Thanks a lot for all your help. much appreciated.
as far as i can gather i have about 5 options:
1) sportaka on midosuji street in osaka
2) moriyama sports - is this in shiga prefecture?? didn't quite get where that one is. clarification would be much appreciated...
3)alpen - this pearler seems to have been mentioned a fair bit. where is it though?
4) going abroad. i'm off to thailand and cambodia this christmas, but last i heard cambodia wasn't a popular snowboarding destination and so it's doubtful that I'll be able to buy equipment there. thais probably have really