Rag-Doll
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Posts posted by Rag-Doll
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It will be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out and how the resorts change.
Chinese NY is already crazy in Niseko, I bet the prices will double next year.
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Even the HK Chinese have an issue with the way mainland Chinese carry on.
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It wasn't so long ago that people were bitching about the invasion of previously peaceful (albiet backward) Japanese ski fields by crass cashed-up aussie tourists. That was nothing compared to what is coming down the line.... Are we going to see another property boom in the high profile resorts?
Quote:NEW wave of Chinese visitors to Japan is expected after the Japanese government relaxes visa rules today.This will make a further 16 million households in China eligible for tourist visas.
The change will allow middle-class Chinese to visit Japan, which will boost the country's depressed retail sector. Previously only very wealthy Chinese have been issued with tourist visas for Japan.
Still, the number of Chinese tourists was already on the rise, with 1.5 million expected this year.
Increasingly affluent Chinese are being welcomed by retailers.
Despite some cultural resistance among Japanese to a Chinese "invasion", big stores are rolling out the red carpet.
"Chinese are the saviours for us. I've never seen any foreign tourists spend as much as the Chinese," says Takeshi Araki, a salesman at Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara electronics district.
Major retailers, including Bic Camera and the Matsuya department store, are among the many businesses with signs in Chinese. Bic Camera has opened a Chinese-language help line, and it and several other stores now take the China UnionPay credit card.
Retail chiefs estimate Chinese tourists spend on average three times as much as Japanese customers.
Shoppers in Tokyo's ritzy Ginza shopping district who spoke to The Australian yesterday welcomed the Chinese tourism boom, but some expressed slight misgivings.
An elderly female shopper quipped: "Finally we have an invasion from the Chinese.
"It may be profitable for the Japanese economy, but we could lose our sense of identity."
Chiyo Tonegawa, a worker at a stall that has sold fruit in Ginza since 1951, said Chinese tourists had been good for business as they often brought her produce while shopping for top-brand bags and clothes.
"I welcome it. They are pretty rich now, not like in the past," she said. "The Japanese people are so defeated now - they are getting more fashionable than us."
China's Suning appliance company has already bought a controlling stake in the large Japanese appliance store Laox, and Chinese interest is expected when the Seibu department store in the Ginza area is sold next year.
Several companies are running Chinese shopping cruises to Japan, and the city of Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu expects 66 vessels to berth this year, bringing Y=2.9 billion ($38 million) in economic benefit.
The visa reforms allow Chinese of a "certain professional status" to get a visa. This means those who hold major credit cards or managerial jobs.
It might be worth learnig some handy phrases in Chinese:
1. Flush the damn toilet!
2. Who you calling Gweilo?
3. The back of the queue is that way fella!
4. The sign says don't spit, don't squat and no smoking!
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Not sure - the rental guy was more concerned about explaining to me that even though it was mid afternoon I was going to have to pay for the full afternoon and that if the board was excessively damaged I would up for the cost of repairs/replacement! The guys in the demo store seemed pretty causal so, maybe they'd let you trial a few boards, though they might be a bit jack of acting as your pit crew.
For those with the dosh the boards seem a good buy. I think Mamabear's husband did a gemtem demo and bought one - is that right Mamabear? A mate who lives in Niskeo has had one for a few years and loves it. If I was a living in Japan and using it every second day, maybe, but no point having one whilst living in the bloody tropics!
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Y3,000 for the full day and Y1,500 - I think. Check out their website, the bamboo boards are great, the color schemes on the others are a bit blah but, who cares?
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Muika - you walk in with your board, point to board that floats your boat and for a very modest fee they swap your bindings over and you're out the door with an awesome board. They have a lot of their range lined up ready to go. I had a go on the 189cm Impossible for an afternoon when the wax job on my board packed it in. Fantastic board - sonic boom fast and super stable. I didn't get to try it in the deep though but it would have been a dream ride. If a board like that wasn't a bitch to travel with (and a bit pricey - $2,000)) I would have bought it there and then.
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After years of saying the ugly Aussie in Niseko is a beat-up (5 yrs and never a sign of trouble), last week I actually saw the after effects of an ugly Auggie get beaten up in Niseko. Lots of blood, one bloke with his arm in a sling and holding bandage to his face, a police car, gaijin police liasion in attendance - the whole box and dice...and hardly anyone turned their head, most stayed in the (rather smelly) beer tent drinking. I was told by a guy probably in the know that some girl glassed the bloke. Oi Oi Oi, indeed.......
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Thanks guys.
I'm up there in two weeks, no doubt by then there will be quite a crowd gathering for each session.
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Realy interesting read Dyna, thanks.
Were you required to demonstrate your ability level or did they just take you on face value? Also, why are the number of participants so low? I would thought people would be queing up for a go at something a bit different.
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Originally Posted By: MamabearOriginally Posted By: thursdayOriginally Posted By: Creek BoyId say CNY Ski - I had to cue for 10-20 mins for the gondola at Niseko and Rusutsu occasionally around Xmas/NYs, but typically once you get up you didnt have to wait more than a few chairs worth.
New ywars. Lots of people crowded around the Ace quad. At least a 20 minute wait.
Interesting.
Previously we have stayed at the Gondola Chalets - so pretty darn close to the lifts and we could look at the queues and choose whether we wanted to wait for the Gondola, do a quick run or three while the crowds dispersed on the King, or duck over to the Ace and go up...
However this year we will be staying closest to the bottom of the Ace Family Pair lift ... and I reckon that will probably be the biggest bottleneck of all in the morning - with the majority of the village being closest to that lift.
Trying to come up with a plan...
Grab a cheap rental car for the holiday. Let's you scoot all over the place and explore some of the other resorts in your own time and on your own terms. Particularly good when the weather closes the top of the mountain. -
Originally Posted By: SKIQuote:The only people doing any attacking on SJ anymore are the ones attacking Hakuba, why I have no idea.
This wasn't about Hakuba and I can't see anyone 'attacking Hakuba'.
But apart from that, even if there were, they might feel justified considering the huge volume of ridiculous self-right⋅eous tiresome bullshit spewed out and 'Niseko attacks' in the past.
Actually Ski, in my first post I had a go at the H-boys. The offline response I got was pretty savage. -
This is like the good old days, back before SJ became a tourist advisory service.
CB I think GN's response pretty well hit the mark, but if that isn't clear enough, didn't somebody else describe it as slack country with training wheels....I think that more than proves my point. You're being an old woman.
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That's all good Mama but I reckon there is a tendancy to overplay the risk, compared to many other sports where the risk is equally present. We don't restrict poor swimmers from going into the ocean. Sure we have swim between the flags (which can be more dangerous due to crowding than not) but these guys who claim they always ride with avie gear and won't ride with anyone unless they too carry avie gear and know this and do, blah blah blah. How much shark repellant and emergency gear do they carry when surfing? Do they carry an EPIRB when doing a bit of body surfing at the local beach, you know, because one never can tell with rips and changing sea conditions ....
It is all very well being cautious but the holier than thou attitude towards the avery punter by some of these guys is a bit much when they're hardly hard core themselves.
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Originally Posted By: Creek BoyI didnt ride the peak last year - not after the circus I saw. Skiers and snowboarders would hike 2/3 of the way up, see people dropping in from the peak, and start ski cutting all the way over from (I think its) 藤原ã®æ²¢ã€€Fujiwara no sawa - watching them youd think they were cutting all the way towards Jacksons
Whether you are the 1st skier, or the 20th, you can trigger an avie, and watching all those clowns going down the way they did really made me question whether they know anything about snow safety; it kept me from wanting to ride there.
If you have the same sort of carnage at Mizuno, Id imagine its only a matter of time as well....the same for the peak, too.
CB, each to his own but given the thousands and thousands of people who have been doing the peak at niseko in recent years and the lack of avie injury (has there ever been any avie caused injury off the peak?) in my mind the danger level rates around the same as swimming in the surf. Yes there is a risk but it is so low as to be hardly a consideration. BTW, it has always seemed to me (from years of seeing similar discussions on the topic on this and other forums) that the lads in Hakuba display an inflated view of the avie risk they face and the extent to which they gear up for it. I don't know whether it panders to their self perceptions or what, but it comes across as more than a little OTT. Not that I'm claiming any great knowledge on the subject of avies, but compare the approach you expressed above against the recorded frequency of injuries from avies off the peak.....
Good news on the Mizuno no Sawa initiative but I reckon they will find that once the average rope ducking punter sees tracks in there we'll see people ducking ropes all over the place to gain entry - it will become a free for all and keeping people to the safe areas will be quite difficult.
Interesting note about Arai in the material SJ posted - there was some seriously dangerous terrain at that place - not necessarily because of avie danger but the gullies and waterfalls and rocks made it pretty easy to stay on the right side of the ropes. -
Just did a wiki search on Loose Change - There is a section which lists information that appeared in early versions and which is omitted from later versions of the show.
It would seem that bascially LC is a melting pot of crank ideas and junk that they don't really test before offering it up as supporting the main argument.
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6:
Aust
NZ
England
Japan
Hong Kong
Singapore
no doubt there will be more - depends on how effective INTERPOL are.
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Great photos. Some of them would have been taken around the time Yukiguni was being written - an altogether different world.
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Originally Posted By: thursdayOriginally Posted By: Go NativeOriginally Posted By: gerYeah, that truly ROCKS! Boy or Girl?
Will find out when the little bugger makes an appearance!
ooooh, diaper changing, milk bottle sterilizing, laundry,....... just look forward to it.
Mate,
What's a few nappies compared to the love, the cuddles, the laughter, the pure joy that comes with nurturing your children, the incredible wonder of birth and new life and eveything else that being a parent brings with it? Kids are a lot of work but being a dad is the best thing ever. -
GN,
That's good to hear, my 4th (and last!)is scheduled delivery for this Friday. This is the first time we've had a scheduled delivery so it is a little strange to be saying "only 3 more sleeps" etc. but still exciting nonetheless.
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There must be
though I like a bit o' sleeze as much as the next drunken bloke on a business trip there are nicer places to get down'n'dirty I reckon. -
Originally Posted By: thursdayA place in the far far east, southern coast of China where the sun shines on TV or elsewhere.
The streets are picturesque Portugal with cathdral architecture and coastline. Cobbled streets are made by Portugese craftsmen on a mission to make the best cobbled streets in the world.
A real holiday destination. But wait; there are casinos galore!! Gambling, flashing lights, fountains. Think Oceans 11 and then multiply. Lights a flashing, Vegas brashness, tackiness, multiply.
And then the tracks, the horse tracks, the grehound tracks, the go-kart tracks. Then, one weekend in the year, the F3 world championship's track.
Macau, dunno why I like it so much. Yes I do know, but that's for you to find out. Enjoy.
hmmm. There must be two Macaus coz the place I went to looked remarkably like the crowded dirty polluted cities in mainland china just accross the water. Even the Westin - which gets good raps from many people - seemed just as dreary and polluted as everywhere else in that part of the world.
Macau is cheap and nasty and has not much going for it at all. -
Tubbs it has a similar set up to HK. Though I recall the Chinese being not quite a keen to take back Macau as they were to get their hands on HK. The bright lights and bright people of HK obviously had more appeal than a pretty dodgy money laundrying place like Macau.
I've only been a couple of times - it really didn't grab me.
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There was an interesting article recently about the very high proportion of the mainland chinese high rollers in Macau who have ended up either being executed, jailed or are in the process of being prosecuted for fraud and embezzlment etc. Can't remember the exact number but 40-50-60% or something like that. Hot dirty money indeed but understandable too...imagine how good it would be if you were able to take your county's entire annual budget and spend it in weekend at Macau on hookers and champagne and if you played your cards right (literally!) you could be back at work on monday with no one any the wiser.
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It isn't very big! that is what struck me when I managed a couple of days there a few years ago. The main drag where all the main casinos are is, I don't know, may 1.5-2 km long. I thought it would be bigger. renting a car is good advice, death valley is just down the road as well so lots of non-vegas stuff to see and do and of course the shows!
Nihao, Xi Xi, No Spitting, No Squating
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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Does Nagano airport take international flights? If it doesn't, the local resort towns should be pushing hard for it. It would open up a whole new market of weekend trips residents in China's coastal cities. In the right circumstances super cheap airline tickets subsidised by landing fee rebates from the Nagano airport would make it very appealing.