Ezorisu

Conifers (pines) are not your friend.

Great thread! As someone with both Hawaii and Okinawa connections, anything "Spam" touches my heart (and not in the form of a cardiac arrest).

I hadn't been there before in all the years I've been travelling back and forth to Sapporo. At Creek Boy's urging, I finally made it there last season. It's actually very nice. There's a lot of terrain to explore up at Teine Highland. I never even went down to Teine Olympia. I think Olympia is less steep, since it is further down the mountain (someone correct me if I'm mistaken). As you're going up the main lift to the upper part of the mountain, you'll see all kinds of interesting areas below the lift line. Up top, there is an authorized sidecountry area, but depending on the condition

Both Teine and Kiroro are good day trips. The Niseko run takes so long that by the time you get there, you don't have much riding time before the return bus leaves for Sapporo. If it's deep, Kiroro can be fun, but there are a lot of flats leading back to the base, so you'll have to find a nice place deep inside and session one lift. The lift layout isn't the best. If it's been sunny/warm for a couple of days before, I'd lean toward Teine. If you're taking train/bus to Teine, wear all your riding gear and put your board/skis in a minimal bag, since the shuttle bus from JR Teine is reall

2010/2011 season DC Status dual BOA. I've got wide feet, and DC's seem to fit me fine. Not sure if that helps or not. The new DC Alpha liner is perforated on the sides and above the toes, so they don't get as steamy/funky in spring/fall ridng as my previous DC dual Boa boots (Allegiance?). For all the money that snowboard boots cost, you'd figure they's throw in a Gore-Tex liner considering you can find that feature on sub-$150 USD hiking boots.

Don't do it! I haven't been to Onze at this time of year, but it looks pretty dire just driving past.

That region is home to the Lop Nur nuclear weapon test area, so it probably has something to do with that. Not like I really know anything about things like that... must have heard it somewhere...

Nice (as always)! I like the signpost at the summit.

Nice pictures! Looks like a serene place to decompress from work. Problem is leaving to go back to work after lunch!

That's a long drive. Sunny today = say goodbye to the snow.

I might have some free time around Christmas weekend to head up that way, but I'm not really sure how my schedule is going to pan out. I may only be able to hit the Sapporo-area snow resorts if I only have a day or two open.

After typhoon #15 passed, there was some light dusting of snow in the temperature drop following the mitigation of latent heat in the region, but of course, all that snow melted soon after. There was a little dip in the temperature last night that along with a system passing to the Northeast resulted in a light dusting of snow in the upper elevations of the Nihon-kai facing parts of Southwest Hokkaido (Nakayama-touge, Kiroro/Sapporo Kokusai), but I don't expect that to linger through the week if the temperature bumps up as forecast. Hit the snooze button again and check back next week.

Whoa - I just misread the title of this thread as "Chinese Fondue"! Probably from reading the "Chinese morals or lack thereof" thread.

Onsen are bad for you? Oh no!

There are fewer nearby snow areas adjacent to Asahikawa than Sapporo - probably will need to drive/bus a little further. The trade-off will be fewer people and possibly better snow conditions. If your priority is night life, definitely Sapporo. If it's a week on snow someplace other than Niseko, Furano might be the better bet. Most snow areas near Sapporo have a fairly lax off-piste policy, just so long as you don't enter roped-off safety zones (like under lifts) or closed designated off-piste areas.

HI Melanie, Anime is good for you.

Finally got mine! Cutting it a bit close there.

One of the crew who I regularly ride with used to ride Flow bindings over about three model generations. He used to tout the speed getting in and out, but he was still the last one to get moving after getting off the lift, reaching the top of the bootpack, etc. Could all be user-related though. He did have similar "stuck in" issues like Mamabear had. He switched back to strap bindings last season and probably won't go back. He said the strap-style bindings held his boots more firmly against the baseplates so there was a noticable increase in edging ability and board responsiveness. Again,

Newcastle isn't great, but it isn't terrible. If someone was going to give me some, I wouldn't reject their offer!

Originally Posted By: Geeh I think lots of the gaijin execs living in their luxury bubble lifestyle simply aren't really interested in Japan. It's as if they are not here, just taking advantage of all those lovely perks they get living in a world that isn't real. They're almost like a rank below Fairweather Friends. Good riddens I say. I think you hit the nail on the head there!

Originally Posted By: bobby12 The bigger problem for Japan is relocation of factories to mainland asia (to reduce risk from tsunami etc), this will take a few years to kick in but it is going to lead to a lot of unemployment, and also make it hard for factories that stay in Japan to compete due to reduced availability of shipping and raw materials etc. It just seems like one problem after another for Japans economy, is there ever any good news? The migration of manufacturing facilities and manufacturing jobs to "mainland Asia" (The PRC) is primarily due to cheap labor and reduced oper

Yeah, exhaust pipe bad! Intake/air filter bad too. That's where that "floating" part exacerbates the issue - as the car begins to float, since the engine up front is heavier than the back of the car, the rear of the car starts floating first, so as the car tilts the intake gets submerged and water flows downhill from the exhaust pipe toward the engine. Of course having the interior get wet with the resultant stinky carpet and seat fabric can suck too!

Ouch!

Definitely could have been worse. You're usually good up until the car starts floating - that's when water starts getting into all the "bad" places.

Pictures please!