skidaisuki

Been to Niseko a few times (Annupuri & Hirafu) but never stayed at Higashiyama before. This time it's the Hilton Niseko Village for 3 nights with breakfast only. Simple question is...are there any restaurants at Higashiyama worth the name within walking distance of the hotel? The hotel places look "all very nice" but I suspect they cater to overseas guests with big wallets rather than tightwads with a taste for something rougher and more local, like me. Any ideas / recommendations, or is it bus to Hirafu and a shared taxi back?

Hi Muika, Mad - yes, probably! Also guilty of not looking at the forecast, but there wasn't any way I could've done a day trip from Tokyo today, so we had no choice this week. For lunch, we ended up spending 2 hours at a restaurant at the top of the K2 quad, an older wooden building which was literally shaking on its foundations when the strongest gusts came through - lights swinging, windows flexing, the lot. For a relatively low-elevation Niigata resort, the snow was pretty good. We assumed from the number of groomers still driving around that they had groomed on Friday night an

Well, it wasn't the best of days to go, but my first ever visit to Ishiuchi Maruyama yesterday was certainly memorable. We got kitted up more or less for first lifts at the Chuo Area, so the first 2 hours until mid-morning were OK. Getting stuck on the K2 quad for at 5-7 very long minutes of snow-blasting amongst some of the windiest conditions we've ever experienced on uncovered lifts definitely made us glad we hadn't gone to Kagura. Predictably, the upper lifts never re-opened and so the rest of a short afternoon was spent down at the bottom, most of it waiting in long lift queues

One week to go until my second Niseko visit of the season. To Niseko Village, a.k.a. Higashiyama. Let's hope the current cold temps and snowfall will still be going strong when we get there. This morning the upper webcam on Hirafu seems to be malfunctioning: Too cold, perhaps? SdS

tripler - really? Not sure about Nagano, but there are a lot more cops on the beat in Japan (in kobans) and on the street here. They have a higher profile and more obvious local presence than the UK, definitely in Tokyo. Not in itself a bad thing, I'd say. The point of my rant is that their priorities are skewed...they are great at knowing the minor details of the rule book and doing paperwork, but have no interest in dealing with the more serious offences, or crime prevention. Case after sad case has seen people murdered or assaulted having complained to the police about harass

Mamabear, Sorry to hear that you should be affected by J-cop officiousness AND inefficiency during the same trip... Why the hell did they ask for your driver's driving licence when in Kutchan? They shouldn't be bothering you for that unless the driver did something stupid. If you'd lied and told them you were working there, would they have left you alone do you think? Stupid local jobsworth cops, I suspect...doh... One thing I learned from personal experience is that it's fine to be a crimbo in Japan as long as you look Japanese and no one ever complains. Why? because

After a relatively mild weekend, it looks like we'll have a few senchi of yuki even in the big smoke today. The wind's going North-North East this afternoon and a cold front's forecast to drop some snow on us from around 6 pm until early tomorrow. Good excuse to get out of work early...but you're unlikely to get snowed in at the pub. SdS

If reported to the J-Cops, you'd lose half your remaining skiing / boarding time down at the local Koban filing in a super-detailed incident report which would ultimately come to nothing. Description? "snowboarder, male, average height, goggles, face mask, low-rider boarder pants, i-pod, might have been Japanese...etc." Think about it! If you can't safely collar the person who did it yourself (for example if they are injured in the incident) then you might as well forget it. I let others take the pics. SdS

Nice, SJ, that's an impressive obstacle to anyone wishing to use the phone. Looking much more like the old invisible phone box of seasons gone by... SdS

I think rider69's right - the sides of the valley at Cortina (by the higher lifts) are potentially avalanche prone, and so I guess they don't want anyone there until they are sure there's no danger of a slide onto the piste. Or at least that's one opinion I heard when I was there recently. SdS

In my experience, unless you book ages ahead, reserved seats on the shinks with the best timing are rarely available anyway - at least at weekends. Getting jiu-seki seating is easy enough if you plan ahead and line up. Just wish I had some weekdays free...

The answer is nobody knows for sure. My guess is that even if JAL does go bankrupt, it'll keep flying. The reason for Japanese Government support in the past is because JAL fly numerous money-losing regional routes in Japan that no business-minded company would bother with unless subsidised or otherwise "supported". This is one of several reasons why JAL owes the banks 16 billion dollars and anyone buying its shares recently is certifiable. SdS

ITNOTF - great movie. No-one seems to make movies about the IRA (or "loyalists") murdering innocent people though. That's one of the reason such gross injustices occurred... Recent good films seen? Slumdog Millionaire was the last really impressive film I saw, which goes to show how little I go to the cinema, or how discerning I am. SdS

I'd expect a whole hotel for 3-man per night! Seriously, do your research, shop around, plan ahead and Niseko really isn't that expensive, for example next month we've got: return flights Haneda - Chitose 4 nights accommodation - dinner, bed & breakfast (shared rooms, good hotel a short walk from the base lift at Hirafu) all mountain lift pass - 5 days bus transfers Chitose-Niseko ...all for 77,000 Yen per person. Does anyone really think that's expensive? There are a few ludicrously overpriced places to stay, but if you're a sufficiently big sucker to stay

Like it? Love it! Cannot wait to get there...

SJ - why do we need a separate username and password for snowjapan.tv? My snowjapan details don't work.... /:-(

Oh - sorry. But the fact I assumed incorrectly doesn't invalidate my point. Anyway, we should all be happy to see "fuyugata" on the weather charts. I'm stoked. SdS

Amazing how everything comes back to the tired old Hakuba vs Niseko thing in the end... Oh well - both places are likely to have good snow by the weekend. SdS

bit early to write off the '09 / '10 season isn't it?

Yes, please don't do a Sonny Bono... Filming while riding can be as dangerous as listening to your i-pod while riding. Stand in one place and film your friends, unless it's a helmet cam. SdS

thursday, if it's for a whole season and really does cover everything as described, JPY 2,000 sounds pretty cheap to me... SdS

tripler - this is quite similar to debates going on elsewhere, e.g. the "snow" thread. It's an objective thing, the quality of snow, but the quantities don't appear to be in decline and why would young people not take up skiing or boarding now? They obviously couldn't compare snow quality now with anything that had gone before... This brings us onto a kind of philiosophical point. When people say things were better in the past (on any topic), I think it's usually the distorting effect of nostalgia. Everything looked better to most people 20 years ago because they were younger and less

Well, I'm quite happy that the original comment was made. I didn't find it offensive, just laughable. It's not a matter of sticking up for one copuntry over another, and SJ - I think you strike the right balance with your moderation. SdS

Sounds like the OP wants an economical, lively place with some company, so the backpackers would be ideal. I've stayed at Hakuba Alps many times in the past, and the owners are great people - very friendly and when they have the time will drive you to the resorts. It is obviously pot luck as to who you're staying there with, but people tend to behave themselves pretty well, and I've never experienced any bad attitude. If you want to do most of your skiing / boarding at Goryu / 47 then it's a good choice. There are a few restaurants aroud there as well, all reasonably priced.

I went once and found the vast majority of the wear that they were flogging was not that good. Lower-end stuff. That doesn't mean it's like that now, though, just a caution that they naturally make it sound like a bargain-fest and it's probably only like that for the first few hundred people through the door. The good stuff goes early. SdS