SnowJapan.Com#3 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 A new feature, "How was it for you, Yuzawa?", has been put online. http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/features-68.html "So how did ten of the main resorts in one of the main snow regions of Japan fare during the 2003/4 season? Well, unfortunately not as well as they might have hoped. Only two resorts - Kagura Mitsumata and GALA Yuzawa - saw an overall increase in the number of skiers and snowboarders visiting their slopes compared to the previous season. Both of those resorts are located higher up than the others in the town, and so they can benefit from any early and heavy snowfalls." http://www.snowjapan.com/e/features/features-68.html Please note that the views expressed in any Features on Snow Japan are not necessarily those of Snow Japan. Discuss it here.... Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 That is not good. Still amazes me how Naeba can cope with 2000000 plus riders. I remember it being one big mogul park. Snow sports are in general expensive. A lot of your families that would have gone 4 times a year are cutting it down to 2, per say. One thing that hurts me budget is the damm highway. If the government of this country, understood the conection between being able to travel freely and cost effectivly, travel numbers outside of the peak season would spike. Link to post Share on other sites
jared 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 Be mighty interesting to know if the falling numbers are just a Japanese phenom or if its happening the world over. If it is just a Japanese thing then is it cos a higher proportion jumped on the bandwaggon when it was the in thing to do and gave up when it was less popular? A student of mine is of the opionion that all active activities are on the decrease cos the kids are all fat and lazy these days and would rather play computer games. Be interesting to see numbers on other sports too. Fattwins - you need to get a van and lots of keen bodies to put in it to pay for the tolls. Link to post Share on other sites
dale#1 1 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 I like numbers. Those are huge numbers for Naeba! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 I heard that Kan Naoto's party platform (or 'manifest' as we now say in Japanese, although no Japanese understands what it means) includes making the highways free. Not that his party is likely to be voted into power, because everybody likes paying apparently. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 Koizumi was on the news the other day saying that only one car in ten uses the highways, so if they are made free, those one in ten people will be subsidized by the remaining nine in ten. Somehow I don't think demand is that inelastic. Most of the highways cost a fortune and continue to lose a small fortune every year, so people might as well use them. Domestic tourism is also depressed, they might as well make the highways free to get the punters out. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 peace no fakie. Prefectly said. My buddies take slower ways to get ot places and or bypass highways to avoid tolls. Im sure places like shikoku would benifit from lower tolls or free highways. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 It would be unfair for the train services to make the toll roads free. Paying for roads is only fair. Why should non car owners subsidize drivers via higher taxes? Given the low taxes here in Japan, one shouldn't bemoan paying for services as one use them, (or would everyone rather pay 30-40% tax and have no tolls and half price trains? Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 LAnd tax in this country is huge. Not fair to train service. JR rips off everyone. Come on, what we are saying here is that there is a link between stimulating the economy. Getting people out and about will pump needed money into the economy thus more taxes are being paid. We all know half the costs of the highway are cause the system is flawed. Bid rigging stupid planning. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 You:re talking about where the money is spent, not people spending more. If Freeways were free, i'd spend more at the resorts, but less overall. The freeways (and building of) provides a lot of employment to locals and is actually a boost to local economies in and of itself. Koizumi is right. Why should taxpayers subsidize car drivers. Cars are the most dangerous, most polluting form of transport available. Cars are a luxury and the crime in many western countries is that they are the most heavily subsidized form of transport available. In a truly free-market economy, the cost of driving somewhere would be far higher than going by train (Japans kindov on the right track there!) You want to get people out of their houses, subsidize public transport. (Being of a laissez-faire leaning I don't subscribe to subsidies, however). Unfair bidding, well, fix that, don't use it as an excuse to make freeways free. And, if they were free, how goddamn congested would they be? It would be good to see some market oriented pricing on them however. Maybe half price at night Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 If the train got me to hakuba in 5 hours I sure would use it. It doesnt and it costs too much to go there by train. To bullet train it there would cost more one way then round tripping it in my car. The train system is good here but it aint that good. Almost everyone in Japan owns a car, minus the gaijin crowd. ever family unit I know own a car. Bid rigging when found the companies should pay the fine minus total construction cost against the lowest allowable bid that JH would accept at the time. That would fix the problem, maybe. MAke it free dont make it free. Traffic jams would be better then no one using the things. It will never happen so I will keep dreaming but imagine being able to drive end to end without spending a monthly paycheck to do so. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 It costs me 30,000 round trip by car. The train (4-5hrs) costs 20,000 round trip, cheaper if I go slow. Overnight bus... less than 10,000. That's from Osaka, w/ single occupancy. A cars only cheaper if you load it up with people, (then, who cares about the highway tolls). The highway dept should NOT have the fxed pricing system they have, but have them flexible depending on demand. Keep the highways full but not overflowing 24/7. That way they can bring more money to their coffers, and more people to the countryside. Free market rules... Even better, increase the tax on gas, make the freeways free, and share the burden to ALL car drivers, as it should be... Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 Please tell me what train your taking to hakuba that takes 4 to 5 hours. I know about the one way 4000 bus to osaka but the train as I know it takes a good 6 to 7. Plus you loose a day of sking. The gas tax is a better idea. Link to post Share on other sites
cheeseman 1 Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 As always interesting to see numbers like that. As I have said before though, if they catered more for the cheesefans I'm sure it would surprise them how that new market would develop. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Sorry Fattwins, thinking about it, maybe the time was 4 hours to Matsumoto. Aren't the buses overnight? Anyway, feel athread hijack here, will move to a new thread/poll. Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 Gala seeing an increase. I hope you'll be giving us some ski/board numbers as well, that'd be interesting to see. Link to post Share on other sites
rajeem 0 Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 I wonder what the actual number of people was. ie if 1 person goes 10 times in a season he is just counted as 1. Link to post Share on other sites
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