Endless Winter

Mini skirts make me happy in the pants

Born to Run

I started surfing over 30 years ago and prior to coming to Japan lived in mostly tropical and sub-tropical places. Thus little access to snow. After moving here 11 years ago it was a natural transition to to take up snowboarding. For my first experience I was invited by a group of friends to Iwappara. One of my friends was an instructor and spent the morning giving me a private lesson. By mid-morning I was quite surprised that I starting to catch on so quickly. By afternoon my legs stiffened up and I regressed the rest of the day. That was a bit disheartening, but nevertheless I stuck w

After reading the title of this thread, I thought it was going to be about a new song by the B52's.

Per NHK evening news. I didn't catch the name of the resort but somewhere near Hachimantai,two skiers were caught in a slide and have died. An off duty policeman who happened to be hiking the same area was an eye witness and saw the two skiers get caught. Apparently due to high winds any rescue attempts were not possible and it won't be till tomorrow until anyone will be able to reach the two. That's all I got. Sad news indeed.

I'm in Kamakura not far from Enoshima. Cheddar is alright, but it's the goat cheese I'm after. I'm just not sure it's all that easy to find. Thanks though. We should meet up for a cold one sometime. I'm frequently in Fujisawa.

Last year the local tax office in Kamakura doubled the tax amount residents are required to pay annually. I'm wondering if others here in different parts of Japan have had to do the same and if so what is the explanation for such a big increase. As explained to me the increase would remain for several years.

Hey Cheeseman, I'm looking to purhase goat cheese. Have you any suggestions of where I may find some in the Yokohama area? Thanks

FWIW rikai.com is pretty helpful for translating.

Weather reports saying low lying areas of Kanto could get up to 15cm. of snow today with even more in higher elevations. Sure looks nice outside. Gonna be a fun day

Has anyone watched "The Great Global Warming Swindle"? It's available on Google videos. Personally, I'm undecided about the whole issue after watching this movie. It's over an hour long, but worth a look to get an opposing point of view.

During the first hour of being stuck I'd make a couple judgements as to whether riding back down the mountain would be possible given my location, then figure out if the fall out of the gondola would injure me or not. If I could handle both I'd find out whether others would join me, then brake open the door or a window and get out.

Originally Posted By: Kingofmyrrh doubt TB will see this, but if anyone else knows: where do you get this deal? Just turn up at Tokyo station the morning you want to leave? You can do a day trip to a number of resorts using the Shinkansen out of Tokyo. I think it's a pretty good deal and I have used it at least a dozen times. You pay between 8000 to 12000 Yen(depending on ski resort you go to and date.) for the train and lift ticket. You'll have to at least be able to speak and read some Japanese to do this. Otherwise get a Japanese friend to help. It's really not that hard though.

I actually live on the Kamakura side that borders Fujisawa. I'm often in Fujisawa for one reason or another though. So, yea it's possible we've met.

I don't think JR has come out with their Shinkansen Higaeri brochure. But in years past I've used it a half dozen times. There's great deals for one day trips to Kagura(as previously mentioned), Hakuba, and Myoko Suginohara. Train/Lift Pass cost around 10,000. Which isn't too bad. It's possible to catch the first train to Tokyo Sta. then board the Shinkansen and arrive at Yuzawa by 7:30, from there it's a 20 minute bus ride. One time I did this and actually made it on time to Kagura for the first Ropeway lift up. I thought that was pretty cool since I had left Fujisawa around 5:00am t

I just purachased a new scraper and a block of graphite yesterday. This morning after cleaning off the old wax I gave it a try and applied both graphite and base wax following your advice. Lo and behold it came out really good. Better than ever before. I think before I was never applying the wax correctly and not scraping properly. I'll wait a short while before applying a regular coat of wax and repeating. I sure appreciate your advice. I've never boaded in Yamagata, but if and when I do I'll have to look you up and buy you a cold one. Thanks again!

Excellent suggestions, thanks samurai! I can see what was giving me problems before. Perhaps I wasn't passing the iron over my board slow enough to get an even coat. I was under the impression that the iron could damage the board, so I think I always moved the iron faster than you suggest. One minute seems like a long time for one pass over the board. Won't the board get damaged by an iron moving that slow? I'll try it out though. I also think my scraper has dulled a bit. Does a regular file keep the edge to it? Yea, I was talking about base prep. I will try out your idea using gr

I'd like to learn the proper way to wax my snowboard. I've been doing it myself for several years now, but it seems like it's always a hit or miss when trying to get it right. So I have a few questions for anyone who can help. Why are there chips of wax that remain after scraping? Do I need to scrape the wax down even better? Is base wax even necessary? If so do I need to re-apply it every time I wax my board? I'd welcome any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks