skidaisuki

Nice pics, muika! I always look for the smoke when I'm visiting Karuizawa. Taken from Kusatsu, I guess this is a view from the North side of the mountain, though? I want to climb that next summer - sulphur dioxide permitting...

The trivial answer: depends if you want the design on your skis to match up - some park & pipe skis (e.g. K2s) have designs which fit together if the skis are on the "correct" feet. Otherwise - with the vast majority of skis being symmetrical and tuned accordingly, it makes no difference at all. SdS

My advice? Do it! No more cold backside from sitting down to strap in, no more wasted time coming off the lifts, more time on the snow, ease of skating over flat sections, all round challenge, etc... I respect boarders and boarding (except when they do their piste grooming act), but I have to say skiing has everything going for it, and more boarders should try it.

One word.... Ugh. The crash from last year almost looked worse though. I'm all for thrills and a challenge, but that last jump looks brutal, especially with a headwind. I wonder if they'll do something about it now?

Well, he went there for the "crack"....

FamiliaGTX - on cold days, I keep the vents of my helmet closed, and wear a balaclava or neoprene faceguard underneath it. Never had a problem with getting a cold head, even on double-figure-minus days at Niseko. I strongly recommend getting a helmet - it becomes second nature very quickly and could be the difference between life and death in an accident.

Just an observation, but the terms "steep" and "cheap" don't really apply to most of the Hokkaido resorts, or the skiing experience as a whole (unless by steep you mean expensive...) Deep is why we go. Enjoy SdS

In defence of the futon... I have had some excellent, very warm and comfy nights' sleep on futons. I wouldn't be put off trying if you are interested, and anywhere where there's snow, you'll have plenty of extra blankets to add if you aren't warm enough. No chance of drunkenly falling out of bed, either! If for some reason you need a mattress - choose a western style room. As well as a futon and tatami flooring, most Japanese rooms have TV, a small table and water heater with tea-making stuff provided for a quick brew when you get in - and you sit on a cushion or a legless chair, n

Well, based on the UK definition of a city - say 100,000 + population - this is an endless question. Nagano? Niigata? Morioka? Sendai? Aomori? Asahikawa? The cities in Northern Kanto on the shinkansen lines? The point is that there are many, many ski resorts within 30 minutes of major cities. First of all you should say whether your preferences are any more narrow and whether you are asking this question because you are thinking of coming to live or stay in Japan. That'd narrow it down a bit. Just remember, there are lots of cities in Japan that you've never heard of which hav

Gareth & Mattaus - The shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Nagano takes about 1 hr 45 minutes, followed by a bus ride of about an hour from Nagano to Hakuba, plus whatever waiting time is required. The 4 hours you refer to (Mattaus) is for a direct 'slow' train - the "Super Azusa" - that runs from Shinjuku directly to Hakuba station. It is cheaper than a shinkansen, but much slower and only runs 3 times a day (or something like that). Therefore, having travelled to Hakuba numerous times from Tokyo (by all different methods...), my advice is to take the shinkansen to Nagano - or a

Pete, Do you mean that you haven't booked any accommodation at all? I really wouldn't leave it until you get here. Places like Shiga Kogen have limited accommodtion and you may find that what is available is not necessarily where you want to be - or what you want is only available for part of your stay (as of course weekends are busier than weekdays). So...don't be scared of somebody answering the phone in Japanese, get on to it! Good luck with your preparations. SdS

Thanks Fukdane, if you have time to update after you've been, I'll be most grateful! Enjoy

Anyone located up near Aizu Wakamatsu? We are planning to be skiing Alts Bandai & Inawashiro over New Year and if anyone can give a first hand report, it'd be very useful. It seems to have been snowing up there, but I don't trust the resort reports to necessarily be up to date ad/or accurate. Thanks in advance. SdS

Keep us updated, Muika! and a belated Happy Christmas from Cornwall, UK...

Thanks SJF and Muika, I will keep a close eye on the weather and your reports, and probably make a decision on Friday afternoon. Fingers crossed...

To Muika and our other Niigata friends, is it looking like it'll be worth doing a day trip to Kagura on Sunday? The Now page suggests maybe not, but I'm off to the UK next week and I want to get one ski in before Xmas. Cheers SdS

I have stayed at Narita a few times and I'd recommend staying in Narita town itself rather than at the airport. With travellers in mind, there are a number of very reasonably priced business hotels close to the 2 stations (JR Narita and Keisei Narita) in the centre of town. From there to the airport it is a matter of a few minutes only by train or bus. I stayed at the Center Hotel Narita a few times - I seem to remember paying about 7,000 yen per night there which is pretty reasonable. There are others as well. If you stay in Narita check out the Barge Inn - nice big pub with live

To borrow from Samuel Johnson, "when a man is tired of Tokyo, he is tired of life" ...or you might simply be too scared to explore.

In case anyone else needs such guidance in future....the buses depart from right outside JR Nagano Station, and as Hakuba is a long area stretched along the valley, there are a few stops, one of which is called Hakuba Goryu (though it's actually about 1 - 2 km from Escal Plaza the base of Goryu. From there you can either follow the signs and walk, or get a taxi or passing free resort bus up to Escal Plaza. Hopefully Gordon & Co were paying attention to the stop indicator on the bus - it's bilingual - and got off at Goryu rather than carrying on to JR Hakuba (in the village) or the

Unless your youngest friend looks like he's 12, I don't suppose there'll be a problem in most places. Bear in mind if he got really drunk and ended up in police hands (pretty unlikely, I must say) the consequences would not be good

Gary, shinkansen tickets (especially discounted ones) are always dated for specific days of travel, so your idea would run into a fatal flaw at Tokyo Station's ticket gate. I see no reason why Snotrag's idea wouldn't work - as as far as we know, the use of the discounted shink tickets is not recorded in order to validate the use of the lift passes. I think the point is that unless you can stay for free in Hakuba, usually buying a multi-day JR package with accommodation will be considerably cheaper than doing it separately - even if you stay at a backpackers and have a sandwich for dinner

My experience would suggest mid January / mid February in a "normal" season, but it always depends. If you look back in the Now! reports archive, you'll see comments about fantastic snow in both December and April, especially at the higher and more northerly resorts.

Shinjuku's pretty central, and a city in itself, with easy transport connections to everywhere else in Tokyo. I'm rather biased, though, because it's my home! If you like pubs and live music (as well as DJs) Richard Branson owns a large pub in Narita City - called The Barge Inn. If you stay at one of the many hotels in Narita City (rather than by the airport) then you can stagger back from there rather than taxi it, and you'll still only be under 10 minutes train ride from the airport in the morning. The Barge is only a few minutes' walk down the road from JR Narita and Keisei Narita s

If you've ever seen anyone properly stack on a snow bike, you'll know that it's a bad idea compared to skiing or boarding.

Thanks GN. You must be looking forward to the weekend.