RayInJapan

My favorite "resort" is Ajigasawa Prince Hotel and Ski resort on the slopes of Iwaki in northern Tohoku...everytime I've been there, the powder has been awesome. My favorite "non-resort" ski-jo is Hakkoda though I think Geto and Tazawako might inch up on it if I lived closed to them...

Hmmm...I need to learn more about this then...I'd be interested in hearing about the voice quality of those using VOIP. I've used phone services over the computer like the article mentioned, and it was choppy at best but I'm sure technology is improving. The one complaint from my telephone folks is that VOIP is choppy too but we haven't actually used it yet. If ATT is getting involved though, perhaps the technology is improving so that it will be better...thanks for the link BTW...

We spent our new years eve watching it... Chad did get his but whipped, which we all knew was going to happen. But $3 Million - shoot - I'd let bob knock me out for that much. Respect? I can think of 3 million reasons to let people take it away from me, and I'd be laughing all the away to the ski slopes, or to the next jet ski race, or while I was driving my new Hummer etc etc etc... I do agree the rest of the card sucked. What was up with that little guy who kept tackling butter bean? I guess he had a foot fetish cause he couldn't really fight...too bad for BB the guy kept runn

I just saw your last post charlie - committment is a good word. I spent saturday trying to teach a friend of ours to snowboard but she was to afraid of falling. I kept trying to tell her that she has to committ to the turn - that she wont fall flat on her face though it will feel that way. I just couldn't get her to understand that it takes quite a bit of board edge to make the turn but if she trusted the physics - she won't fall down. I remember when I first started snowboarding...I came from a surfing/wakeboarding/skateboarding background and could turn heel side very easy but I wa

Hi Charlie - like I mentioned earlier, and said again by OC - the right way is keeping your weight centered on the board, and not on your back foot. What I was trying to say with the forward lean but not really getting there is that on steep slopes, when I intentionally try to put my weight on the front foot, its like I'm trying to lean hips and head toward the front foot but never actually get there cause the board is moving down hill very fast. The natural stance on a slope is for your body to be vertical despite the slope angle but if you do that, your weight will be on the back foot. So

I think the "right way" is to have your head and hips centered over your feet - not actually moving them forward (towards the front foot. To me, feels like I am trying to lean them over the front but never actually get there. Its kinda hard to describe sitting here at the computer...what I do know is that if your weight is on the back foot, then its a lot more difficult to turn. And if my weight (hips)is leaning too far upslope when turning back side, I end up with the board sliding out from under me, or I won't be in a position to make the the toe-side turn... Powder is a different st

Not sure exactly what you're talking about but if you're talking about Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), then you're talking about getting telephone service over your LAN connection, as opposed to getting your internet connection over your telephone line as many do now via ADSL or dial-up (or having 2 separate lines in the case of cable modems). Benefits? Possibly cheaper telephone rates? That remains to be seen. Current technology requires a lot of bandwidth to get the same voice clarity that existing telephone systems provide. The telephone smart folks I work with say its likely

I think they're blowing it all out of porportion. If I was holding a baby in front of the croc - that would be stupid cause I know nothing about them, and would probably fall on my ass when the croc came close. But Stevo knows crocs and his wife was nearby so that if something did happen, she'd have scooped up the baby. Not like Jacko who held his baby over the balcony with no net below in case he screwed up...I wonder how many of these folks who are complaining use car seats for their children? If they're anything like here in Japan, they're putting their children in far more danger than

I know you said you already know this, but I'm going to reiterate it for you - you have to put your weight on the front foot. On steep slopes, we have a tendency to lean upslope cause our brains are telling our body to stay vertical. Once you overcome that tendency, you'll be able to make the turn. It will feel like you're going to fall, and the more you put weight on the front foot, the faster you'll go down hill until you start to turn, but trust the physics - if you're leaning forward (both front foot and toe side), you will turn. I remember when I first started learning to snowboard, I

Looks like you guys had a blast. We just spent the last 3 days getting dumped on at Ajigasawa on the slopes of Iwaki-san. As usual, the weather there was awesome: Freezing cold on the lifts, but fresh powder coving tracks all day long Friday and Saturday. There was so much powder, I actually got stuck on the "groomed" slopes. Who needs back country when it snows like that? Just when I thought this season was gonna be a bust, FTs snow dance and ski burning comes through...I think the jelly fish went home. Here's to many more weekends like this one was...

We finally got to see it Christmas Eve - I thought it was a great movie...Only a couple of japanese spoke english, and only when speaking to a gaijin. When they spoke to each other, it was in japanese with english subtitles...I'll buy the DVD when it comes out...

A young girl let her snowboard run away last weekend and it hit my snowboard - she wasn't wearing a leash. Kinda irritated me...something easily prevented by wearing a leash...

Did I misunderstand the question? I thought it asked who is the best Sportsman, not Sports Man (aka best man in sports or best man AT sports)? Having watched him for most of his career, I stand by my opinion of best "sportsman"...

Takanohana...

Went last sunday despite the lackluster conditions...taking advantage of this early season to teach a friend how to snowboard so that when the good stuff finally hits (damn jellyfish), I can be riding instead of teaching...

Going to Ajigasawa again for Christmas - staying 3 days this time - hopefully it will dump snow like it did last year - it was always good last year but this year, I fear the jelly fish cause Ajigasawa is near the ocean...damn jelly fish!

slow big flakes falling is cool...especially if you're sitting in an outside onsen (co-ed preferred)...sometimes when the snow is like that, and the wind is swirling just a little, Momo and I fill the tub with hot water, open the window and relax with the snow blowing into the bathroom - very cool... FT - I hear you about the snow falling so fast it buries your tracks - last winter we went to Ajigasawa for Christmas and it was like that all christmas night and all the next day. It was a weekday so we practically had the slopes to ourselves with fresh powder all day long - strong candidat

Yes I hate - I hate the guy who punched his 4 month old baby in the chest and broke the babys ribs, and when the baby wouldn't stop crying last week, took an electrical cord, plugged it into the wall and tried to shock the baby into keeping quiet. And I hate the japanese police officer who was in an unmarked car and yelled at two boys on a bicycle at night...the boys got scared thinking the cop was yakuza or something and ran - cop chased him without lights - boy got more scared and ran farther until he got hit by another car in an intersection. He died. The cop simply radio'd the accid

Well, I was going to wish for snow cause I'm going away snowboarding for the 4 day Christmas weekend...but then I saw Mogskis wish and have to wish for the same - our little chipmunk is about 8cm long right now and growing quite nicely. Can I wish for them both? Or maybe both of them and 1 of XXX's 10 million bucks? Is there a limit on the number of wishes? p.s. - saw that Davo has one on the way too, cool! - must have been the cool rainy summer keeping folks indoors?

That is funny as hell OC...not sure how many of you get to see the Late Show with David Letterman...he has a nightly segment called "the George W. Bush Joke that isn't a joke"...they show clips of gw trying to make jokes during his speeches etc...makes me laugh my ass off...the fact he isn't funny that is...(yes - I've changed my tune and hope someone else gets elected next year - here's hoping Iraqinam doesn't last as long as Vietnam did)

I use a good pair of Burton gloves with an inner, removeable liner. Its been a while, but I can't remember my hands getting really cold or wet last year. The only problem was the inner liner catching sometimes while putting the glove on. I have a new pair of Burton mittens I'm gonna try when I finally go this year. Momo used mittens last year and preferred them to her gloves...

So I take it that everyone is cool that db and woywoy were swearing with every other word coming out of their mouth (and likely a little loud considering they'd been drinking), and the japanese guy who said go home is the only guy who did something wrong? Interesting. I do agree the terms "go home", "if you can't speak 'XXXX'" etc are racist - no different than most Americans who believe that immigrants must speak english or "go back where you came from"...

Metal - Misawa is about an 75 minute drive at summer highway speeds...takes me about 2 hours in the winter if the roads are snowy/wet... Drew - I have these preseason passes for HF that me and 5 other people can use to get 1/2 off on day passes, and 1/2 off for the hotel too...I think I can use them for 6 times...shoot me an email sometime, theres a couple of guys at work that like the forrest too so we'll be going a lot I think...

I think it depends on the place - went to Ajigasawa last year in late december - they had about 70 cm on the ground but it was great cause it snowed hard both days we were there...

Appi can be a blast if you go on the right days - non weekends/holidays with fresh powder. Afternoons on weekends can blow - they have parking for 7000 cars...thats a lot of people even though its a big resort. Shizu is about 30 minutes away and is ok - seems to cater to skiers - can be very crowded too on the weekends. I'd like to try it again on a weekday when its just dumped. Hachimantai Forest is very good if you like lots of back country boarding. Its about 20 minutes from APPI. The cool thing about that area is, once you get there, you have your choice of Shizukuishi,