AK 77 0 Posted February 27, 2005 Share Posted February 27, 2005 Just to say hello, as finally signed up after a long time of occasionally lurking to see what is going in the snow Japan world. Also, I was in Iwate as a JET in '99 - 2000 so hello to any Hakkoda / Hachimantai riders, as have many good memories of those places (apart from the dislocated collar bone and subsequent op.) Don't suppose anyone from that I knew from then is still around in Japan? Hutch (Jamie)? Toby Weymiller? Dean Reutzler? Anyway, enough of this 'It's me, hurrah' (not really - how do you say hello without it being like that?) Take it easy, Andy Link to post Share on other sites
jstepp 0 Posted February 27, 2005 Share Posted February 27, 2005 welcome aboard! Link to post Share on other sites
Karnidge 2 Posted February 27, 2005 Share Posted February 27, 2005 Hi there ex-lurker. Planning on coming back sometime? Link to post Share on other sites
gamera 0 Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Wow you were in Japan in '99-'00 and been lurking since? Too shy!?!? Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Welcome AK 77. By the way what is JET? Link to post Share on other sites
AK 77 0 Posted February 28, 2005 Author Share Posted February 28, 2005 Quote: Originally posted by Karnidge: Hi there ex-lurker. Planning on coming back sometime? Yeah, am planning to take NZSIA Stage 1, New Zealand snowboard instructor qualification this summer, and hopefully then work in Japan - although don't know how ambitious this would be - as numerically few jobs in Japan, compared to Canada/US. Otherwise, might apply for teaching jobs again for the following year, or continue in Japanese Studies direction some more... will get back there eventually! Link to post Share on other sites
AK 77 0 Posted February 28, 2005 Author Share Posted February 28, 2005 Quote: Originally posted by SerreChe: Welcome AK 77. By the way what is JET? Thank you for the welcome. JET is 'Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme' - It's the Japanese Ministry of Education's scheme for employing foreign English language assistants for state schools. Teaching english, basically, but part of big network of people on the programme and (depending on location/individual) local community. A good job! (unlike all jobs since then to fund time on snow!) Link to post Share on other sites
dizzy 0 Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 hello alaska (???) 77. never met the original OSIG boys, but heard plenty about them. this is mostly hearsay, so, but: Hutch spent at least a 4th year as a private, Toby sold his bongo van and dropped out of Japan after 3 and now lives in Seattle, and as far as i know, Dean is still in Japan. Dean? search him on this site, he's written features B4. Heard crazy stories about these guys. AK, were U part of their crew that climbed and skied Mt. Fuji? if you knew Arcton (posted in Hokkaido), he took over as OSIG pres after Hutch and Toby, Arcton's one really down-to-earth, cool guy. got married and went back to Canada after his 3rd. he and i have hit some sick sick sick powder lines in hokkaido. i was the humble editor of osig newsletter 00-01'. anyway, welcome! japan is still powder heaven Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Welcome Lurker Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Yes hello there Link to post Share on other sites
AK 77 0 Posted March 1, 2005 Author Share Posted March 1, 2005 Cheers people. Dizzy - no, unfortunately they climbed and skied Fuji-san in golden week (i think) of '99, before I got there. I did join them for Niseko Millenium new year trip, and many Hakkoda trips. My favourite was Hachimantai though, as there more variety of terrain, especially for the freestyle end of freeriding (if that makes sense), with the windlips and natural hits. Also saw some J-Pro's riding a big (15m gap) powder kicker there - although I wasn't up to hitting that level of kicker then. Amazing to watch still. The areas around Hachimantai that you could hike to had some of the few open faces suitable for proper sized kickers - due to the trees everywhere else - never visited down south Hakuba, etc, how do they compare? This was a similar problem in Fernie - still enough spots to have fun, but not endless kicker possibilities due to trees! I guess most people's attention is turned more towards riding lines in Japan, apart from aspiring Japanese pipe rats. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 hakuba 4000 vertical foot faces with 10 trees on them Link to post Share on other sites
dizzy 0 Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 sounds like Hachimantai is a good place and yes fs/fr makes perfect sense...have yet 2 get there...yeah, i heard their Fuji trip was epic, not b/c it was all ice skiing, but for the sheer craziness of it. Toby has guts! in hokkaido, asahidake is by far my favorite resort, with tons of snow and just one B I G, open field/mountain of snow. hakuba 47 is great...tons of pow. i've found hokkaido the best powder i've ridden on (lived in colorado 4 four years), but no complaints at all as far as Nagano snow. there was still plenty of it down there last weekend! Link to post Share on other sites
AET 0 Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 What is JET?! The best project ever! Welcome Link to post Share on other sites
gamera 0 Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 Japanese English Triangle Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Sorry have not logged in for a while. 77, thanks for the explanation in JET. Link to post Share on other sites
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