grazza

Is there anything worse than the yodel gelende at Akakura Onsen? All your favourite classic yodelling tracks, back to back.

I am finding this one strangely intriguing: Madarao Kogen Sympathique

I nominate Kurobushi Kogen Snow Park Jangle Jungle.

As someone who's now clocked two Japan (Honshu) trips, last year and this year, I was wondering just how bad this year was in the grand scheme of things. Was it gobsmackingly awful,the sort of season no one has ever seen before, or was it just once in a decade or so crap? I should say that in spite of the general crapness, we had plenty of fun in our two weeks - it just wasn't powder day after powder day, like we had last year.

It's easy to see so many of the very different customs in Japan as backward, but I think that's a major error. Seems to me that the underlying logic of Japanese customs is about an intense desire not to inconvenience or disturb those around. It's about thoughtfulness, respect and calm. For Aussies, our stuff seems to be increasing driven by our attachment to our own "rights" rather than thoughtfulness about the needs of others. To my eyes, after two trips in the past 12 months, Japan is an altogether more civilised, gentle, chilled place, even in the midst of a tokyo peak hour train crush

Never tried steps ins, you don't see them much these days. Don't know why. A rear step in binding would make life easier though. Here's another idea. Skating on a snowboard would be way easier if you could work out a front binding that could could be quickly rotated so that your front foot went lengthwise along the deck, then click back across the deck when you want to slide properly with both feet in the bindings. This would let you skate properly like on a skateboard, and would probably make traversing a breeze. Any engineers out there?

You can get a Myoko big-4 day pass that covers Akakan, Akakura Onsen, Ikenotaira and Suginohara. You have to get it through the Myoko Tourist Office. Costs Y5000, so significantly more expensive. Also you have to convince the Akakan lifties that is is a legit ticket, which took more than a few minutes the first time we did it. Seeing as Akakura Onsen is pretty uninspiring, I wouldn't bother. Stick to Akakan.

I made the switch the other way last season from skis to board. After 30 years on skis it was heavy being totally wobbly again. It's taken me maybe 20 days on snow to get to kind of where I was on skis, i.e. being able to aggressively attack my turns and commit full edges at reasonable speed. It clicked with me about halfway through this season's trip. Now it feels like it used to skiing - makes you realise that there's not that much difference when you boil it down. A good on edge turn is a good on edge turn, whatever you have under your feet. For me there pluses and minus both ways, bu

I have been told that I will need separate tickets to ride these interconnected resorts because (in the delightful words of the lovely lady at Myoko Tourist Office) "they are on terms of cat and dog". The only way around this appears to be to pre-purchase a "Myoko Big-4 Pass", which costs Y5000 as opposed to Y3900. Is this worth doing or should I just stick to one or other tickets and save some cash?

We just spend 6 days at Ryokan Sakaya. Can unequivocally say it was the best (not grandest, but the best) hotel I have ever stayed at. Food is beyond amazing. Service was the most thoughtful and generous I have ever experienced. Beautiful, beautiful place.

Arriving in Osaka in a week and liked the idea of sending boards and stuff ahead while we wander around Kyoto for a day or so. As a Japan newbie, I had a few questions about how it worked. 1. Where do we send stuff from? 2. Do we need to package especially? 3. How long do they take to get gear to the destination (Hakuba in this case)? 4. Any chance of them not getting stuff to you? Would hate be surrounded by powder and not have the gear to do anything about it? 5. Roughly, what does it cost? 6. My son is joining us later in Nozawa after flying into Tokyo. How long does it