snowdude
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Posts posted by snowdude
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Mostly by my first name as I prefer that and always told people to address me by my first name.
I have one Japanese colleague who always call me by my surname even though I have told him many times in the past that calling me by my first name is fine. Maybe because he is in his 60's and a typical Japanese business man I guess.
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Looks like this backs up what I said a couple of days ago!
Originally Posted By: grungy-gonadsI predict that there will be an earthquake of more than magnitude 5 in somewhere between Shizuoka and Tochigi before 30th November 2008.I ADVISE THAT YOU TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY AND TAKE ALL NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS.
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Tokyo is supposed to get hit by a big quake in Aug or more likely Sep this year, although I hope that is wrong!
I think it doesn't matter where in Japan you are no where is immune to quakes here.
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Yep felt it right down here in Tokyo, made my house shake for a good 20 seconds or more.
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I am used to it!!! Well used to it!!!But it still doesn't mean I have to love it. I am from a cold country, and July and Aug to me suck simple as that!
Originally Posted By: thursday.if you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen.Heat, tropical humidity.... life. Get used to it.
You take the rough with the smooth.
October is still THE month for me.
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I use FF3, it's brilliant, very fast not had a problem with any sites not opening. What I like is the quick access icons that you can set up as soon as you open the browser. I have 20 of my favourite web sites all displayed as miniature versions of the actual ones. Just one click to open any page and they open instant.
I used to use Opera and that had the same function but could only store nine pages, ff is good for up to 45 I think.
I changed to FF once ff3 came out because the latest Opera sucks, it is not compatible with anything and so slooooooooooooow now, some how they have f+**-? it up!
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Bag of crisps I have to say I agree with you in a lot of ways. Our houses are exactly that our houses and like you if I caught someone outside photographing my house I would most definitely shove there camera where the sun doesn't shine closely followed by my size 12 boot up their arse.
Now I know anyone who walks by my house can see the outside, that is fine, but photographing it in 3D for all the world to see without asking me now that is another thing.
Photographing the street is fine as it is a public place, but a house is not a public place, and google are actually in violation or personal privacy rights.
Now I have used the google search tool to view places, but as of yet none of the images are clear enough to recognise clearly to determine whose house it is. I think that is clear enough and not in violation of peoples privacy. If I start to find a nice clear 3D pic of my house turning up on google then I will have something to say about that for sure.
I think it comes down to the fact that some of us expect our house to be our one place of privacy that we can enjoy with our families, once that personal space becomes available for everyone it is no longer a personal space.
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Any month except July and August, can't stand these two months.
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I thought it was actually illegal to carry a knife at any age in the UK without a proper reason, but not sure, as I have never carried a knife never thought about it. When I was a teenager no one carried knives, if we had any disputes we would fight knock the crap out of each other and that would be it.
There have always been some street gangs even when I was a child and I lived in a small rural town, but no one carried knives.
Most of the statistics for knife crimes are related to a few areas of the UK, mainly certain parts of London, which is not mentioned, making it seem like all of England and wales is like this.
None the less the world is fast becoming a screwed up place to live in, wouldn't it be nice for the whole world to live in peace, oh no I am dreaming again....!
Originally Posted By: MantasWhen I was growing up in Newcastle (Aus), there sure were plenty of street fights going on on Friday and Saturday nights but never did I hear of anyone getting stabbed. These days street fight can easily end with someone being stabbed, and not neccessarily by a knife. A broken glass or bottle will do the trick as well.BTW Australian kids under 16 ??? Are not permitted by law to carry a knife on their persons. Is it the same in the UK?
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Nope, wouldn't want to touch something that smelt no matter how nice it looked.
Anyway my wife is better looking than Rio Natsume so wouldn't be interested in her anyway, regardless!
Originally Posted By: bobby12Would you be able to put up with it if she looked like, say, Rio Natsume? -
Exactly, what I was on about! Without such a base the whole house is just going to go walk about that's for sure.
All of the latest houses also have a shock absorption system built into the base foundations too, to minimise the shaking affect.
Originally Posted By: soubriquetThis is what footings should be in earthquake country. When the concrete is poured, it makes an inverted mushroom, buried 1m deep. The four bolts pass through the base structure and hold it down.
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It is not just smelly men, but also smelly woman.
I once worked in an office back in the UK, where we had a woman in her 20's at the time who absolutely pen and inked!
As soon as you opened the office door you could smell her, it was awful, really bad BO, she new it and the managers told her, but I guess it was her bodies character, because she said she always washed and everyday wore different clothes. But damn it was bad, I had to hold my breath every time I went in there, luckily she quit in the end.
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Great to see someone build their own log house which is something I intend doing eventually.
What is very worrying is the lack of foundations, those logs are just resting on a few blocks, without a proper solid concrete base that house is going to move for sure.
This type of foundation maybe ok in a non earthquake country, but in Japan no way.
Also the blocks look to be set straight down onto unprepared ground? if so a few heavy downpours could be enough to move the house as the blocks begin to sink unevenly into the ground.
At the very least the foundation below the blocks needs to be solid.
The whole house should have been built and fixed to a solid concrete base and ideally with some sort of shock absorption.
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Of course black!
Originally Posted By: thursday.but is your fone black or is it girlie white? -
I don't need to get real!!! I can assure you it is about making money, but yes it probably also goes towards booting out the riff-raff too.
Originally Posted By: thursday.it's a way to throw gaijins out of their country when and where they please. Get real, it ain't about money. -
Not sure what all the rage is about this new phone, that some where silly enough to queue outside for four days.
I still got my nearly two year old AU phone with the following functions all of which I use :
One seg TV = Free
PC site viewer, yes I use the sukaihoudai service of course, not ready to go bankrupt just yet! = Fixed monthly fee even if I use it 24hrs a day.
Of course e-mail and c-mail as all phones have anyway again free!
Keitai saifu, very handy where stores accept it.
Fm radio
GPS Free!
MP3 type music player, can easily download any music from my computer for free, that I already have, so no need to pay anymore. = Free to use and install music
2mb camera, crap compared to the latest 5m cams in some phones but never the less it is still quite clear.
Video player
Microsoft word, excel, publisher, power point viewer, so can view my microsoft files on my phone like on a pc
Yahoo messenger = free of course
And of course bar code reader software as all phones have got plus the usual bunch of other things like a dictionary, alarms, schedulers and all those other bits that is loaded onto all phones nowadays.
So unless my phone breaks or I f;:+ it up I can't really see me rushing to get that I-phone thing.
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It sucks for sure, but yeah it is right I have a permanent residence visa, but I still got to renew it every three years.
My guess is it is just another way for the Japanese government to screw more money out of us foreigners to help pay for their posh suits and nice business trips!
Originally Posted By: the snowboarding vicarWhat is the official reason for this regular payment? It seems rather strange that people with permanent visas have to get that every three years. -
Until I came to Japan I had never tried skiing, often did skating which I liked, I first tried it about nine years ago in Nagano, loved it and have been hooked ever since.
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And as you choose to challenge me, my personal experience of a Suzuki Eskudo was it was totally buggered. A couple of Poms had hired one and attempted to take it through a water crossing in Bridgetown WA. It got no-where. Neither in nor out, and I gave a lift in my Alfa Romeo Guilietta to the crestfallen to Bridgetown for a tow out.
Well not sure about your experience of an escudor, but I have not had any problems with it, not driven it through a river of course, but I have been through both deep snow and deep mud and got in and out fine. Like any 4wd there is a limit, if you go beyond its limit it will get stuck for sure no matter how good it is.
I used to ride suzuki motorbikes too, had a GSK600 sports 750 retro RF900, were all good bikes.
Basically I like Suzuki cars and bikes because I think you get a lot for the money, maybe suzuki don't come with as many fancy bits and pieces, but for those who don't mind a little more basic they are good for the money and the quality is good, well at least I haven't had any problems so far.
I think at the end of the day it all comes down to what we like or don't like, I guess people will argue here till there blue in the face and still not agree on what car is good bad.
My experience of the escudor is due to nearly 70,000+ks of driving in all weather and road conditions.
Just a note I have also driven the Jimny 650 turbo and I have to say it is a great little car, the biggest problem is you can get sod all luggage in it, so not good if you plan on lugging lots of snow gear and boards/skis around in it.
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Wow this takes me back, I remember my first computer a ZX81 and then my next was a commodore 64k, at the time I thought they were so cool.
I had pacmam, 3d dinosaur maze or something, and some other games like that.
I still got both computers sitting in the loft at my parents house somewhere.
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Can't believe it I have been busy and not been on here much recently, now I see this useless thread I started has reached 25 pages, wow how useless!
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Well I drive a suzuki Escudo 4wd 2000cc and got nothing but praise for it.
I bought it nearly new with only 8k on it now done close to 80k's and never put a spanner to it, just regular oil/ filter change and servicing.
Every winter I drive through snow off road and on road and just about everywhere, with the winter tyres and 4wd mode it is good for 30+cm deep snow.
Problem is it is a bit thirsty especially around town or if you use 4wd, but not too bad if you use it on 2wd crusing on a motorway.
It is built to last I was told, even if you rolled it you could still drive it home ok.
Although the escudor will do 180 on a motorway if you really push it, it is no performance car beater, and you will find it is not easy to really whiz it round mountain roads very quickly due to its hight and short wheel base.
If you want a car for burning round corners forget about escudor or jimny, but if you want a car for going off road or plowing through quite deep snow then I don't think you will get better especially for the price.
Only thing is of course the escudor does like drinking petrol due to its weight.
Also on the suzuki escudor and I think jimney too all four wheels drive together, where by some 4wd's have split dif, which is no good as it allows the wheels to turn independantly, meaning you will soon get stuck.
Another point to note is ground clearance, why my car is good in deep snow is because of high ground clearance.
Some standard family saloons with 4wd will soon bottom out in even fairly shallow snow due to lack of ground clearance, what happens as you are moving forward the snow is gradually compacting under the car, if you don't have a lot of ground clearance before long it will lift the car and you end up with 4 wheels floating in the snow which = Stuck!
Ok just my 2 cents
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Welcome to snow Japan, I have been down to Iwakuni, nice area, shame the snake bridge got damaged by a storm not so long ago, hope they fix it up, then you can see what it looks like, or have they already repaired it.
Anyway you in a good place here for info and making friends.
Have fun!
Originally Posted By: Roadstar_RiderHello everyone. My name is Brad. My wife and I have recently moved to Japan and we will be here for the next 3 years. I have been out of skiing for a long time but really got back into it last winter while I was in California. Since I spent so much money on rentals, I decided to buy a brand new set of ski's and continue skiing in Japan. Can anyone recommend to me some good places in japan to ski? I am in the Yamaguchi prefecture and I don't mind traveling several hours if I have to. If there is anyone in the area please let me know, I would like to meet up sometime. -
This thread is getting more useless by the day, now 11 pages of uselessness, lol!
I wonder if we've just lost one of the SJ crowd.
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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One or two of the resorts here in Japan has the same kind of lift where people hold on and are pulled up, but they are slow and the slopes are short, also only one person at a time holds the bar not four, actually good fun to be pulled up by it on skis I tried it once, but maybe if you are going at speed it would not be so good, if you happen to let go and slide backwards.