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Originally Posted By: miller
Honestly, I think people would have to be slightly potty to want to visit Japan right now.


I leave the house in 4 hrs and get to Chitose (via Seoul) on Wesnesday afternoon.

I've been able to get accurate, up to the minute intel on conditions and the ongoing situation on Hokkaido. There is nothing to suggest that the decision to travel is a poor one on my part.

I have nothing to offer the relief operation on Honshu, so I'm going to vacation on Hokkaido, put money in to the Japanese economy, and through posts on the interweb forums try to give an accurate and honest opinion of the situation on Hokkaido during my visit.
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Perhaps what miller might have wanted to say was:

 

"Honestly, I think people would have to be slightly potty to want to visit Honshu right now."

 

Having said that, I doubt I'd be mad keen to get on a plane to anywhere in Japan right now.

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Perhaps so muikabochi

 

Originally Posted By: MikePow
Originally Posted By: miller
Honestly, I think people would have to be slightly potty to want to visit Japan right now.

 

I leave the house in 4 hrs and get to Chitose (via Seoul) on Wesnesday afternoon.

 

I've been able to get accurate, up to the minute intel on conditions and the ongoing situation on Hokkaido. There is nothing to suggest that the decision to travel is a poor one on my part.

 

I have nothing to offer the relief operation on Honshu, so I'm going to vacation on Hokkaido, put money in to the Japanese economy, and through posts on the interweb forums try to give an accurate and honest opinion of the situation on Hokkaido during my visit.

 

 

Cool Mike. If it's cool with you, what else matters.

Out of interest does your "intel" give you insight into things that the rest of us don't know, re: what happens now and potential risks ahead?

Perhaps you should tell NHK, CNN and BBC!

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The kids next room are flying from Sapporo to China and thence to Sydney and USA tomorrow. One to sydney the other to usa.

 

I think they booked last night or this morning.

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Originally Posted By: miller
Perhaps so muikabochi

Cool Mike. If it's cool with you, what else matters.
Out of interest does your "intel" give you insight into things that the rest of us don't know, re: what happens now and potential risks ahead?
Perhaps you should tell NHK, CNN and BBC!


No one knows for definite at this stage how the nuclear situation will go and/or whether there will be another enormous earthquake.

My friends living on Hokkaido have been unaffected by what's gone on in Honshu and are not looking for a way out.

Based on that I'm visiting.
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Hokkaido may not be experiencing disaster but I would submit that all of Japan is most definitely struggling right now.

 

I certainly wouldn't be coming to Japan now, Hokkaido included.

And not because I just can't understand a map.

If you feel comfortable doing that, good on you.

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Originally Posted By: MikePow
But that's one of the problems, at least here in the UK.

People have no idea of the scale and geography of Japan and have interpreted that all of Japan is struggling.


That's certainly right.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to you coming and seeing you in action smile

Have a good journey.
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I did spend the whole day today talking to people who wanted to cancel their trips. Most accomm managers up here are taking the attitude that as there is no disruption to any services in Hokkaido and as there is absolutely no damage at the resort and certainly no radiation issues and everything is running as normal then just not feeling right about coming is not a valid excuse to receive a refund on their bookings. Some were understanding and obviously some were not. Did surprise me though that we still received some new bookings!

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I have been looking forward to coming up to Niseko for some late season skiing for a while. Sitting around my apartment (in Tokyo) while work is shut, with constant aftershocks, and the stream of truly terrible news, is just causing me to get stressed. I have similar view on this as Mike. I booked my flights about a month ago, and assuming I can get to the airport Thurs morning, I'm going.

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Plenty of cancellations. But we have already been paid so financially it won't be crippling. People are mostly fearful about the issue of radiation from the reactors. Personally I believe a lot of disinformation and sensationalism by overseas media is to blame for this fear. There is nothing to suggest there will be any catastrophic release of radiation material such as what happened at Chernobyl. But when it comes to radiation peoples fears are rarely all that rational.

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I think the fear of "Japan, country in crisis" + "mega earthquakes" may well also be pretty high on peoples minds as well.

 

Yes, even though Hokkaido hasn't been hit bad. It's still Japan.

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Well it was mainly the radiation issue that people raised with me as their greatest fear. Seemed to be the deciding factor for those who were cancelling regardless of no refund.

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"Radiation" is one of those buzzwords that has terrible connotations in peoples minds. The minute its mentioned people have already concocted the situation in their mind. For me it was definitely more worrying when I heard about it, more so than any possible quake or tsunami. But after reading a few things, although its not good, I'm sufficiently confident that it wouldn't be as serious as people think

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I've booked my trip to Niseko from end of March till early April. I've always wanted to go and have planned this for quite a while. Have paid for everything, but I am considering cancelling the trip altogether right now. I doubt I'll get any of my money back :(

 

I would like to get some opinions on this. I'm just scared of the radiation exposure, it appears that it all depending on how strong the wind's blowing and which direction that it's blowing...

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Niseko is something like 700km's from the reactors. It would take a catastrophic release of radioactive material to reach all the way up here. This has not happened and from what I can tell is near impossible to happen. Unless you are planning on visiting the reactors themselves I don't think you have too much to worry about. But it's your decision.

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Originally Posted By: Go Native
Unless you are planning on visiting the reactors themselves I don't think you have too much to worry about.


Not a funny subject of course but.... lol
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