RockyV

I doubt you are going to get many offers to join peoples group, you a probably a good bloke, but most people will be hesitant to let someone they have never met join their group. My advice is to get the full pimsleur japanese course (the best/quickest way for learning japanese if your not in Japan) it consists of 90 30min lessons. try to listen to most of the lessons before you leave (they only recommend 1 lesson a day, but unfortunatly you don't have time). and then you will be able to make lots of Japanese friends along your way. It may seem like lots of work, but in the end you wi

assuming the road is good maybe 15mins from my house to Iizuna (unfortunaly I voted wrong) but I always drive an hour or so and go to Nozawa or somewhere else bigger and better than Iizuna.

I can not get over the continual snow dumps, there is just so much snow everywhere you look, even at low elevations. I was talking to an ojiisan (who was born and bred in Nozawa) today at the onsen, he was maybe 80 years old, and he said it was the first time he has ever seen so much snow so early, that is in his 80years plus of living in Nozawa! So I'm going out on a limb here saying that maybe this year is going to have once in a hundred year snowfall? who really knows from here on in, but up to now it's looking promising

sorry I didn't do a search, I will delete my thread I have my own very small English school that kinda just starting off I have been doing privates for about 18months and recently decided to take it a little further

I too pondered that thought before I came here and the impression I got at that time was that it would be very difficult without very good conversational Japanese. Unfortunatley it isn't as easy as knowing the basic stuff like turn left and turn right, your students will ask you lots of questions and you need to be able to answer them. So having said that unless you have lived here before, or have a Japanese mum or something like that, I doubt your Japanese is good enough, I hope that I'm wrong, but hows your Japanese? Also my impression from my time here is that it is definately who you

I have never in my life experienced good night skiing but to tell you the truth I haven't searched for a place. Normally I work at night and therefore I have some days where I can ski in the morning and then go to work (probably similar for many english teachers I suppose). Saying that however I want to try somewhere, anywhere that has good night skiing just to see if it really exists and how it compares to day skiing. Any recommendations, for somewhere good to go night skiing, no location restrictions, um on second thought it's gotta be in Japan

of course their is no such thing as a right or wrong answer, and opinions is what we want, thats why their is a poll with 30 choices, I could have just said in hindsight that Nozawa is the best

works for me, kyouuminaikedo

not an urgent issue, but I know with the forum on my website I can change anything, buttons, colours, shapes, the total look, basically anything I want. the forum that we use here seems to be based on older software, is it possible at some stage to upgrade to something like phpBB? I'm not sure about moving messages across from the old system to the new system but I just looked on their forum and it seems that there is a converter from UBB clasic. when you get the time a board upgrade would be nice, it just seems there are some simple things that this board can't do (like change/add button

mmm went to Nozawa today and there was plenty of powder there, rode the skyline and I think I was the first person to ride it this season which makes me happy. Now although I have a season pass at Nozawa I'm considering go to Hakuba tomorrow for a few reasons 1.currently they have more snow (things will change later but for the time being they appear to be winning) 2.I have heard reports that early season skiing ar Hakuba is better than Nozawa, so I wouldn't mind checking it out for myself but 1.how busy is it going to be?, because I'm sure that I can ride powder all day at nozawa,

my advice is have a look around this forum and the website and decide on a few resorts you want to go to in the Niigata/Nagano Area and go there. there are not to many foriegners araound, and the powder is almost guarenteed because its generally not very busy down this way, mid week especially your very likely to be riding powder with the mountain mostly to yourself. also we get more snow than hokkaido, forget the reports about lighter and drier, they should be taken as a grain of salt.

the suprising thing is that for some of my students their idea if a good resort is one where they can use a forma keitai and has nice new restuarants. hard for me to believe but that was an actual answer from one of my students (not that I expect anyone here to answer that way)

nozawa and hakuba both have about the same amount of snow presently, much more is expected in both regions in the next 6days so I think you should be right at both areas. having said that I'm a Nozawa man myself, I have spent 3 days so far this season at Nozawa and although it is only the Yamabiko and Uenodaira areas, that itself is quite big and has lots of variety of terrain. also to date it has been very quiet so you basically have the place to yourself. I anticipate that a majority of nozawa's terrain will be open by the 19th even if we recieve only half the snow that they are foreca

Went to Nozawa yesterday, fantastic day, lots of fresh snow all day, lots of nice terrain open for this time of year More photo\'s here and a brief journal entry

went to Nozawa today, but too tired to be bothered uploading pics and Journal, I'll do it tomorrow. Had an awesome day though, I'll also send the pics through so they can be added to the nozawa page (if nobody else bests me)

my estimate for the season is nozawa season ticket 55,000 20 days at places other than nozawa 80,000 petrol 60days@1500= 90,000 food etc 60days@2000 120,000 new ski clothes 20,000 wax, tuning, misc 30,000 40man, geee I hope I spend less than that I never realized

I reckon it has done you a favor, go to a decent hill like Zao, maybe a little further away but worth the drive I think.

mugnuts your missing the point, I wasn't so hard on the guy and I think I was a hell of a lot more helpfull than your worthless words, I offered advice what did you offer, nothing but bagging another member out. Your movie question is flawed, a more appropiate comparitive would be "what japanese movie do you recommend?" therefore it is completely appropiate for someone to ask for clarification. Nipstar is asking for advice, is the way most people see it.

no worries, thanks for your help

gamanshitene ashitakara kuruyo (don't worry (have patience) it's (the snow) coming tomorrow English sounds a bit harder than the Japanese that's why I replied in Japanese

sugee, beautiful photos, whish I was there

A couple of site suggestions for if or when you may have time. Firstly, more Greamilins, if possible some related to snow would be fantastic eg a snowman, snow cloud, someone being hit by a snowball... anything snow related would be convenient when posting, if and when you have the time Secondly, currently if I click on the members profile in the forum I have no idea about what they have written in reviews, journals or what photos they have posted, it would be great to have a link to the persons photo gallery, journals etc. I realize that these are actually different areas of the sit

to tell you the truth I rarely stay at the resorts because I'm lucky enough to live close enough to drive. Saying that I have however stayed in both places and my impression is that Hakuba has much more to offer if that's what you are after. Also from reading this board that is the general impression that I have got. Nozawa is a great hill for skiing, and you can have fun in the night if your with a good group of people but not where I would probably go if I was looking for good nightlife. I personally look for good skiing, nightlife doesn't even come into the equation when I'm look

some yellow on the snow forcast 6 day map=100->150cm!! (for non-members just look at page 25 on this thread it updates automatically) yupparine Nagano get more snow than Hokkaido, all of those misinformed aussies, please read this forum and don't go to Niseko! (actually I would hate it for my favourite ski resort to get overrun with henna gaijin so maybe you should stay in Niseko, just kidding ) Because I'm a Nozawa fan, 134cm forcast in the next 6 days at 1650! Update: I think that now I can actually see some red on the map (over 150cm)! Japan is truely the best pl

I was supprised to find good ski gear, my size and cheap in Nagano. last week I bought a Jacket and pants for 2man CSB (Collarado Snow Boards) bargin! when I bought ski gear last about 2 years ago or so my Billabong gear cost me about $AUS500.