ghostofwar 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 I personally was not around for the beginning of this thing in any country, but First Descent told us all the story of the snowboarding REVOLUTION... in America and parts of Europe. Basically what I got out of this movie was: snowboarding was originally rejected and looked down upon, snowboarders were banned from the lifts in the 80's/early 90's, etc. Then, whoops, snowboarding is cool all of a sudden and the snow industry does a 180 to cash in on the popularity. What was the story in Japan? Did they embrace and accept it right away or was there an initial rejection here as well? Anybody been here that long? Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 no, there are still places that don't allow boarders. But I assume it took a very similar route in that many places did a big 180 when they saw there was money in it. Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Just a few resorts are now skiers-only, and they use it as one of their 'selling points'. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 yep, but the fact it still remains, shows that it was never wholly embraced from the start. It happen just like everywhere else. Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Well I don't think it would be seeing as though it was a totally new thing introduced to an already developed market. It would be surprising if it was totally accepted right away. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 yeah agreed. But that was the original question from ghostofwar right? Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 So it was! I don't know how fast the uptake was compared to other countries. My guess might be "slower". Link to post Share on other sites
ghostofwar 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 ok but was the japanese response more like "WTF is this new thing?" or was it the openly hostile reaction that american snowboarders seemed to face from the ski industry? Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 I think it was just, "you can't come here" "Why?" "Because that's the way it is" "But Why?" "Because that's just how it is." "But why? Is it written anywhere I can't use a snowboard here?" "No." "Then Why not??" "Because that's the way it has always been" "But..." ... Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 actually, one place down this way finally changed to allow boarders only about 4 years ago. They were trying the old "Skiers only is a selling point" trick, but financially it screwed them and they were forced to change. Link to post Share on other sites
snobee 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Bushy - Still is! Tenguston is a boarder free zone on weegenz. Atmosphere is like "Hey, everyone must be working today, coz this place is em-pi-tee." But across the hill at Mizuho it's like, "Shit look at that guy he's using 2 thin boards" "No, no - that's called skiing. Some old people do it do keep their joints from freezin'up" Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted February 6, 2007 SnowJapan Admin Share Posted February 6, 2007 I used to work for a small family resort here in Yuzawa called NASPA. Since they opened in the early 90's, they have always been skiers-only. Their main market is families and when I was doing marketing work for them that was one of the things that they emphasised and it worked (and still works) quite well for them. The fact is that a fair few guests at NASPA choose that resort because it is skiers-only (I say this after talking to many of them). Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Quote: Originally posted by snobee: Bushy - Still is! Tenguston is a boarder free zone on weegenz. Atmosphere is like "Hey, everyone must be working today, coz this place is em-pi-tee." But across the hill at Mizuho it's like, "Shit look at that guy he's using 2 thin boards" "No, no - that's called skiing. Some old people do it do keep their joints from freezin'up" Yeah I know Tenguston still is. Was actually thinking about Daisen though. Also Kenmin no mori used to be skiers only, but I think they canned that too a few years back. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 BTW Snobee, you gettin over this way at all this year? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Some resorts in this area (I heard) were really open to snowboarders and found it as a way to get more people going. Yuzawa Park a small resort was one of the first I believe and they became really populat with snowboarders. Once most places allowed boarders though they went to the bigger and better places. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Didn't someone mention last year some place in Nagano that is snowboarders-only? Link to post Share on other sites
number9 0 Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Parks seem to have revived some of the smaller resorts when they put in the effort to design and maintain them well. That's thanks to snowboarders (skiers didn't start going into parks until later..) They should be thankful. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Quote: Originally posted by pie-eater: Didn't someone mention last year some place in Nagano that is snowboarders-only? it's the same thing with skiers only. The resort will die if they are exclusively for one or the other. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 >skiers didn't start going into parks until later. ummm, yeah, sure... Link to post Share on other sites
KRUSTY 2 Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 In the early 90's I had to get a Snowboarding license at the Ski School at Happo and also at Kurohime. I think it cost about 1000yen for an Instructor to watch you ride and if you passed you got a laminated card with your photo which would allow up some of the higher lifts. Also got chased a couple of times by patrol at Shiga Kogen for riding in skier only areas. At that time I worked in an area that allowed boarding and during a lunch break me and a friend decided to see what would happen if we snowboarded down an area run by another company that didnt allow boarding. We nearly made it to the bottom of the run but my mate got taken out by one patroller and when I stopped to check on him another grabed me. They were pretty angry but it must of looked funny as we were also wearing Patrol uniforms. They made us walk the rest of the way to the lift and escorted us back to where we worked. Our boss seemed to think it was funny but told us not to do it again so I didnt till a few years later and that time I made it to the carpark after being chased by a guy driving a groomer and he got out and ran up to me in the carpark and started screaming. Now days its easy when theres a group of your friends who ski and board but back then the options were limited so quite often if I was with friends who skied Id ski as well so we could all ride the whole hill together. Link to post Share on other sites
snobee 0 Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Bushy - Was up over New Years. 2days Mizu, 2days Utopia 1day Tengoodstones. Caught the end of that first real dump of the season - but then it friccin rained and warmed up an....and....AND! Haven't been back coz too much money to throw away and timing wise missed the dump of last week. Altho had a cold turkey sniff at the lil' dinky Tokushima Ikawa course with the kid. New snow & relatively few peeps for a freezing Saturday. Just a bit boring after 15mins. BTW when I was at Mizuho in Jan. asked 2 lots of foreigners if any of them was a bushpig or knew one. Errr.....no. Next time. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Sorry mate, I was in Hakuba over new years. Next time you are going PM me and I'll see if I can get up there Although it's looking real doubtfull for the rest of this season Link to post Share on other sites
mumbojumbo 0 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 How good does it usually get down there in a normal season? Decent snow or always not as good as places say in Nagano etc? Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 a normal season has plenty of snow, but lasts a little shorter than a place like Hakuba. The biggest difference is the mountains themselves. The biggest resorts down this way are fairly small by comparison to anything in Hakuba or northern Japan. Link to post Share on other sites
mumbojumbo 0 Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Thanks Bushpig. So pretty low on snow all season down there this time round I suppose? Link to post Share on other sites
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