TJ OZ 0 Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 By the amount of interest here in oz it would not surprise me if the visitor numbers from Australia doubled for Hakuba next year. The mountains here are small and the powder is no comparison to what you guys get in Japan. The cost to slide here is also very expensive. More than double the cost for lift tickets, food, entrance fees just to get on the mountain.It all certainly goes to justifying the cost of a plane ticket and skiing overseas. I also saw for the first time in one of our snow magazines, the japanese tourism industry marketing campaign advertising the Nagano area. There certainly is some momentum for the Japanese snow industry here. Link to post Share on other sites
guzzlers-baps 0 Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 That expensive over there? That surprises me I always thought of Australia as being inexpensive. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Might have to start touring even more to get my pow. Link to post Share on other sites
HoTRoD 2 Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Interesting Quote: the difference in attitude at some of the other main ski towns is huge Would be really interested to know more Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Moderator SnowJapan.Com#4 5 Posted June 16, 2006 SnowJapan Moderator Share Posted June 16, 2006 (I'm not sure you'll get an answer to that one anyway, but Andrew is away for a while so it won't be soon) Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 I've started getting emails from crew in Oz saying that they are planning a trip to 'some place called Furano?', asking if I have any advice (because I lived in Japan). I do the honest thing and gush repeatedly how good the powder tree riding can be and how otherwise flat the resort terrain is. I then suggest that they consider all the options in Japan before buying the first package that they see. I also mention that I have heard rumours of Bali behaviour and Aussie swarms like Whistler. And yes, Australia is expensive to ski. I had not visited a ski resort in Australia since 1988, yet on my arrival in Happo in 2003 I was stunned to see that in so called 'expensive Japan', lift tickets were the same price as they were in Australia some 15 years earlier. Crazy. No doubt about it, lift tickets are cheap in Japan. It still sounds like the Australian 'snow industry' still serves up the worlds worst semi-frozen products at one the highest prices. As for the topic, the only reason I had heard of Nagano was because of the WO's. When I first arrived there I could clearly see why the city and region was not the appropriate venue to bring future benefit from hosting the games. Great snow and terrain, but the towns and cities just don't lend themselves well at all to value added tourism stemming from the exposure they got. As a holiday maker, they are not places you want to go to, except as necessary transit and accommodation points for access to the great snow. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 So true. (If I remember correctly, spud, wasn't your first trip from Nagano city to Hakuba village rather expensive? ) Link to post Share on other sites
wiseman 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 So to go to Hakuba or not? I thought it would be nice because we can see Tokyo, however it doesn't seem to be getting a good wrap, just how run down are the hotels in Hakuba? Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 It is not run down - certainly no more than any other area wiseman. Very popular area with some great resorts - we go from England. I'd recommend it. Check out the links at the top of the forums here to find out lots of reader opinion of the resorts. Link to post Share on other sites
TJ OZ 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Welcome aboard wiseman. Hakuba is not run down. The talk is basically comparing Japan resorts to North American purpose built customer focused resorts. Hakuba has every range of accomodation from backpackers to 5 star. It is a big area with big mountains and a lot to choose from. Maybe start up a new thread listing what you are after and ask for reccomendations. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Check the links at the top. Places in Nagano http://www.snowjapan.com/e/hotel/index-nagano.html Link to post Share on other sites
wiseman 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Thanks guys, i'll just ask a couple of question in this thread rather than starting a new one if that's ok. Who here has actually gone to Hakuba, and what is the average snow depth late December, say around the 25th, the snowchart isn't saying much with only 50-80cm which is hard to beleive, but i'm guessing you're guaranteed better conditions then than what is here in AUS. What is the nightlife like, that is important for me, i'd like to get pissed in Japan. How many foreigners come to Hakuba, many? or do they seem to go to Niseko/Furano etc? Would be nice to see some aussie up there. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Look here for daily reports from hakuba, tons of info on there. http://www.snowjapan.com/e/daily/hakuba-now.php Link to post Share on other sites
wiseman 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 cheers, so Hakuba had a ripper of a season last year then, 270cm in December is HUGE. But then you got times where there is 80cm, I guess you have to take the risk and just go for it. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by Bushpig: taxi? Were you a lurker back then Bushy? I got lots of taxi woes. The Hakuba event involved two taxi's, there and back (Nagano City - Hakuba 47 - Nagano City). It was very early in the season, before the 'official' start and the regular winter bus service was not running, just the bus into Hakuba. I think this was the situation, not sure. Either way, in Nagano I asked the bus driver if he went to Hakuba 47. He told me he did not and that I would need to get a taxi from the train station. My Japanese was not so good. What I now suspect he meant was that he didn't go H47, rather he just went to Hakuba station, from where I would need to get a short taxi ride to the resort. It knew nothing back then and thought Hakuba 47 was Hakuba, one and the same. So I got off the bus and caught a taxi from Nagano station. It cost Y15,000. Before getting the taxi I asked at the tourist info place and the girl was confused, saying that the departed bus indeed went to Hakuba. I had even researched the bus departure times and the kanji for Hakuba and knew something was wrong. I thought the bus driver was just being a prick as 'white horse' or something was written on the front of the bus! I didn't really need to get a taxi as the next bus was in 90 minutes or so. But it was already 9am and the bus ride was about 45 minutes itself. The day was going to be over before I arrived. This was my first day snowboarding, I had bought my second hand Burton the previous day from Powwwwers over a few beers in Shibuya. After getting to the resort and hurting myself for a few long sweaty grunting hours the day was getting late and I had basically not much clue where I was nor where the bus to Nagano was. Plus I was in a pile of first day pain. Hakuba 47 was all but empty as the lifts shut and I was walking down a road looking for a bus, or a town or anything. There were a few lodges and not much more. I saw a taxi and told him I would pay Y10,000 to get to Nagano city. Including shinkansen it was a very expensive day, but,... here comes an old saying,... never give up. The sooner you take the first step the sooner you reach your goal. For what its worth, I still have no idea how to easily and quickly get from Hakuba train station to Hakuba 47 ski resort. I often would get off the bus on the side of the road near a rusty building and a vending machine then walk to Goryu, getting grumbly if I took the wrong road and wasted valuable time back tracking to find the resort. It was one reason I liked Tsugaike; even though it was a longer ride, the bus dropped you off right next to the lifts. I had a similar but not nearly as expensive error on my first trip to Arai a few weeks later. The station that you did not[/i] want to get off the train at is called Arai Something. I was half asleep, woke up, saw the name of the resort and jumped off the train to be left standing in the smallest (and most rusty) town I had ever been in. I eventually found a taxi driver and he took me to the resort which is close to the next station down the line. The taxi was cheap and the driver was a nice guy (as 99% of taxi drivers are in Japan). During the season just ending a group of 7 of us paid 170 euros to get a taxi van back to Chamonix from a Swiss town several valleys away (Praz de Four, at the end of the Selina Glacier). We had no choice at all in the matter and it was part of the plan from the beginning. Back country runs can be very long and deposit you a good distance from home. Link to post Share on other sites
TJ OZ 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by wiseman: What is the nightlife like, that is important for me, i'd like to get pissed in Japan. How many foreigners come to Hakuba, many? or do they seem to go to Niseko/Furano etc? Would be nice to see some aussie up there. Umm. Maybe you best go to Niseko. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by le spud: Quote: Originally posted by Bushpig: taxi? Were you a lurker back then Bushy? No lurking days for me spuddy! Just jumped in feet-first! Thanks for the recount! You don't know how to give a quick summary do you? Nice one, always makes for a good read. Link to post Share on other sites
TJ OZ 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Good story Le spud. It reminded me of the time we wanted to go to Matsomoto castle. We jumped in a taxi at the train station and asked to be taken to Matsomoto castle and he took us to Matsomoto Gasoline Refinery. We looked at the place and thought this doesn't quite look like what we envisaged. We dug into our bags and found a little picture in a brochure of the castle and showed the driver. He thought it was hilarious and drove us for another ten minutes to the castle without charging us any extra. Lots of funny stories of travel mishaps in Japan. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Bushy - quick recounts are for people with no enough time on their hands. Besides, my girlfriend took the dog and went hiking for two days without me. I'm bored. TJ, you lucky bastard. I always wanted to see the Matsomoto Gasoline Refinery. wiseman - Niseko will deliver what you are after, per your specifications above. Link to post Share on other sites
dale#1 1 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 If you want to see some Japanese people as well as the Australians though, might be better somewhere else Link to post Share on other sites
wiseman 0 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Thanks for the help guys, would going to Niseko mean less untracked powder or isn't this kind of thing a problem in Japan. I have noticed Nozawa Onsen, which is also located in Nagano, how is it that there December average is a lot more than other resorts in Nagano, either way it looks interesting, anyone here been there before? Link to post Share on other sites
lin 0 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 wiseman, you'll notice that nozawa is very popular - it's a really nice place. (If you do a search on the forums you'll get a lot of results and as others have mentioned a look through the reviews for a resort will shed a lot of light on the place) Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Niseko will have loads of untracked 20 degree slopes. Those slopes which are steeper will be tracked out and full of hungover sex-starved Aussies, including one driving around on a stolen tractor who thinks he is an ANZAC digger in 1915 Cairo. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Quote: Those slopes which are steeper ?? "The slope", surely? Link to post Share on other sites
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