Slippery Jim

Thanks again to everyone posting suggestions, much appreciated.

Lamb is pretty easy to get in Tokyo nowadays; our local Tokyu store has chops and racks. Of course, the gaijin supermarkets have tons in all cuts.

Sciclone, thanks much for the tips (esp Furano Brewery)

Bumping this to beg for responses...

Haven't been to Furano for quite a few years, but planning a few days there this season. Anyone have recommendations for dinner/drinks (steak/sushi/pasta/yakitori/ramen/etc)?

Cottonwood canyons second week of December; first trip in Japan will probably be Hokkaido January 5-9, then again January 16-20. Hard to say after that, but basically I'll skip the holiday periods and look at three-day trips to Nozawa/Hakuba/Shiga or 5-day runs to Hokkaido.

It will be a great year. Did you hear me? It will be a GREAT year! Or else

Unless there's a spectacularly early snowfall in Japan, first will likely be Brighton or Solitude Dec. 13.

[[breastfeed people - breastfeed! Cheaper, more convenient and apparently a whole lot safer!]] And the containers are so much cuter!

Plenty of good places to rent a pair of powder boards if there's a big dump.

Hot? This isn't hot; August is hot!

Does anyone know if the Iwanai cat-ski operation will be a go this season? And if it is, anyone interested in joining up for a day over there from the Hirafu/Higashiyama area during Jan. 5-9?

Not that I'm in the market, but is there some zoning reg in Hakuba banning apartment construction?

The scent of 50cm of fresh, light powder on a Wednesday morning.

There's a place called Skiers Dome near the base of the Nakiyama lifts at Happo-one that has very good high-end rental gear. I had the phone number, and will post it if I can dig it out.

CB, it's all micro brews. I've become a big fan of Kiss of Smoke, and there's nothing wrong with Rising Sun Pale Ale or Red Rose Amber. Not really a dark beer fancier myself, but a pal who is says Angry Boy Brown is damn fine. Give me a shout if you want to meet up there for a pint or two some evening.

Staple is Ichibanshibori; the TapRoom in Naka Meguro has some rather nice brews on tap, recommend it.

Happy: Yuzawa Park is in....(wait for it) Yuzawa! It's a small area directly across from Iwappara, not a lot of vertical, but actually kind of neat variations for a hill that small.

Yuzawa Shin Nihon -- now Yuzawa Park

3:10 to Yuma -- pretty good for a remake

Well, as long as we're telling jokes... A man, returning home a day early from a business trip, got into a taxi at the airport. It was after midnight. While en route to his home, he asked the cabby if he would be a witness. The man suspected his wife was having an affair and he intended to catch her in the act. For $100, the cabby agreed quietly arriving at the house, the husband and cabby tiptoed into the bedroom. The husband switched on the lights, yanked the blanket back and there was his wife in bed with another man. The husband put a gun to the naked man's head. The wife shouted, "Do

I'm a skier, a little envious of those who can handle both.

As a newbie here but with quite a bit of Japan ski experience, I'll point out that the Hakuba region has far MORE skiing than Shiga Kogen even if you can't ski area-to-area. That said, my experience is that Shiga gets quality powder a little more often than Hakuba. I think the percentages for powder days favor Shiga, not by a lot but maybe enough to make a difference. My recommendation in Honshu to the original poster would be Nozawa Onsen (fuel on the fire; we all have our favorites) which may not match the quantity of terrain that Hakuba & Shiga have, but is right up there in qualit

Tokyo