Big Dogg

My apologies for the previous post. I guess I was misinformed! My buddy, who's wife is a teacher told me that business about her being able to take a couple of years off work for child rearing purposes. I found one site that quoted just a matter of weeks. http://wom-jp.org/e/infoJAPAN/maternity1.html Come to think of it now, I recall conversations with female teachers at my work. I was kind of shocked to hear they have two-year-olds at home and they work like 80 hour weeks!! The time that they get to actually spend time with other family members seemed restricted to Sundays. That

"why don't they offer some cash incentives?" I can't recall the specifics...but I think (at least) government workers get paid leave during and after pregnancy for like 3 years. The first year pays almost full salary and it drops lower each year after. Also, I think the woman's job is held for them for 3 years. Does anyone know the exact numbers? IF this is the case, it might not be so bad to have some kids... Frank, you could be a door-to-door salesman

Hey guys- Cameras: I am having a hard time finding a decent camera for use on the slopes. Any suggestions? I am hard on things and my digital camera ($500 US) just broke recently. Now, I am looking to buy a sports digital camera with most standard features, esp. video. I really want to find one that has a rubber body (shock proof if possible) and at least water resistant. The camera will get dropped down the stairs a few times and it will probably get dropped in the snow or in the toilet, on occasion. Any help is much appreciated!!!

Aaahh, sorry I got you guys mixed up. I liked reading about YOUR exp., Kumapix (I did actually read it!)... but, I was multi-tasking at the time - a beer in one hand and...

Dizzy - 1. Why not earn my turns? I expected that one - see my previous post. 2. There are plenty of Japanese outfits: Please hook up any links that you know to those outfits. My Japanese probably isn't good enough to do technical training like the avy course, but definetely good enough to go on a tour. Sorry, I didn't clarify that. Kumapix - 1. I read about the avy course from tsondaboy's last post. About what I'd expect, but it sounded good! 2. I feel the same way about the heliboarding thing. In my experience it was for rich tourists. The helicopter ride was fun,

Looks like SerreChe has you covered there. A little off topic but, Kijimadaira has a ski-paragliding school on their slopes. It's kind of a useless resort otherwise.

Hey TB thanks for the info! It was cool to read about your experience taking the avy course. Don't worry I'll be doing as much "riding" as I can. Just a little worried about the powder day conflicts of interest! Anyways, there wasn't any info. on the evergreen site about HOW they get up the hill. I was told that you take the lift up and go shoeing from there. Do you know about any other kinds of outfits around here. Any heli, cat, or snowmobile type services?? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE hiking, but when there's POW, I'm greedy and feel guilty if I'm not gettin' the vert or if I even

cheers for that! ps- got no couch, no TV, just an itchin' for POW!

Hey Guys Been around Japan for a while, but I am new on the forums. I am used to snowboarding in the States (preferably steep and deep through the trees) and as such found the resorts here REALLY disappointing on several fronts. It seems that there's a lot of great terrain around (Nagano), just doesn't seem to be at many of the resorts. *ANYWAYS, DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON BACKCOUNTRY GUIDED TOURS AROUND THE NAGANO AREA?* I am pretty much interested in any and all means of getting up the hill, so long as it takes me to the goods. Also, I am hoping to be doing some shoeing

Thanks. I figured the response would be something simple like that. I thought maybe it was to keep people from falling asleep or to make people feel more comfortable being OUTSIDE....

I agree with you all about the music. Better music or NO MUSIC would be great, BUT what I want to know is WHY? Any ideas about why there's music all over most of the resorts?