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Just curious...

 

Has anybody had their snowboards or skis stolen in Japan?

 

I just brought over a nice Forum board and was wondering if I would have to watch it like a hawk as I did in the US. (Even when your stuff is locked in the US, I've heard about people's boards gone missing)

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I had someone walk off with my rental board two years ago at Biwako Valley. The rental boards were identical, so it was probably just a mistake. The rental people just gave me another (identical) one. Spent around half an hour messing around tho'.

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Yo, ivo! You might wanna look around at the population of this forum before you start slinging comments like that!

 

Gaijin equals theif? What kinda imibiscle are you.

 

I would like to match your little comment there with plenty of my own, but I will refrain from stooping to your obvious lonely low level.

 

Take a brain check before you post mate!

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no no, you understood me wrong!

first, i'm from switzerland, thats why i don't write the best english and thats why i don't understand everything! (otherwise, let's start writing in german!)

 

so i was also gajin. during my 5 months traveling in japan the only people who i had bad experience with, where (few) gajins!

i met mostly "good" gajins, but there are a few who use the kindness and honesty of japanese people in a bad way!

 

i think, if your baord get stolen, is the chance much higher that a gajin took it.

don't you think so?

do you have other experience??

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ivo, I have my doubts about that theory.

 

First off, most of the gaijins I know are big, fat, hairy people with enormous feet. Their kit comes from far off barbarian lands where everybody is like that. As they are generally also immoderate people, they spend as much time as possible boarding and their kit reflects this too. You will actually find rips in their binding straps, and deep gouges in their board base.

 

On the other hand, Japanese people tend to be smaller and invest more heavily in actual kit than in boarding. This was confirmed for me the other day when I barged onto a quad with three young lads from Tokyo who showed a lively interest in this ill-mannered foreigner. I asked them how many times a year they got out and they replied "Twice at the most. Once we've bought all the latest kit, we can only afford two trips." I laughed so hard they had to cling to my hood to stop me falling off the quad.

 

So as Japanese gear is not very well suited to, I should think, the majority of foreigners, there's little incentive for them to steal it. If it was for resale, the theft would need to be done on an industrial scale to get a worthwhile return, and there simply isn't that much stealing. However, for Japanese for whom shiny new kit in the latest colours is as attractive as broken glass is to crows, the temptation to pilfer must sometimes be overwhelming. Just think, if they ran off with that 50,000 yen board with the 30,000 bindings, that isn't locked even with something two hairs thick, they might be able to go boarding three times this year.

 

There's plenty of petty thievery committed by Japanese, especially bicycles and umbrellas. And it's not without reason that many fashion and sports stores have security systems and sometimes quite prominent signs about the harsh treatment of 'manbiki'yers.

 

So I don't think it's us gaijins that's nicking boards. Also, we have huge excrescences in the middle of our faces, so we won't be pinching any Japanese goggles either.

 

[This message has been edited by Ocean11 (edited 12 January 2002).]

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