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I just applied as a snowboard instructor at one of the premier resorts on Honshu. Had the interview, everything went fine, and the staff seems great.

 

Afterwards, i was talking to one of the head instructors about how daily operations went and found out something that shocked me.

 

No seasons's pass.

 

No pass at all, actually.

 

The pass is built into your instructor's jacket (electronic chip), and you can only ride when you are wearing the (very noticible and somewhat unsavory) uniform.

 

What the hell is this, 1984?

 

I asked why, and they said that basically, if you show up for with your snowboard, EVEN ON YOUR DAY OFF, you are either willing to work or train as an instructor.

 

WHAT ABOUT ENJOYING YOUR OWN FREE DAMN TIME?!?

 

And this is at one of the biggest and most famous hills in Japan!!!

 

In Canada,, where i am from, seasons passes are not even an issue. They are part of the deal if you are gonna work for instructor wages (which are not that hot). Even for part-time. It is assumed that you are there because you love the mountains, and want to ride.

 

Does this happen anywhere else in the world, where hills don't give passes out to the staff? Is Japan the only place with such a twisted view?

 

Seriously, i work to snowboard, i don't snowboard just so that i can work.

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Originally Posted By: .co.jp
Seems that most jobs in Japan require you to give your life in whole in return for your wages.


couldnt have said it better myself, thats whats keeping me from going this weekend, just got too much damn work to get done by next Tuesday thumbsdown
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It was a very polite, but emphatic 'no'. I wrote them a letter telling why i couldn't deal with that.

 

I'm sure to someone outside the ski industry, i must sound like the biggest crybaby, but after 30 seasons on the snow, and working at a bunch of resorts, it feels SO WRONG. Like pretty much the exact opposite of everything i ever learned and loved about snowboarding has no place here on Japan.

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sorry to hear bout that man, that is crap - nobody outside of Japan would put up with it, just the Japanese dont know any better, and its not about the people, its about the company. People in this country have no power or leverage to compromise with companies. Sucks eh. Like how I never have vacation rolleyes

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Originally Posted By: stemik
that sucks...

you will have to wear your instructors jacket under board wear....


thought breifly about it, but they are kinda big-in-the-arms ski-style ones, and i don't think it would work with the jacket i have now.

Plus, the ticket is marks you as an instructor, and i wouldn't doubt it if the checked the records tomake sure you weren't riding on your time off.


I should note, the one guys said that they have 10 comp tickets that they give to guests, friends, people taking badge tests,whatever, and if there are any left over on a particular day, i could use them to ride.

That is a big 'if' tho, and i would be hella pissed if my friends came from nagoya to ride and i ended up not having a pss because they were all gone.
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The hill in question rhymes with 'Slappo'.

 

The work was ideally full-time, that was the basis of the interview. Even then, i would demand the same for part-time work as well.

 

I gotta go back to Hakuba and start loking again this weekend. Maybe 47 or Tsugaike?

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They only started offering season passes to ordinary customers three seasons ago. The whole organisation has its head in the sand, or somewhere dirtier if you prefer. It used to get more customers than Goryu and 47 combined. Now it gets less than Goryu alone.

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Well, then of course the answer to that is to not give passes to staff, because obviously they will be willing to pay for lift tickets on their days off with the crap salary.

 

I had no idea that it was so poorly run, but the more i hear about it (from Hakuba locals) the less inclined i am to go there.

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Why would you not go to a resort you might otherwise want to go to 'because it is poorly run'? Does that usually have a say in which resort you go to? And just because you have an experience of one place being 'poorly run', how do you know others are not also?

 

While I agree it sounds like a poor decision, I hardly see it as a reason not to go there.

 

And I would say also that it might be a good idea to take what you hear from locals with quite a few pinches of salt. You'd probably hear 5 different stories from 5 different people anyway.

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