mrbrisbane

Hmmmm - It's an imteresting point that anyone doing anything different outs the - "why don't you get a real ..... car, skis, boat, job, house etc etc " ststed most vocally by those who generally have little experience with anything but what they are familiar with.

Well there would seem to be better snow in Summertime Japan than at Mt Hotham on opening weekend. There is more in my fridge!

Not sure about in Japan - But in australia (US Canada etc) you can set up on on line trading account which links to a nominated bank account. The benefit is that you can then see (with a 20 minute delay) exactly what the market is doing, and buy and sell shares for significantly cheaper brokerage - generally about $25 - $ 30 as opposed to $80-100 per trade from a full service broker. I don't think I can mention specific here but if you google any of the major Australian Banks - eg Westpac, ANZ, Commonwealth and then go to their website - they will have an "investing" button. Click o

Go to Africa say Namibia and live like a local - you'll lose weight.

hot tip for the year - BUY share in established Australian mining or mine service companies. whatever you can spare and you will see over the next 1-5 yrs at least solid gains and some spectacular ones as well.

That is for green car resrved seats ?

So now that you have ignited and seen the whole Thredbo V Perisher in Japan Thread - like both of the Oz places the snow will be pretty much the same so it comes down to Terrain and other factors. 1 Most important - do whatever you have to to extend your trip to at least 7 days and preferably much longer. We usually go at Xmas (school holidays) and find that having 3-4 weeks just makes it so much nicer - snow a bit dodgy - do something else for the day. Few ppl can cope with the travel and be 100% the next day so time to ease in and out of your skis is a really good investment. Wh

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi#ROUTE1 From what i can see, the fare for unreserved seats is 4640 yen

You need to look up hyperdia for train fares - my memory of the shink fare from Nagoya was under 5000yen and my research is tending to confirm that Narita to Nagano is about the same. Did you have a disaster with hotelclub?

Well, now that you have heard from ppl who express their bigotry let me share some real life experience with you - Short skis/ snowblades, skiboards are legitimate devices but do have some limitations that you need to be aware of - 1. For shear jump on and go they are great - If you can roller blade you can use them - same techniques etc. 2. On icy or hard packed they are great, big side cut and short length makes them very responsive 3. Moguls are fun - little air bounce or jib turn suit yourself 4. Park play - so good - so easy - just go big enough to get past the mess tha

Shenzen ( Shenzhen) is the new mainland China manufacturing wonderland close to Hong Kong. If it isn't made there it's a fair bet the stuff it is made from is. But if you really want Burton or Billabong etc - part of why you want it is because of the controlled marketing and that adds up to buying it all through standard retail channels.

Being a somewhat savvy shopper, I have found that there are bargains to be had in Japan - mainly in the following - 1. No name or similar, kids stuff that is good for 8-12 yrs who will grow out of it quickly Just go to the Jusco, Aeon etc 2. Last season stuff, esp if you can get amongst New year sales - they go sort of silly at New Year. 3. Competitive prices in the big sports barns out in the burbs, but you could easily blow the savings on getting there. 4. Funnily enough little resort ski shops often have some super bargains but don't rely on it as again it will generally be end

So did you do the car or train? We were there in January - actually did Hakuba first then Nozawa, and funnily enough missed mobility in Nozawa rather than Hakuba - where we did a lot of walking and enjoyed it. Whilst in Nozawa a car to do some side trips would have been an enjoyable distraction. There were 4 of us - Mum-Dad +2 K and certainly the trains/buses were very workable. This year we are doing Nozawa (confidence building terrain) then Shiga Kogen, and I must say a car is tempting, but as pointed out earlier the rental cost alone, for something that sits idle most of the time

We found that you could survive pretty adequately almost solely on Master card / Visa card - Cirrus was definately a help. Amex and Diners would see you stranded. Interestingly different cards like the round corner Virgin Card cause major probs in Post office teller machines. In my experience, and perhaps it is just the two types of card that my wife and I have, cheapest cash was to get cash advance from a teller machine at the Post office - exchange rate is whatever it is on the day with very nominal fees (less, I think than doing a cash advance from a non bank ATM here at home) The 7-11

We did the whole Tokyo Disney thing 2 years ago, and have family doing it this year - and - If you are happy to be out at the Bay (near Disney - funny that!) The Disney Partner hotels are hard to beat. Last time I looked they were like 15,000 JPY nite for a family room - Queen + 2 singles with own bathroom and tea and coffee, small fridge etc. Very typical midrange western motel room. Palm Court was the one we stayed at - and if you are doing the Disney thing they are excellent with free shuttle to the Parks (and train) Seeing that you are from Brisbane too, I would be happy to exchange tips

Hey freerider, I would be keen to hear how you went with this. We are going to Nozawa then Shiga and are seriously considering a taxi as no other quick option seems to present itself. Another thing that I am trying on for size is to find some local who wants to go for a drive. Would also be keen to hear any other opinions that you have about Shiga and what the pitfalls are.