Kraut_in_HongKong

Originally Posted By: thursday. What people don't realize is that the Chinese middle class are hiding their wealth for fear of having it forcibly taken from them. They are stashing it in Canada and the States and throwing ridiculous money into shitty pigeon hole flats in HK. There is some truth in there, but they usually spend their money on tangible assets rather then just "fun". I am also not sure that Japan really wants to open the floodgates to large groups tourists from China which usually have behavioral problems. That would scare away local tourists. It will stay a niche marke

Originally Posted By: Rag-Doll I agree with Thursday. It's just a matter of time before the PRC middle class start spending overseas. The enormous numbers involved will swamp the Japanese ski industry, even if only a small fraction take up snow sports. What would 10 million (=0.8% of the PRC population!)or 20 million extra visitors do to the ski industry in Japan, especially if those visitors were focused in a couple of high profile regions. I am not sure about that. Ski is not big in China yet. Most of my Chinese friends see ski more as an unsafer form of suicide. Just potential doe

Originally Posted By: TJ OZ Hakuba has already had it's time as one of the most popular resorts in the world, be it a domestic market. Current figures show that the western market makes up 3% of the total visitors in the Valley. Hakuba will NOT become a major western ski place, because: Ski is not that big in Asia outside Japan Japan is relatively expensive (at least in the imagination of many) Japan is expensive to reach Japan is too far for most No very nearby int. airport I can't see a big influx of US or EU tourists, which have great ski places at the same time in their own

Bushpig, it was Lucie Blackman, not Sara. She worked as a hostess and disappeared in July 2000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucie_Blackman But that case may not help your standpoint much, as the murderer was ethic Korean. As the occasional tourist in Japan I don't really feel any negative racism. I think some locals have a fear of speaking English and therefore try to avoid contact, or keep it to a minimum. Happens in other places too. IMHO Japan is still a great, fantastic and amazing place.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins A technical jacket can not be compared to a spyder jacket, sorry but they are in different leagues. What exactly you mean?>

Most important is, that after washing, you need to re-impregnate the fabric. You can get re-impregnation spray in outdoor shops. My Spyder jacket was washed and we didn't do that, it got a bit heavy on heavy snowing days. I still stayed dry inside though. I doubt that goretex really has that miracle effect to keep you dry. Even with a breathy cotton shirt you start sweeting when you jog.

If you have a Maestro debit card you can use the ATM in the post offices and in 7Eleven shops. 7Eleven also takes a range of credit cards for cash withdraw (incl. AMEX) PS: I used my EC Card (=Maestro) in the Hukuba 7/11. Maximum is 50,000 per withdraw. And you can do at least 2 withdraws in a row.

I stayed in Astil Ueno a few weeks ago. I can fully recommend that hotel. It's 2 Minutes slow walk from JR Ueno station. Room rates are low for Tokyo standard. Room size is ok, and the hotel is quite new and spotless clean. Despite the location it's not noisy at all. Room rates start at 8500 - and that is per room and not (as very common in Japan) per person.

The euphoria for the paperless office usually ends in the toilet.

I love Baumkuchen. It's a bit funny, it's from Germany, but really hard to find there. In Hakuba the 7Eleven had already 5 different types.

Originally Posted By: bobby12 I was surprised to find out recently that the 'abortion pill' is not available in Japan. If you find out you are pregnant you have to have a kind of operation that costs around 130,000yen. Apparently they consider the abortion pill (also known as Mifepristone, RU486, Mifegyne, Mifiprex) unsafe. At first I thought it was to protect the doctors profitable operations but on second thoughts I guess it is to discourage abortion and thus increase number of new babies here. Or may they just genuinely think it is unsafe, despite being used for years overseas?

Originally Posted By: soubriquet H A) Christian Muslim C) Commie Here's the simple answer for simple people. White hats are good, black hats are bad. Neither. It's a Sikh, an ethic group in/from India with their own religion.

Originally Posted By: thursday. I really hate it when: color is suggested for colour ...... FF has 5 different English vocabs, UK, US, AU, ZA, CA https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:3

Originally Posted By: me jane Firefox underlines your mistakes in red in this reply box so no excuses for typos! ... And you can chose several languages and regions. So no matter whether you prefer color or colour. I love their mouse-over Chinese>English character dictionary too (ChinesePera-Kun), has a version for Japanese too... : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3343

For thursday's method, they should be also unused. And avoid those with ribs or dots. Use also the latex type, the new 0.02 (like Okamoto Nude) are made from a plastic material that doesn't stretch as well as latex. Alternately you can buy a soft waterproof poach. Google for DicaPac : Quote: Do they sell shockproof memory cards? Yes, there is for example "SanDisk Extreme". They are more expensive. I would rather backup more often then paying those extra ¥¥¥¥. IMHO memory is also not THAT shock sensitive, seems I bad luck that one time.

So much to shockproof: My casio dropped from maybe 50cm to the floor. It was in a very soft (case logic) poach. The camera had of course no scratch and was perfect. But the 1Gb SD card had an error afterwards. The cam was of course not ON and there was not any writing when it dropped down. So if you really need shockproof look also for shockproof memory cards.

Originally Posted By: RobBright Originally Posted By: Kraut_in_HongKong But then, I have no problem with nude beaches I don't Originally Posted By: Kraut_in_HongKong and mixed saunas too. I do In the mixed sauna I sometimes had wild fantasies how a girl would looked dressed....

Is it offensive? I think it's humor, or? I deleted it, I don't find it offensive at all. But then, I have no problem with nude beaches and mixed saunas too. For the curious, it was a caricature of the differences between the male / female erogenous zones. If you type "erogenous zones humor" and google for pictures it's probably the first link with a male and female showing.

I heard a few times about the Tokyo <> Hakuba bus connection but this year was the first time I tried it. I used Alpico buses before, from Nagano to Hakuba, and return. I took the 07:00 bus from Hakuba to Shinjuku last week. It's of course the same size as the Nagano one, but it has less seats. I didn't count, but I think about 40. You have really good leg-space and the seats recline well. The bus has toilet. Journey time is 4:30 (usually) and the bus has 2 times a 10 Minute stop on the highway in a sort of well stocked highway shopping center. All together it was a really

It works perfectly in 7/11 - but watch the cost! The 7/11 Machine mentioned a ¥210 charge for each withdrawal. But my bank (Postbank in Germany) uses a lower exchange rate (-1.85%) + €4.80 per withdrawal with my German EC Card. I haven't checked if the post office is cheaper, too late for that, next year (hopefully). It's probably still cheaper then getting cash advance from a credit card though.

Some late feedback: I was at Happo THAT weekend Feb 9-11! Sat 2/9 - just arrived lunchtime. Only stayed in Nakiyama area. Not too crowded. Had to wait for a lift maybe 1-2 Minutes. Heavy snowing all day. Sun 2/10 - Had to wait 5 Minutes maybe twice. Otherwise waiting times were short, or zero. Didn't seem crowded to me. Overcast, no new snow. Mon 2/11 - Still holiday, but all day empty slopes and lifts. Perfect blue sky. I would not consider crowd condition when going to Happo.

Originally Posted By: Skimum I'm coming up tomorrow morning and am getting mixed messages about whether we need chains. We have a Volvo 4WD (yes I am a true Skimum) - but we can't seem to get chains to fit due to low clearance. What you mean "low clearance"? I once had a Volvo XC70 as a rental in Germany and to fit chains was no problem. For winter tyres, there must be plenty of shops around that sell them. You don't need any specific brand. Just all 4 should be the same. And if you never used chains, try them at least once on a clear road, so you know how it works. Next time yo

I drive in Hong Kong, unfortunatly most cars sold here are automatic. Manual cars are only in the sports section. My Hyundai was manual, but my news Smart ForFour is automatic (was the only choice). Feels like far less power (for a small 109PS car). I would like to testdrive a new VW with the double-clutch automatic though. It's an automatic with 7 gears and you don't notice any gearshift anymore. They call it DSG: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-Shift_Gearbox

Originally Posted By: Bushpig I have the Olympus 720s (730??) and it is great for the surf and the snow. Oly's make very good pix. When you use them in saltwater you should wash them in water afterwards, best would be destilled water. Saltwater is very agressive.

>and I continue to wear a helmet. Me too. After wearing a helmet the first time I didn't find it inconvenient at all. Keeps the head warm and dry, adds some safety, and can't get stuck in tree branches as a soft had.