Kraut_in_HongKong

Originally Posted By: SirJibAlot It's not easy, but it's not impossible. If you miss the bus at Nagano - you are screwed... If you miss 8:20 the next is at 9:10 , I think they have also out of schedule buses at peak times. When I took it on a weekend there were zillions of people and I got still on one of the 5 or so buses in no time. I think the key in Japan as a visitor is to really collect all information you need in advance and expect not to have an English speaker near you. 3G phones work in JP? I will check that. But I think my new Nokia 6300 ain't.

If you go to Nagano you could stay there overnight and take the first bus to Hakuba. Departure: 08:20 Arrival: 09:30 at Happo Bus is ¥1500 Taxi to Hakuba will cost a LOT, asking a hotel place for pick up should be fine too. A little problem for us un-locals is that our beloved GSM phone does not work in Japan and we are hard to reach if somebody searches us. Meeting places and times must be bulletproof.

If you REALLY want to safe money you do this: Take Keisei Line to Tokyo (I think Ueno) Go on to Shinjuku Station Take the night bus to Hakuba that leaves at 22:30 The bus is 4700 one way, plus you safe one hotel night, the bus arrives at 05:30. 22:30 would mean no rush at all, even time for a nice dinner in a Watami in Shinjuku. What ever you take, bus, shinkansen - be there EARLY. Train station tend to be HUGE and to get English advise can be tricky.

Kakaku is a very good starting point to check prices. I don't know Japanese, but have no problems to understand that site. But I learned the "normal" Akihabara price is much higher then the low Kakaku prices. So it really makes sense to check Kakaku and really go to one of those shops (which are usually small and hard to find). Still, I don't know Japanese and could find them. I am not sure about mailorder.

It's fine here. I start to get excited about the next Hakuba trip. Only bit more then a month to go, that's just 3.1million seconds and I am counting down. I have already booked hotels in Tokyo and Hakuba and all major stuff is ready.

OK, so I will always pay the Reserved seat / Unreserved seat added charge no matter what as long as I use Shinkansen, right?

Originally Posted By: Go Native we get heaps of people coming from SE Asia. I am one of them! Japan is one of the major destination for Chinese New Year from Hong Kong. I will be there Feb. 7-13th and I found it already very difficult to book a hotel in Tokyo, Shinjuku area was already full. For ski places you should also book ASAP, specially over weekends since there will be also lots of crowds from Tokyo.

I don't really understand the fare structure as given out by Hyperdia. The Shinkansen from Tokyo (Ueno) is ¥3890 (fare) and ¥3880 (Reserved seat) - and then, for another train there is same fare, and ¥3370 (Unreserved seat). So when I don't reserve any seat I will get away with just the ¥3890 ? Or is it mandatory to get some sort of reserved or unreserved seat? And if so, do I interpret that correctly that the difference between reserved and unreserved is just ¥510 ? I think I had "unreserved" last year, which basically meant standing in the aisle up to Nagano.

Originally Posted By: Ezorisu Both Duracell and Eveready sell AA-battery-sized Lithium cells that have an internal voltage regulator so they output the correct 1.5 volts and can be used interchangably in most devices using "regular" alkaline batteries of similar size. They are more expensive than alkalines, but will last up to 4x longer than alkalines in most electronic devices like cameras or media players. The battery manufacturers literature says that they work better at lower temperatures than alkalines, but no specific data as to how much better is given. They are typically

SirJibAlot Thanks about that news. I wasn't really aware of that danger. I once fall into 1m deep powder and it got dark above my head, but easy to get up. It's good to keep that danger in mind.

Very sad..... A US snowboarder went head first into deep powder and suffocated under the snow. Location was Mt. Hood, Oregon. http://www.kptv.com/news/14935271/detail.html

Originally Posted By: kokodoko The ATC-2k manual recommends using lithium batteries instead of the normal ones(??) in cold temps.. Be very careful about that. A normal single use dry cell has 1.5V. A normal Li cell has 3.6V You will need a special cell with 1.5V. I doubt the ATC has a voltage regulator to bring the 7.2V from the 2 cells down to 3.0V. The ATC manual does not mention anything about it.

I know that the Kakaku website has used cameras too. Did you try that? PS: no, I don't read Japanese but still can manage to move around that site, so can you.

Originally Posted By: kokodoko I have seen video of the atc-2k used in surfing!! It is so cheap. You mean the camera is cheap or the video quality is poor? It's certainly a cheap camera. I saw it today on eBay.com for around US$80 (no memory, no shipping). Still a really cheap.

Just a note: to keep it recording long time you need to keep the battery warm, means close to your body. Or at least have a 2nd battery that you keep warm. That counts for all batteries, digital cameras too. PS: The ATC-2K looks cool and is easy to setup. At below US$130 really cheap too. I may get one too.

I see often cars here parked with the wipers up, and I wonder what that's good for. I presume some sort of phallic symbol, as we don't get near zero centigrades in Hong Kong.

wanted (I edited it already) Maybe that was a little cryptic. Sorry. I found a reference for 2 bars: White Horse Bar & Yamano Hotel Bar ============== Ok Ok, I did some searching, White Horse Bar seem to be THE place in Echoland.

Need: Bar recommendation in Hakuba, Echoland Can anybody give me a hint on useful bars in Echoland? Last year when I was in Hakuba it was dead after the lift stopped. OK, I went to the Tracks Bar party (cool place!) last year, but the taxi fare costs nearly as much as flying into Japan. Anything similar in Echoland? Or there simply not much of après-ski in Japan?

...and now we all get fingerprinted...

>day tickets => cash or credit card I can confirm that. I used my Hong Kong VISA card to buy day tickets. I haven't tried season pass though.

I got some Northface ski pants. I thing it's nylon. Certainly not Goretex. They are very lite and thin. A bit stiff too. Under that I wear my long running tights. That together keeps me perfectly warm and flexible.

OK, Hakuba City was a little overboard. I mean Echoland. I booked "Bar Side Hill", I count the seconds now!

in 2006 I could not pay JR tickets with my Hong Kong credit card. How is it nowadays? Any change? Anybody used a non-Japanese credit card successfully? BTW, the card was no problem in most places, incl. Spicy Ski Rental, department stores in Tokyo etc.

Thanks, I just checked. Right, Ueno and Keisei sound OK. But the train arives only 12:12 in Ueno. Sounds very tight. The earlier train arrives at 11:30 - but only in Tokyo Station. I think the 12:12 train is out of the game. For the 11:30 arrivel, what is better, go to Ueno and go Keisei, or JR Subu from Tokyo Station? In the worst case I can take of course the earlier bus ans have plenty of time.

I am leaving sunny Hong Kong again for a Hakuba snow trip in February and just do some extensive planning. My return flight is on Feb. 13th 15:00 now my questions: Obviously I prefer not to miss the flight. Is it possible to have an early morning departure? I saw there are buses at 6:20 and 8:20 from Happo. The later bus brings me at 9:35 to Nagano, and the 10:08 train at 11:30 to Tokyo. So far sounds ok. So what station I need to get off? Tokyo or Ueno? ANd how again to go to Narita? There was a low cost subway I remember. Any advICE is welcome! PS: anybody else in Ha