tripitaka
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Posts posted by tripitaka
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Who would have thought this project would have been possible after the global financial crisis and the property crash? Personally I wouldn't pay those prices in Japan but I guess this is targeted towards the Australian market where property investment is still seen as a no-brainer.
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Osaka is pretty bad in my opinion for snow sports retailing, but the sale they have at Osaka Dome is apparently the largest of its kind in the world. It seems to me that most people buy a "package deal" for their kit and perhaps head to the mountain once or twice a season.
Anyway, I think Spotaka in Shinsabashi (Osaka) is not bad, and many of the suburban strip malls have sports stores where you can pick up gear.
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I think someone mentioned it on here, but I don't know in detail, so that's why I am asking. I think it is suitable for many people (if it exists).
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Originally Posted By: orinocoCorrect, I think it's the shotoku or whatever it's called. Other than that and special toll roads all the main expressways take part. triptaka I see is in Osaka.
Yeah, that's what I wanted to check out. I imagine the kanjou-sen (a city loop) in Osaka is out and it's only for the main trunk lines. -
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Thanks Rach,
So it doesn't have to be a return trip? If I got on the expressway at Sat 1:00 a.m. and exited at Sat 6:00 a.m., I get charged 1000 yen. If I return in 7 days time, I pay 1000 yen for the return trip.
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Does anyone know about these or have any information?
1. Can I used them at all resorts?
2. Are they transferable?
3. How are they timed? If I only ski for an hour, am I only clocked for an hour or is there a minimum time charge?
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Does anyone have a link to information on the 1000 yen ETC tolls (Japanese OK).
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Originally Posted By: Go NativeTell you what though if they haven't already booked they better get onto soon as we are starting to get pretty damned full from xmas through to end of Chinese New Year. Xmas/New Year pretty much at full capacity and CNY hardly even a studio left.
Good for you GN. I just got my accommodation booked for the whole season up in Hakuba. -
Originally Posted By: Go NativeHaven't noticed any sudden big increase in enquiries from Aus but quite a few who've already booked are requesting we take the final balance now whilst the exchange is good. Overall though enquiries and bookings have been very strong recently. There's certainly a hell of a lot more people coming to Niseko this season than last.
GN, it's all in their favor and the chances are that the yen can weaken against all currencies (which will boost the AUD even further). They might be getting the property bug again as well.
It's good to have them throwing their money around to keep the locals happy (as long as they behave). -
Anyone notice the Aussie dollar has sky-rocketed of late. This is good for the ski industry. And seeing that the global recession has barely touched OZ/NZ, it could be a bumper season for foreign visitors.
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Anyone know about how to get the 50-hour passes? I've never heard of them and I've spent plenty of time up at G/47. How about Happo? They have the same deal?
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Yeah, the met service maps look promising.
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Originally Posted By: nuejam'Foreigners' overrun with misconceptions of the orient invade Niseko looking for a past that was never there -- meanwhile Nozawa tourists ignore the hypermaterialistic present of Japanese cultural arbiters, young people modeling the latest snowboard gear and snow wear, and see instead the fictitious reality half of their own making half a marketing campaign directed towards urbanized youth fed off of soda-pop dreams of nostalgia.
Next time I visit Australia I'll be sure to post some nasty comment asking why it is that a country with aboriginal culture whored itself out to the international opera community instead of fighting the good fight alongside the Mennonites and the Amish. Why oh why did they adopt a hackneyed offshoot of English culture when they cannot even get the accent right!? It's a shame they didn't stay in the Bush, oh those romantic noble savages!
I thought most of the foreigners looking for Madam Butterfly and samurai go to Kyoto. As for the Aussies, did you ever see the movie 'Bondi Tsunami' where a group of young, sexy Japanese go and fetishize Aussie surf culture? I thought it was a good movie. -
Originally Posted By: skidaisukisnowboarder101 - it's a very friendly place and from my experience, there's always a mixed and welcoming crowd staying there. A lot of resident and visiting gaijin, and some Japanese as well.
Escal Plaza, which is the main lift base for Goryu, is about 10 minutes walk up the road from Hakuba Alps Backpackers. It is walkable, but if you want to conserve your energy for the slopes, you can either catch a passing resort bus (they are free) or possibly get a lift up from the owners. Goryu connects to Hakuba 47 close to the top of the lifts - 47 has a park and is quite boarder-oriented.
Happo is a 15 minute drive away, further down the valley, so not that close, but again, usually someone's heading over there in the morning and you can catch a lift.
Enjoy Hakuba.
The nearest train station is five mins walk if you want to go to Hakuba station and catch the shuttle to Happo. Also, talk to the owners if you want to go to the family resort, San-Osaka, as they will hook you up with a discount pass that includes a shuttle to the station. -
J@pan Inc Newsletter
The 'JIN' J@pan Inc Newsletter
A weekly opinion piece on social, economic and political trends
in Japan.
Issue No. 491 Wednesday November 19, 2008, Tokyo
As the winter sets in and thoughts turn to either staying inside(onsen) or going outside (skiing), tourism operators in Japan must be looking at the strength of the yen with dismay. Some of them anyway, a recent survey was widely reported, stating that 70 percent of Japanese inn operators weren't interested in having foreign tourists. This was
probably due to the fact that most did well enough from domestic tradeor simply were uninterested in learning another language rather thanany more xenophobic reasons, as some commentators said.
But for Japanese operators geared towards foreign tourists, such as those inTokyo and Hokkaido, the yen is looking increasingly scary. According to reports the number of foreign tourists in September was already down 7 percent compared to the same time last year. Not since avian flu hit Asia, has Japan seen such a large percentage drop. Areport carried in the Hokkaido Shimbun and quoted in the Japan Times
said that most of the drop came from a loss of visitors from Korea and Taiwan.
Bookings at Niseko in Hokkaido are also down as the Australian
dollar continues to flounder. This morning it was worth about 62 yen.Remember that a few months back it was up past 100yen. Australian surfers are probably looking at breaks off Indonesia for their holidays now instead of swapping their surfboards for snowboards and heading to Hokkaido.
On October 1, the Japanese Tourism Agency (JTA) was created to boostthe number of foreign visitors to Japan. The agency, which set the ambitious goal of attracting 10 million visitors a year and 4.3trillion yen by 2010, has got off to a rocky start. Considering that last year 8 million people visited Japan spending 1.6 trillion yen, the agency has a lot of work ahead of it.
US tourists will also be looking elsewhere with currencies around the world plunging against the dollar. Today the dollar was worth 96 yen. Most analysts agree that the yen will remain strong or even strengthen while some are predicting the dollar will take a substantial dive down the track. So Europe and other cheaper destinations will be looking more and more attractive for those Americans who didn't lose their
houses in the subprime mess or the resulting disaster on Wall Street.
But Asia is the real market for Japanese tourism. Increasingly thestreets of Ginza have been crowded with cashed-up Chinese from the mainland keen to buy everything in their path. It has been reportedthat Chinese are bigger spenders than Japanese when it comes to the luxury goods that fill Ginza's flagship stores. As long as the yuan, struggles against the yen, Chinese tourists will be looking to more affordable locations in Asia or possibly Australia or Europe.
A recent Japan Times report mentioned that other factors than simplythe strength of the yen will also impact on tourism here. The JTA has so far been promoting tourism ambassadors such as Hello Kitty but a fundamental flaw in coordination between operators in Japan means thatthe nation remains behind other Asian nations who have spent decadeshoning their industries. For a nation that struggles in its grasp of
English, this can make travel for the average tourist more difficultthan other destinations. While the challenge of navigating a country using foreign phrases can in itself be attractive to the more intrepid tourist, your average mum and dad and two kids from Wisconsin may be turned off by this.
Of course the strong yen will have an exponentially larger impact onthe economy via industries such as manufacturing, but let's rememberthat there will be a lot of tourism operators out there feeling the pinch this winter too.
Michael Condon
Editor-in-chief
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It's very cool and the owners are very cool too. You're also nearby one of the best onsens in town.
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Originally Posted By: Endless WinterFor the money you spend on getting a shop to wax your board, you could use about the same amount and buy a kit and start learning to wax your board yourself. It's a bit of trial and error at first, but once you get the hang of it I would even infer you can do a better job than they do at the shop since you would spend more time with it and attention to detail. Last year I started a thread on this very top and 'samurai' gave me some invaluable advice. Here's a link to the thread:
http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/244481/Re_Wax_on_wax_off.html#Post244481
Cheers Endless. I watched a video on YouTube and it doesn't look too hard. -
While we're on the topic, I've seen wax solutions for snowboards that don't require an iron. What's the deal with these? Are they effective?　
Also, all of the shops I've been too in Osaka don't do a wax only. They want to do a whole service (obviously for more money).
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Originally Posted By: YappyOriginally Posted By: BirdmanOriginally Posted By: YappyHey there
Hope you're all good!!!!!
Looks like Lodge Tibi-Tibi is our accommodation choice for Feb. It's got its own park?!!
Anyone stayed here before??
Cheers, Yappy
It sounds cheap, but you pay extra for most things, like using the hot tub, towels and others. Heaters are turned off at night from all reports from others who have stayed.
You only get what you pay for.
Hey Birdman
Are you serious? They turn the heating off at night?? I'm prone to being more than a bit gullible so I’m going to take that with a pinch of salt.
On the onsen front, they said they have an onsen which we “are all free to useâ€, so I hope they don’t try to charge us for it once we get there!!!
No. it's not free; however, there is a very good onsen nearby that is probably cheaper to use. TabiTabi is clean, is run by good people; is war and and comfortable; and is close enough to Goryu. Not the best place if you hope to ski at Happo. -
Originally Posted By: Rag-DollOut of interest, roughly what does a week's trip to the snow in Japan cost from Aust? AUD5,000 pp?
It can't be far off. That to me is for the rich. -
Pagos,
I went on Saturday (but got in with help of a friend who was organizing) and bought a Flow board too! I went back on Monday around 4 p.m. and you could walk straight in. Still heaps of gear left, including bindings. I was hoping they were going to discount the 08-09 bindings but they didn't.
If you're hard up for cash, you could always check out B-SPORTS in Amagasaki, but it's not that cheap for used gear. If you can negotiate Yahoo Auctions etc, in Japanese, that's another good angle.
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Pagos,
You missed the sale at Osaka Dome last weekend. Heaps of Flow bindings. I bought some! I also think Spotaka's your best bet. The small specialist stores are good but pricey.
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Originally Posted By: MamabearMaybe not 69...
First up the majority of the fall out from this wont be this year as the majority of people have booked and paid in advance - they will just take the hit on the spending money. The cost increases will effect next season much more.
At that time some of the Niseko visitors might say ... hmmm we love Japan, we feel comfortable there now, yes prices have gone up too much with the excahnge rate situations for us to go again - but whoah hang on....some of the more tradtional resorts are cheaper for lift tix and food costs ... and a more traditional accomodation might be a nice change...
I would expect you will see some who would have stayed in Niseko moving to smaller resorts.
Might be wrong - been known to be!
Mama,
If I don't think I can afford it or am worried about the mortgage, skiing becomes a low priority. For most Aussie visitors, those are not issues because they are relatively wealthy people.
The Vale Niseko
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
I don't know Mama, I've never been to Niseko and I don't really know what kind of people go there. In the case of Hakuba, I think that high-end luxury accommodation experience is limited.
If it's not the Aussies in Niseko lapping up this luxury, who is it? The nouveau riche Russians and Chinese?