keba

With all the talk about how nervous the Japanese are that the state of the currency markets at the moment will impact on tourism, has anyone on these forums actually cancelled their plans to travel to Japan this winter? I thought it might be time for a poll...

Point taken, and I spoke over the weekend to my travelling colleague (who I will admit was more keen on 'winging it' than I was), and he is coming around to the idea of planning ahead. He's been having a rough time at work - like so many at the moment - and doesn't really care anymore about the detail. He just wants to be there, enjoying the Winter, and forgetting his troubles. We will have accomodation booked, everyone can stop worrying...

There wasn't, when we were there a few years ago, but we had full board (which was very good, at "Maruken Sanso") and didn't look very hard. The bar scene was a bit light on, too. "Karaoke and Shot Bar Heaven" in the upper part of town was our regular. Is that sort of name-dropping allowed here? Sorry if it isn't...

That's the thing, we're not planning to ski in Niseko, Rusutsu seems a more likely destination for the week in mind, and we will not be looking for accommodation at the resort itself. And I will probably have something booked before we leave. I know everyone has our safety in mind, and thanks for that, but I've never gotten into trouble before...(how's that rate as far as 'famous last words' go?)

I wasn't taking offence (how could you possibly know my tastes?), and I did see the smilie wink. My point was more about the state of the music industry today.

All good albums, Scouser, but how many of those were released in the last couple of years? We all have collections of great albums from the past, but I reckon they're pretty thin on the ground today. Anyone?

For me at the moment, it's "A Grand Don't Come for Free" by The Streets, Kanye West's "Graduation", Pink Floyd's "Wish You were Here", and Volume 1 of the Bruce Springsteen live album from 1986 in the car, and at home it's The Propellorheads, Outcast's "Love Below" and Moby "Play", plus a lot of Wiggles (my eldest son is 2). How's my taste?

So what albums are on high rotation in your collection, Scouser? I'm game to track them down and have a listen.

Maybe we will book something, having thought about it, the idea of digging ourselves out of the car in the morning is somehow not very appealing.

If we start a new poll thread with that as the subject, do you think we could get enough votes to make it into a petition?

Sorry, snowhunter, I made that up, hoping that someone in the JNTO might see it and think it was a good idea. Don't hold your breath...

Has no-one the spirit of adventure anymore?

Thanks for that, that was basically the loose plan I had in my head. I figured if there were enough hotel rooms there to host the G8 summit earlier in the year, we should be able to pick up a room somewhere.

If you restrict caloric intake enough, you will lose weight.

Well it seems as likely as the AUD making a recovery by the time I get there in January. Let me dream...

Well we do have some accomodation up in Furano, but were looking around the south-west as well, maybe one of the hotels around Lake Toya. Looks to be plenty of them, and far enough from the ski fields that vacancies shouldn't be a problem at that time of year. If they're all going to stand in the doorway and shout "No Gaijin" at us though, we might not feel welcome.

Me and a friend are coming to Hokkaido in January, have car hire booked, and one of our options for accommodation was to just 'wing it', which is a strategy that has worked in other coutries we've travelled in. Sounds like we should reconsider...

...or just stay at home, but it sounds like the Japanese government at least still wants us to come. A 40% discount on all goods and services, if you can produce an Aussie passport, sounds like a fine marketing idea to me.

Hows this? It just is. Now cough up the extra cash, arigatou gozaimasu.

It's a shame, but these days I find that an "album', as a collection of songs with some flow of concept or cohesive theme, is a bit rare these days, and mostly what you get is a few hit singles, with some padding added to fill the disc space. A concession, maybe, to the iPod generation, or more likely, just lazy artists and record companies who are more interested in sales than art.

Aussie Dollar Tanking Here it is...

That was the subject of another thread here. Something about commodity prices, interest rates and other things I just don't get. (I'd post a link to the thread but I can't figure out how - it was called "Tanking Aussie Dollar" or something)

We had a room full of Apple IIe's, and in 1981, that was on the cutting edge, as far as we were concerned. We were stoked!

Originally Posted By: Mantas What?? No lemon de-tox, herbal extract, protien diet supplemented only by the white of an Emu egg and a glass of yak urine daily?? You're absolutely right, what was I thinking? No-one would buy it. Maybe if I got some Hollywood A-lister to write the preface?

This is what I tell my patients 1) Don't smoke 2) Eat sensibly 3) Drink in moderation and 4) exercise regularly If I can manage to pad that out to 300 pages, I might have my first book in press...