tm12881

If installing JP software on EN based machine with language pack, you can set the language for the language of programs which are not supporting UNICODE to Japanese and see if it works. It's in the advanced tab of language and regional settings.

Nope. They didn't help much. There was a guy from England at my middle school when I was still going there back in 93-95, but he was just there. I don't know how much interaction students get from them these days, but if they really want their speaking skills to improve, they need to be relocated to a place where people don't speak their own language. Plus... most of the Japanese English teachers I had couldn't even speak fluent English! so how do you expect the students to learn from them!!!

Young Boozer!! Gawd, I feel sorry for those named with effed up names.

31 yrs, too young... RIP

I'm Japanese living in the US.

call your apartment manager

I started skiing when I was 7 and stopped when I was 14, then started snowboarding a couple seasons ago.

I used to get the triangle milk cartons made with plastic in the beginning of elementary school. But they were discontinued as it used to break and leak all the time. During the summer time or any warmer time, I still remember the smell of dry-rotten milk on the kyushoku cart. Then, it was changed to the standard paper box carton.

I was in Japan until the first semester of high school and we had kyushoku until middle school. There were no days where I did not like the food but curry rice was always my favorite.

$4.65 for a gallon of regular unleaded in the San Jose, CA.

I have fairly wide feet too, and my boots fit me perfectly. 32 boots are also for wider feet. Salomon boots are fairly narrow though.

Yea, it seems like it was too short of a notice to 3rd party for sure. But I'm still appreciating the faster speed and less memory usage of FF3 though. IE7 just blows while trying to open a new tab.

I drink green tea, jasmine tea, chrysanthemums tea, and diet coke. If those are not available or I'm just simply thirsty, then water would be my choice.

JA, The add-on I'm using is the All-in-One gesture. FF3 has its own(?) version, but I don't like how some of the usages are not there by default.

Yea... the ease of transportation after train was a clear point for me, but taking a bus for >1hr from the Nagano train station to the resort/hotel isn't too bad to me. I mean it takes me at least 3.5 hrs to get to resorts around Lake Tahoe from where I live. How are those resorts (Kagura, Naeba, Hakuba Goryou/HappoOne) after a storm or decent snow fall? I'm planning to hit them up on the weekday (Mon/Tues or Tues/Wed), but I'd like to avoid the crowd as much as possible. I don't wanna deal with crowded slopes as I already do so at the Tahoe resorts.

Been using FF and upgraded it FF3 at work as it came out. It seems faster and has better memory utilization but I don't like how all my add ins no longer work.

What kinda place would serve half cooked chicken or pork? My parents got me ordering rare at Japanese steak houses as that's what they used to order, because they used to say fully cooked steak would kill the real flavor of beef or something like that, but they were very strict about cooking chicken and pork fully. I've ordered "rare" prime rib at Outback (Franchise Steak house in US) and I got real rare slice before. Even though I liked "rare" steak in Japan, I actually asked them to make it medium rare. After that, I made sure to order mine medium rare.

So which area/resort do you all think is a good place for me? I'm not looking to do any BC, but I know I want some steeps hill when the condition is right. If it's ice skating link, then I usually just stay on the intermediate runs. Basically, I'm looking for variation of steepness, long runs, and prefer wider runs. I am not really looking for any parks or jibbing action in Japan. The reason why I said Kagura/Naeba or Hakuba area is those area seem to be convenient destinations via train/shinkansen, and hotels nearby the resorts. Please let me know if you have any other sugges

tsondaboy, Yes, I know it's a better/wiser idea for me to actually wait until the season starts. But since I haven't been touched Japanese snow for the last 15 yrs and there's an opportunity for me to do so, I'm just overly excited about it.

It seems like they only know engrish. But honestly, why would they care about those words in Japan anyway? First they are in English, and Japanese kids usually grow up surrounded by bad influences, like bad words in manga (weekly Jump and Magazines were/still are my favorite), nudity on TV shows (used to), dad smoking and drinking every day/night, etc. But... seriously, I hope they're only wearing them for the cute design on those clothes, and not trying to make a statement by what their clothes say.

For your clothing, just make sure your jacket/pants have good rating for waterproof and breathability. I think most jackets come with 10,000MM waterproof and 5,000GM breathability. My Special Blend jacket has that rating and it kept me dry even during storms. As for the pants, I think most pants come with 5000/5000 rating and that should be sufficient. But if you do a lot of powder riding, then make sure to choose jacket/pants have powder skirt and can be attached together for the extra protection from the snow. Or, of course, you can shed more money for Gore-Tex material for better waterproof

It'll help if you can be more specific to what you need, such as the waterproof and breathability for your clothing and riding style for your boots. As for your helmet and boots, you should try out them out as many different ones/pairs as possible at your local shop, as fitting and comfortable-ness should be the top priorities.

Ok, I guess I don't need to take a driving test, but I still need $15-20 and 2 passport pics. But the question is: Is it really worth renting a car in Japan for a solo 2 day trip? Or I can use the cars my parents own (and they live in Gumma) but I don't wanna get in an accident or be liable if anything happens. btw, I got my info from http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-drive.html

Because getting international driving permit for 2-3 days of snowboarding isn't worth the money and time/trouble for taking driving test.

Thanks for all the replies! Since I've narrowed the resorts I wanna visit to Kagura/Naeba and/or Hakuba, I've been doing more researches reading about all the different hotels/ryokan and what they offer, such as pick up/drop off from train station/ski resorts, etc. I'll update with what I come up with later.