gurgle
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Posts posted by gurgle
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A bit of an oldie, but does anyone in Hakuba have any idea whether this Hotel development at Hakuba 47 is proceeding ? Were there plans to open up more of the mountain as well ?
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Originally Posted By: Indo
The upside for us is that property prices rise, rather than fall! (can't have it all I guess)
Land prices have cetainly been rising is a lot of places outside of Japan, but it's a bit of a myth that the house price does not depreciate. Westerners tend to spend a lot of money maintaining their properties and pretending they never spent the money. The Japanese typically do not spend this upkeep money. Outside of Japan there has been inflation in building costs and therefore in the building itself in the recent past, but it's wrong to think that the house price does not depreciate or cannot depreciate. For e.g., I reckon you need new kitchens etc. every 10-15 years. The fact is, most of the capital gain is on the land value. If we ever get Japanese style deflation....look out.
OK - That was nothing to do with buying a house in Japan. We bought a "used" one, it was unbelievably easy and way below replacement cost. -
A friend took me to an AT shop in Tokyo years ago. Not sure if they have Dynafit, but they definitely had some AT boots.
The shop in Tokyo is called Calafate and its in Mejiro next to/downstairs from the Patagonia shop. Come out of Mejiro station, turn left go about 200m to a set of lights and turn left and its up that street. (Remembering this took a bit of effort and also a google search!).
It took some trouble finding the weblink so I will post it here. Apologies to SJ if I am not supposed to do that. Just remove it.
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Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads
Back to Idol, I agree hard to see anyone beating Adam. Unless the nation becomes outraged at his gayness, or something.
I think we saw a little evidence of this in last night's results. His performance was way better than the others and landed him in bottom 2....... -
7...All in Hakuba. Got the one week of heavy snow in Feb for 5 days and then back again for the big dump on 27th and 28th of March for 2 more. It's all about timing.....or is it luck ? Anyway, one digit away from how many I would have liked.......maybe next year.
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A great report again....
btw Scott, I never did get around to doing the "Double Black Diamond Club" orientation course at Hakuba 47 this year. I was there for a couple of days last week though and notices that they had closed the gate after the big dump on Thurs night, but had re-opened it by Sat. morning. Those in yellow arm bands were having some fun in there.
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Great photos......I was lucky enough to be there on 27th and 28th too. It was nice
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Wow, it looks like they were carried a long way. Amazing that they were not a little more banged up.
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One person is plenty...especially if you are that one person.
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Great report!
Are you allowed to say how much $ the accomodation was, or is that bad form here ?
Sorry but where I live "how much $ was..." generally creeps into every conversation....
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Any idea how effective these types of things are ?
(For avie survival, not pulling at the local...)
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Originally Posted By: KevKastle
Razor blades
Spot on! Have you noticed how they last about 5 minutes as well ? I used to get away with using the same one for ages, not these days.
Marketing, marketing, marketing....then make the product more cheaply and of lower quaility....
That behaviour drives me mental....
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What percentage of "off-piste skiers/riders" are there that really have any idea what they are doing ? I have seen plenty of people skiing down obviously unsafe areas. Perhaps the resort's thinking is, if we open this and that, they will just ski anywhere and everywhere, under any conditions. I think most visitors are clueless that a safe slope one day might be unsafe the next day, not just to them , but everyone below them. Honestly, given the numbers of skiers we are talking about, I am not shocked that a lot of the Reorts just throw it in the "too hard" basket. Having said all that, the gate system in Niseko seems to work well, from my brief experience there. I hope they implement similar systems elsewhere, open up more controlled terrain, etc,etc. (But I ain't holding my breath......)
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and that looks even better.......(with the O-wa-ri!)
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More importantly, which of the two resorts has one of these ?
http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/33666/69055-ski-jump-bathroom
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Is there any realiable data available on average annual snowfall or historical snow falls by region anywhere ?
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Originally Posted By: oblivionQuote:which would seem perfectly acceptable to many on this forum
Perhaps you should change that to "some" and don't brush the majority with the opinions of a vocal minority.
I am sure you are right, but I am feeling like the minority on this thread...... -
Originally Posted By: Black MountainOriginally Posted By: gurgleYou will be waiting around longer and seeing more lifts closed if the resorts are receiving less revenue, because they will have even less people working at them than they do now, let alone haivng to pay the power bills.
Maybe we should start a charity for these poor struggling ski resorts... I have a really really hard time believing that someone would simply throw their ticket in the trash instead of handing it off to someone who could make some good use of it. As has been pointed out before, resorts never offer refunds under any conditions, even when they close the lifts for the day. Earlier this year I lost 3 days from a 5 day pass at Grand Hirafu because they lifts were closed. (not a single lift was running for 2 of the days while only the Holiday lifts were running on the third.) I really have to wonder who is ripping off whom in cases like this!
That's a pretty extreme no refund policy for sure. Presmuably you complained loudly and hopefully they will get the message and change the policy for multi-day tickets at least. However, the fact remains that the resorts ARE struggling. If everyone adopted the practice of on-selling or even giving away their tickets for free, which would seem perfectly acceptable to many on this forum, their revenue would drop dramatically (theoretically it could halve) and given that they ARE struggling now, some would have to close. I don't want my regular resort to have to close. -
Originally Posted By: Black MountainFor all of those who disagree with 'on-selling' the ticket, what do you think about just freely giving the ticket away?
Not transferable means not transferable, regardless of whether you receive cash or not, so it is still illegal for someone to use a ticket that they did not purchase themselves.
It all goes back to the issue of the financial viability of the resorts. If everyone starts giving away or selling tickets, it takes revenue away from the resorts, and plenty of resorts in Japan are struggling as it is.
Do you like waiting in line in the morning "because it's too windy" up top, or waiting for the higher lifts to open ? You will be waiting around longer and seeing more lifts closed if the resorts are receiving less revenue, because they will have even less people working at them than they do now, let alone haivng to pay the power bills.
On-selling tickets or even giving them away robs the resorts of revenue and that effects all of us. -
My 2 cents
All the J-resorts are sorely lacking in infrastructure, especially off the mountain.
On the mountain, not enough nice places to eat, lifts not going far enough up the mountain (perhaps this is weather related ?).
Off the mountain, not enough to do for non-skiers, resorts badly laid out, difficult to get around, no decent shps, no village feel. All these things are not so important to me, but they are to my Mrs. If my Mrs is happy, I am happy
The reasons I think are mostly to do with demand. The Japanese skier is typically there for the weekend, and at a lot of resorts typically comes by car. So resorts are designed around people having cars. If you want to go to a shop, onsen, restaurant, a lot of them you will need to drive to. The foreign skier, who stays longer and therefore needs more things to do, is really a new market, so it's going to take a long time before they are catered for properly. I would guess Niseko is going to get there first (even with it's weather) and the others will follow, but it's going to be a slow process.
I am not sure it would be a good thing or not for me, but if there was a resort with a big Whistler style village with lots of nice shops, a cinema, a swimming pool, lots of great restaurants, then that resort would get a lot more foreigners coming.
It's hard to see anyone willing to commit to building something like this with the current state of the global economy, but perhaps it will happen eventually, maybe when the Mainland Chinese start coming to Japan en-masse.
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Originally Posted By: gareth_oauIve seen a few people here state that its illegal.
I'm a bit surprised by this, they have criminal legislation in place to enforce this? a special Task Force with sniper rifles?
I support the concept that if i buy something, then I can legitimately onsell (or give away) the unused portion.
If the resort has sold a day's ride on the lifts, then either one person (or two people) will be getting full use of what was originally sold. Its not like you are onselling the ticket, and continuing to ride at the same time
If you buy something that is "not transferable" you are contractually bound not to transfer it to another person.
Agreed, if you on-sell it to another person you are not both using the ticket at the same time, but that is not the terms of the contract that you agreed to when you bought the ticket. The ticket is for one person only.
If everyone on-sold their tickets every day then I reckon half the resorts in Japan would be closed....probably not a good thing for any of us. -
Originally Posted By: MamabearInteresting topic indeed ... love how this has developed.
Now take the selling of tix aside...
What about you are hurt - you have 3 days left on your tix and are heading home, but your mate who just arrived has not bought his tix yet. All common sense and mateship says - give him your tix - but that does take cash out of the resorts pocket that it would otherwise have obtained if not for your generous spirit toward your mate.
I would give the tix to my mate, and sleep well at night. I tend to support any resort I visit very generously - many eatings out, many nights at the bar, lessons, lift tix and long stays... so I would be OK with it.
How would you feel?
Mamabear - Personally, I wouldn't have a moral issue with this situation and would do the same. Does anyone have any idea if unused tickets can be refunded at any of the resorts ?
I think the issue in question though is when you re-sell a ticket that has been used that day. I would not for a number of reasons, illegal, it's cheating and not to mention the cultural issues of gaijin hanging around at ticket counters trying to sell tickets - it does not look good. (not that anyone said this practice was specific to foreigners, but from my experience it is generally the case - maybe the locals are more subtle about it, I don't know).
anybody else get pissed off with that Mentawai Islands, Indonesia thread?
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
Apparently there was a 2nd quake this morning at 8.52 a.m. local time measuring 6.8. Hopefully with minimal damage this time, obviously the last thing they need while still searching for survivors from yesterday's 7.6.
P.S. - The Mentawai thread would be the best off-season thread on this forum...