 25 years. I'll be retiring from it in a few months cause I don't like the way the war in Iraq has turned out, and I don't like the way my "boss" has deceived most of us...so its time to find a new path in life - still trying to figure out where, but it will definetly not take me out of Japan...
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Very interesting topic. As usual - the basic two sides - those who smoke "support", and those who don't smoke are "against". Kinda like ducking ropes... TP - I applaud you for sharing your story. Folks need to know that "if you do the crime, you do the time". Its that simple. Obviously you did some time, and also learned something from this experience. It is amazing to me how others chime in with how "unfair" TP was treated, or how "the laws are screwed up". I'm sure there are many a rapist sitting behind bars thinking they wished rape wasn't against the law. I'm not saying
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I guess its all working out to your satisfaction but were it me, I would have called the cops immediately. Had the situation been reversed, you being a gaijin and hitting a Japanese person, you would likely have ended up with some jail time or heavy fines and a crap load of bills. Well maybe not in your case if you actually know them personally - but the norm is a gaijin will get screwed bad. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was making a right turn and almost hit an old lady in the cross walk. It was his fault for ALMOST hitting her - not looking closely first before turning - but he
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I've gone snowboarding for the last time this past weekend, and its time to focus on jet skiing so its time for me to say goodbye to SJ till the fall... Overall, I'd rate my season as a 6 on a scale of 1-10. Didn't have any bad times, but didn't have any that really blew me away either. I need next weekend to prep for a trip to Okinawa - I go down there on 2 april to prep a friends jet ski for a 2 hour endurance jet ski race being held on 11 April. I didn't race at all last year cause of my neck surgery so I'm out of shape for the race but maybe my tuning skills might help make up
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I was at the jusco's mall in Morioka last weekend...went into a shop that sold Rolexs and they had a purse that cost 1.5m yen. That was absolutely the dumbest thing I ever saw. There wasn't anything special about it. The damn thing cost more than one of my jet skis brand new. I don't care how rich I could ever be, I couldn't spend that much money on a friggin purse. And I wouldn't let Momo do it either.