coldcat

Mizuho is by far my favourite around there. it's in shimane prefecture, less than an hour from hiroshima city. Then you have Geihoku in Hiroshima pref which is also good.　There are also a number of small resorts in Hiroshima pref like Nekoyama,etc ... I have never tried doing backcountry in that part of Japan.

It's forbidden in order to protect the plants that grow there. You can only ski or board during the winter months. At least that's what I read on their website a while ago.

Thanks Oyuki. Glad you liked it.

Originally Posted By: SJForums (I do of course realise that a select few people seem to want to make a fuss about things like this, here's hoping you aren't one of them!) Thank you, Not one of them.

Okay, I don't know if posting this link will fit with the rules and policy of the forums, but I do think that it's quite related to the topic and of general interest to everyone who likes snowboarding and noboarding. Noboarding still lives in Japan, but it lived in Turkey too, 150 years ago! You can read the full article here with some really cool pics too. Hope you enjoy and hope it doesn't get deleted

Snowdude, are you denying Global Warming?! You sure are brave to write such a thing on this forum. I have given up, tired of people arguing with me. This is a very sensitive topic for some and they take it as if you are trying to deny their god.

People shouldn't get excited/pessimistic with a 3 month forecast whether it's snowdude who does it, or the pope himself. It's just too far ahead.

By the way, answering your questions. The first one is obvious if you study a little of metereology as its a well known fact. The second one, yes I know how some of those models work cos I have worked with them in the past as a volunteer (my field is computer science). (If you want to know more details we can talk with private messages, as I wouldn't like to say anything else about me in a public forum.) Peace.

I do not have a degree on metereology and I'm no scholar if that's what you are asking. I am sorry you got the false impression that I am trying to look like a proffesional metereologist. I've done a few courses on metereology, yes. But that doesn't make me a professional or scholar. I do know a small bit about GW cos I've been interested in it for many years. I just express my views, and as far as I remember have never claimed they are the undeniable truth.

Originally Posted By: Go Native coldcat Hokkaido is most of the country as far as I'm concerned and the only part I care about snow conditions That's exactly what I thought, you live in Hokkaido and you sure are pretty lucky to do Anyway,unfortunately, they don't have a record of the long term predictions they do each year at the JMA site, although it'd be interesting in order to be able to compare them with the actual data to see how accurate or not accurate they are. In any case, we have to be satisfied with our memory and what I remember and you remember seems to be different.

Anyway, I'd just like to advise people not to stress too much about weather. Like many people have said in this post it's impossible to predict weather accurately. Professionals say the threadshold from which you can start speaking of reliable prediction is 3 days in advance. Anything else has a lot of magic and very little science. Moreover, my experience tells me that we can't speak of cold or warm winters in Japan, rather some years December is cold, January average and february warm, or any other combination. For example, last year January and February was colder than average, and March wa

Even not so great years in terms of snowfall, are great compared to most resorts outside Japan. Everything from Nagano area looking north gets a sheer amount of snow and powder even in bad years compared to resorsts in Europe, Australia o New Zealand.

couldn't agree more.

GoNative, average temperatures for most of the country??? Either we are looking at different maps or your "most of"-concept is quite different from what I would normally mean by "most of". As I understand this map, it actually says warmer than average for everything except for Hokkaido and Northerm Japan and that's what most people will understand by seing the map of japan in red. Then if you look at the numbers, there's the same chance (40%) of having a warm winter than a normal winter which it's like saying nothing at all so that's why it's ridiculous. By they way, every

I agree with skidaisuki, JMA forecasts and the percentage thing they have going on are ridiculous. In fact, for as far as I remember all their forecasts are alwasy for warmer than normal winter temperatures and less than average snowfalls, and that hasn't been the story always. Unless they are comparing with the especially cold winters of the 70s I don't understand why always they say warmer than normal. Well, maybe I do understand but this is not the place to go into political debates ;-) At the end of the day, nobody can predict the weather with any degree of accuracy as of today.

If the JMA is to be trusted Hokkaido, Aomori, Niigata and Nagano will have a more-less normal winter, and the rest of Japan a slightly warm one. As for snowfall the same. This is in their Winter forecast, and it's still very early to say.

I am sorry but I can't help to see some global warming activists as religious fanatics who never question the postulates of their ideology. I guess it's just me.

Sorry Oyuki, I didn't realise that there was already a discussion about it. I myself am quite skeptical about the whole man-made global warming issue so after I saw the video I was quite excited to show it to everyone. Anyway the scientist you talk about is not the only scientist in the video, for example there is the director of the international artic research center who is Japanese, think his name is akasofu something, and who is quite against man-made climatic change. I feel the film was picked on just for being against the main views on global warming prevalent on the media now.

A different view: Global Warming Documentary Video

BP, I understand, but some people started to call him troll and stuff... I was like what??? Maybe they were just joking, and I just missed it.

I kind of agree with Thursday. I can't say about the offensive part because apparently it has been edited, but about what he is denouncing I completely agree. And it is true that ski resorts struggle to pay for the costs. More so in Japan where there are so many ski resorts. If you are an honest person you pay for your ticket, whether you can cheat or not. Regardless of whether you are honest or not, if you care about skiing or snowboarding you will want to pay, as you wouldn't want your favourite resort closing down because of bankruptcy. I agree that it is also the resorts'

Not too much actually. Check ANA website. It costed me 14000yen(one way) from Western Japan which is much more far away from Hokkaido than Tokyo. Depends when you are traveling and that stuff. Also the sooner you book the more chances to find a cheap deal. Yes, there is a shinkansen (bullet train) to Hokkaido as far as I know. I don't know about the prices from Tokyo though. Hope it helps.

BushPig, actually, I might be there on Monday. Weather forecast says snow Fri,Sat,Sun,Mon and continuing as far as the forecast goes, so maybe Mon will be a good day. So far it's not bad at all. All courses are open. Last time I was there the snow in Kokusai was powdery in some places and hard-packed in other. Mind you, that was 2 weeks ago, I didn't bother going last week as it was crazily warm so I supposed the snow must have gone through a freeze-thaw process. Anyhow, they've managed to keep all the courses open, and if the snow falls this weekend it should be quite good on Monday. I hope

about 20 times. 10 days in Hokkaido. 10 days in Daisen. I even got some pow day in Daisen, off-piste of course. Conditions are not as great as other years I guess, but if you think positively and feel thankful for whatever little you have you can enjoy a lot.

When I was there earlier this month, the locals were saying that there hadn't been a season with so little snow in 15 years. However, when I look at the daily reports here in SJ for December '03 & January '04, there was less snow that year than this year. In 2003, Januray 23rd report says they had 230cm, today's report says 280cm. What do the locals mean when they say there hasn't been a season like this in 15 years?