daver

Originally Posted By: eskimobasecamp I met one Canadian lodge owner last weekend, are you living in canada now ebc?

let em go. we don't need that unruly bunch chewing up all our intermediate power with their back weighted surfer stance anyways. hehehe. but true it is an interesting shift. however, at least when i was working the canadian ski scene the aussie tourist was not really a huge market. at that time we were much more concerned with the british market. i don't know if that has changed much in the last few years. i suspect the low yen and the extremely high canadian dollar has a lot to do with it as well. as long as the canadian dollar is as high as it is and as long as the RCMP continues

it might be losing popularity in japan but it seems to be gaining popularity world wide. funny any other country would see that as a good thing.

funny, i always felt like stinky nihon-jin smelled awful; at work, in the gym, on the train. i've run across lots of stinky japanese people with very poor personal hygiene. IMO people with poor hygiene regardless of their cultural background (or blood type which prevents them from contracting HIV) stink. people who wash regularly don't. pure and simple. can we move on.

Originally Posted By: rach I can see the appeal in speaking to attractive ladies, but wouldn't a normal bar be just fine for that? how many bars have you been to in japan where it is possible, lets forget about socially unacceptable, to casually approach someone of whom you don't know?

after spending time with students in thailand, cambodia, and nepal from all age groups i can quite confidently say the system in japan is pathetically failing. all of the students i met spoke better than any of my students in japan. and none of the students in these countries have nearly the same resources the kids in japan have. they certainly do not have a well dressed foreign monkey coming to their class every day to play with them or do a trick for a cookie at the JTE's request. the one thing they all had that only a few of my students in japan had was motivation to learn the langu

on vancouver island for the moment, but i'll be flying around the country for the next two months making obligatory visits. i might even be able to get a few days in the rockies, whistler and the local hills here on the island. i'm eventually ending up in new zealand come february. which is great but it means i will have a stunted season. hope you all have a good one this year.

looks like fifty in three days. damn. are you going to manage your time and get on the hill this year samurai?

you left too? isn't North America such a strange place? thus far i am not impressed.

i went to two of the big tohoku festivals this year. but they happened in the beginning of the month. nebuta was great, but the real star is kanto. i also was able to get in the last day of hanagasa here in yamagata. not bad, but a little pedestrian (pardon the pun) after seeing the others.

Originally Posted By: thursday it's actually more dangerous to hunt and kill a carnie. you aren't kidding! they are generally a wily folk. and never seemed very appetizing. what with their mullets and the tear drop tattoos.

wavy stick guy. (that's meant as a contribution to things i think are brilliant about japan, and not meant as a counter argument regarding the efficiency and standard of japan's construction industry.)

"An anal attention to detail is the hallmark of the Japanese industrial revolution." yes, and also a throw it up as fast as possible and work round the clock to make it happen attitude. don't you think the two sort of contradict each other? soubs you place is brand new. take a look around at all the houses more than 10 years old. they're falling apart. why, after the big kobe quake was there a massive thrust to change to timber frame and as such employ canadian builders at huge salaries to come over and teach all the guys how to make them? why do you read day after day in the papers

just came back from kanto and nebuta; kanto is amazing! nebuta is fun and worth seeing but not as good as kanto. don't be disappointed, see nebuta first.

but back to the original topic, what is brilliant about japan... festivals. i love em!

Originally Posted By: soubriquet I'd say Japan is an excellent place to bring up children. i suspect japan would be a great place to raise young children. especially if you were living in a more rural area like we do. i really find it amazing how children simply wander around alone outside. now i don't know how much safer it is for children compared to back home; the recklessness of the average driver certainly would have me concerned, and according to the news we should be severely worried about the number of strange and perverted attacks focused on kids. but i do love the trust parents

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver Could be, but the reason given was that they didn't want the houses to be too hot in summer. it works both ways, keeps the heat in during the winter months and does the same for the air con everyone constantly pumps all summer long. can't say the open door policy for shops does much good though.

as for service, western countries = customer is always right. japan = retailer is always right. but they will be very polite in explaining this to you. YEAH! as for crime, true break ins are not common in the rural communities, but are they back home? there is indeed inner city problems in the city areas, perhaps not like back home, but then again back home organized crime isn't nearly the same institution it is here. hmmmmmm? drugs, don't be so quick to suggest there is no drug problem in japan, there is, however most people are quick to say there is no problem at all, it is a different

so it's really hot here right now. i was told the other day reached a scorching 37 degrees. now the people in town tell me yamagata is the hottest place in japan. and as a matter of fact, the hottest temperature ever recorded was indeed here in yamagata. the local explanation is that it is because "yamagata is surrounded by mountains and so the valley heats up like a pot yo." can anyone verify this? or is this just another local crack pot explanation?

Originally Posted By: thursday Silver. Sca Fell, Lakes. Getting gold would mean walking around the lawn trying to avoid shaking hands with the DofE.

ok so far an AK heli ski trip ($5,539.00 - $5,695.00 US at 5 days 7 nights, H20 heli) or a cat ski trip ($3,760.00 CD at 4 days Island Lake Lodge) will not last longer than two/three weeks. the other option is to "keep it real" and stay for 6 weeks in squaller in india and give the rest away to some sort of NGO i support.

i wouldn't say it's racist, it is pathetic though. not pathetic in that he/or anyone else is attracted to japanese women, men, dogs, cranes, ect. but that he has decided to categorize all japanese women and all foreign women with such dialectic precision. every person regardless of cultural background carries their own unique kind of baggage. granted i haven't dated japanese women as i am in a serious relationship, and was prior to arriving in japan. but my own opinion is that i would have a lot of trouble with all the re-education required in dating a japanese woman.

this is hokkaido's asahidake i presume?

actually what makes me wonder is why the biggest power plant in the world is built directly on a fault line and yet it is not built to sustain heavy quakes.

to add to fattwins' list: Ghetou Kogen Yamagata Zao Hakkoda