misorano

Ocean: Her name is 半井小絵 not sure what the reading is.

Pie-Eater (God I miss pies) I'm with you But I've gotta say my all time fav is Junko Kubo. (Until she starts speaking English and then she sounds all whiney)

Isn't this Takamori? The girl in the photo above (5-6 posts up)is on News 7 isn't she? She seems a bit of a geek at first, but she does grow on you. She's got an unusual name that escapes me at the moment.

Benny: A month is a long time to be living on instant noodles. If you need some home cooking pop up the road to our place (about 200m up from snow beds on the left). Beers are welcome, but picking up a bottle of Oz wine (red) when coming thru duty free will make you very welcome.

Looks like they have it set up that once you make an error, you can't resubmit (looks like a mimimum time between submission setting). We got around it by changing computers and starting from scratch.

Bloody cold here too (and wet)!!!!

Gams: Will keep at it. Aim to become the godfather of Hakuba and all these little Tokyu's and other lift companies will bow before me. You can be the underboss if you like. BTW I went to Kurashita no Yu last night (had an hour to myself) Best onsen in Hakuba thinks I.

yk: Go the other way mate. Think 7man and be happy if you get the 3man deal. No much snow on mars is there?

You may be right, but quite a few people I've met here seem keen to moan about the state of things without getting out and trying a new approach. We are quite lucky in that our business is not tied to the local economy, but I wanted to set up a website for accommodation in Hakuba as our off season coincides with the ski season. Trouble was that the only way to really get contacts is to join several local associations and that has taken 2 months and now we don't have enough time to get thing online in time for this season. Simple, low cost idea, but dragged down by the old fashioned Japanes

Mr W: Only been here 2 months or so but the thinking here is pretty old fashioned. No new ideas at all. I don't really understand all the lift companies, I know Happo has 3, but then there is another company the runs Happo, Iwatake, and Tsukagaike (Hakuba Resort Co). And along the way is the Tokyu group who seem pretty big too. Seems to me the way to revitalize this place is to get the numbers back up and create some good will so people keep coming back.

Can't see why they don't offer an unlimited number. It's run by the tourist assoc. Seems they don't think of the spin off effects in terms of the other parts of the ski industry in Hakuba (accomm, resturants, bars etc). Short sited buggers!!

Toque Had to get them as we are up in the upper reaches of the Misorano area. Most place in Nagano were 12man for the same tires. Nissan dealer in Omachi was 11man, but that was only cos we bought the car off them. Ended up buying online.

Good news! Got a set of Bridgestones with rims for under 9man. All balanced etc. All we have to do is put them on and the friendly guys at IDEMITSU will do that for a few sen (Don't want to get my knees dirty)

BETTY: They had a season pass with Shiga Kogen for 70,000yen last year. Happo/Shiga Kogen Season Ticket

Gamera, Gotta get in quick. Most of the places in Nagano have specials until Oct 30, then they jack up the price even further.

Just been to Nagano looking at winter tyres. Bloody expensive!!!!!

Gamera: Never too old mate. Went over too Nagano today to look at studless tyres. Cheapest were 8man with foils incl. OUCH!! Stopped off in Ogawa on the way abck to look at swimming lessons for the kids. They've got a really nice pool there.

RD: My brother is really into it and he has a lot of fun, he's been at me to give it a go for a while. I wanted to try it before I get too old to enjoy it. I love skiing, but can't really afford new everything so decided to give the board a whirl this year.

FT: I skiied a lot in Uni. (back in the 80s). Have only done a few days in Japan (Daizen and Sugadaira). I've bought a snowboard for this season and will see how that goes. If I stuff up too much I'll be back to skiing.

長野県 - 白馬-１年間の毎月の値- Then pick your year.

Maybe this site will help: Met service

FT: Setting up a business in Japan can be a bitch with all the rules and regs. If you need some help let me know. i've been throught the Kojin jigyo and kaisha setsuritu system. It cost us about 1.5 million to get going (all in bonds and fees for the travel agents assoc etc.)

Speaking of nana-man, I've decided to get a Happo One season pass. Should be up there almost every morning. Look for the overweight Gaijin learing to snowboard.

Meetings are not too bad. What's worse is funerals. If you are in a big company then someone's relative is always dying. Everyone feels obliged to head along to the TSUYA. Waste of time and money.

Montoya, Find a "Seikotsuin"that accepts the Insurance cards. First time each month is about 800yen, then about 500yen each time thereafter. For me this covered: 1. The electric pulse machine (not to sure the proper name)/ about 15 mins 2. Massage Bed (about 15 mins) 3. Foot Massage Machine (about 10 min) 4. Massage and alignment (about 15 min) Make sure you find a good one though as it is a fuzzy area of medicine in Japan and there is no standard qualification.