Go Native

Back in Aus I always ordered my steak done 'blue'. This is rarer than rare. A good steak should never be cooked more than medium which is why in good steak houses they won't.

Here's a pic of it from near the summit of Mt Yotei. The ski runs on the hill to the upper right of it are Rusutsu.

Certainly in Niseko about the only time of year you have to worry about crime is when the Aussies start turning up!

Originally Posted By: ausi ski bum Its not a lot to ask that if you want to be a citizen of a country you have a little knowledge about it. I get a little tired of the people that come here from the Worlds hot spots and once they become a citizen they head back home and expect Australia to rescue them every time there is trouble (at our cost of course). I must say I'm interested in exactly what you mean by this ASB. Can you give an example of one of the so called 'hot spots' and how much the Aus government has had to spend to rescue these citizens who fled to these hot spots so quickly

I know some people who've skied it. There's a ridge from West Mountain of Rusutsu that leads to the summit. If you take the lift up it's only around an hour hike up the ridge. It has some nice gullies but avalanche danger is a consideration.

Originally Posted By: Fattwins GN what ever happened to Wazza? I met him here after he started to ski with Big Nick Wazza is still running Wazza's World and has more business plans for the coming winter (such as the bakery). I often meet him down at Cafe Kaku in Kutchan.

Snowave never owned but rented space in it. Pretty sure it's owned by Scott from SAS. Wazza made some decent pies but his restaurant won't be opening again. Wazza has been hinting at opening a bakery this winter which hopefully will have pies. You can buy Villi's pies (an Aussie brand) at M-Pocket in Kutchan.

nuejamb that would be the Higashiyama gondola, certainly one of the most sustained steeper runs in Niseko.

Finally cooled down yesterday and thankfully the outlook has temperatures being a lot more moderate.

Hirafu usually opens around the last week of Nov. The first in Hokkaido is often the little resort at Nakayama toge because of it's high base, generally sometime in mid Nov.

We had two days in a row reaching 33 here in Kutchan and today should reach 30 again, but thankfully from tomorrow it should start to cool down again.

I got done doing 31km over and didn't have a valid license (my international had expired). I had to go to court in Otaru and got a 4 man fine for the speeding but was let off on the license because they accepted I had forgotten about the international one expiring (which was true) and I had got my Japanese license in the meantime.

Well we got to 30.3 today and tomorrow they are forecasting 32 which will be one of the hottest days I've ever had here. I was so pizzed off that I had to work today as it would have been very nice at the beach...

Well looks like we might have our first day over 30 degrees this summer in Kutchan tomorrow. May even get a couple of days in a row! Now I know for all you guys down south this is hardly uncommon but up here we'll really struggle with it that hot (especially as most of us don't have AC in Hokkaido).

On average Aussies drive around 20-25,000km per year. Here in Japan I'd say it's about half that. I just bought a Subaru Forrester yesterday. I had one in Aus and love them so it's good to have one again.

Nice cloud formation near Mt Tarumezan from Lake Shikotsu.

geez you guys... The social cohesion thing is a good point. One big difference between here and Aus also is that there are no fences between houses (fences don't do too well in an area with average snowfalls in excess of 12m). Back in Aus the idea of seeing into your neighbours backyard from your backyard is practically unheard of which I believe helps to alienate people and hampers any feelings of community forming. Here the community feeling is alive and well. I guess in small country towns in Aus it may be similar but I've only ever lived in a country town whilst here in Hokkaido.

Well I'm sure that in the big cities there's a bit more crime than here in little old Kutchan. What amazes me also is that in a small country town in Australia there would most likely be plenty of vandalism and graffiti by disaffected youth with nothing better to do but here in Kutchan where there is still bugger all for the youth to do I have never seen any vandalism at all. If I go into a convenience store I can leave my car running with no fear of it not being there when I get out and I rarely lock up my house if I'm out. Mantas the lack of crime here is mainly due to the lack of hard

For me the best thing of living up here in the rural north of Japan is there is virtually no crime at all. It's incredible the difference it makes living in a place devoid from all fear of crime.

I have never really been what anyone could call skinny and for the last 20+ years would definitely be classed as overweight, if not obese with a body weight in excess of 100kg. During this time though I have climbed a 6000m+ peak in Bolivia, done ski mountaineering in India skiing peaks over 5000m, spent 2 months hiking throughout wilderness areas of Tasmania, completed the Annapurna circuit in Nepal, hiked extensively through Patagonia and Tierra Del Fuego, done weeks of backcountry skiing in Victoria and NSW, spent a season Heli Skiing in Canada, spent plenty of time rockclimbing at Ara

I'm in two minds about service in Japan. I go to the same seicomart every morning on the way to work and generally am served by the same people every morning. Each time I am greeted by the familiar "Irashaimase" which is nice enough but the last year or so you would think maybe they could strike up a little more familiarity. How about a 'how are you?', 'looks like a nice day today', 'are you busy?', etc. I often ask these questions of them but they never ask me. Also every morning they ask me if I want a straw with my iced coffee even though for the last year or so I have always said no to thi

ASB I reckon as long as you're happy and relatively stress free you'll live longer and healthier than those skinny buggers who stress over every calorie.

At the base of Niseko you are looking at about -10 to -2 (night/day) in the cooler months. On the upper mountain something like -17 to -12. Not exactly sure how this compares to Europe but let's just say it's cold enough for some incredible snow quality. The main thing is that Niseko receives 14+m of snow per season which is far in excess of most European resorts. Of course Europe has real mountains though unlike Niseko.

I really do fail to understand the Japanese attitude to off-piste skiing. I mean this is not a country with litigation problems so there's no real financial risk to the resorts. They really seem to go a bit overboard on some safety issues at times like what other country on earth has maximum speed limits on most roads of only 50km/h? But then kids seem to be able to jump around the backseat of a car or you see passengers holding a young child in their arms in the front seat which has got to be some of the most ridiculously dangerous practices around. No matter how long I live here I doubt I'll

Originally Posted By: me jane Highly unlikely there will be a cure in 30 years but you could always offer yourself up for medical research. I wouldn't say that "most Japanese smoke" but a fair number do and whether to make all bars no smoking or not is something lots of people feel strongly about. These days I think they should all be no smoking. Five years ago I wouldn't have cared either way as long as they still sold beer! Me Tarzan runs a bar and he is very anti smoking ban (in Japan), despite quitting himself a few years ago. Ok maybe I exagerated on the 'most japanese' bi