Well over the past couple of week i have been working hard to save some coin and buying the odd lotto ticket with high hopes. With the exchange rate not looking so great at the moment im going to try have about $5000 in the bank just to live off and another couple for well, skis and cameras etc… Ive chosen a k2 179 hell bent because i got it cheap off a mate, so heres hoping its a good plan. Ive also got a pair of 189 obsethed, and cant decide weather too take both or just the hell bents.

Well as the other others, Pete, I basically can’t wait although have been scatching my head over a couple of important issues, what ski/skis to take and how much does it take to survive in Japan on a cheap budget? Well the first one has been on the minds of myself and luke for a few weeks the decision is hard, do you go for the reverse camber noodle or the hard charging fatty? more updates to this question i’m sure will follow, to the other question, doing a little bit of math, apparently i’m the one who does this well, everything bar flights and big purchases, ie more skis if you mess up the first question or electronics rememeber we are going to the home of cheap electronics and it would be rude not to buy anything, it will probably cost just over 100 NZ dollars a day, so the month about $3500 should do it, now the only thing left to do is go out and win Lotto!

So when people plan to go to Japan for skiing, I believe the majority of them will choose either Niseko or Hakuba. There are so many other nice resorts in that country such as Shiga-kogen, Zao, Nozawa, Yuzawa.

Niseko is in Hokkaido, the northern most island, 2 hours south of Sapporo, which is the capital of Hokkaido and 2 and half hours away by bus from the Chitose International Airport. Normally the flight is around 20,000 Yen from Tokyo=Haneda domestic airport to Chitose, at the moment 1 NZ$ is about 75 Yen, you do the math. Of course there are discounts and cheaper flight, especially if you purchase the ticket 4 weeks prior to your flight. Some of the domestic airline has English website as well.

Niseko is a group of 3 skifields next to each other on the side of the mountain, Annupuri. there are more than 30 chairlifts all combined and covers a spacious area.

The snow is awesome, the town of Hirafu is small enough to get around on foot, lots of bars and restaurants with english menu, nice place if you are looking for some convinience in terms of the language.

But, hey, we are going to Hakuba, in Nagano prefecture. It is about 4-5 hours away by bus from the centre of Tokyo called Shinjuku, the place that never sleep with so many bars, restaurants, shops, gangs, mafias, prostitutes, drug dealers, pimps, well, I’ll get to talk about this place in a later post…

Hakuba is situated in the part of the Nortern Japan Alps. these photos were taken in 05, Mid-April when I went to Tsugaike-Kogen near hakuba for a hike one day, still plenty of snow as you can see.

Hakuba is known as the venue for the Winter Olympics in 90’s, once you get there you see the big jump course and stuff which reminds you of the times. By the way Hakuba means “White Horse”. Don’t know where that comes from, maybe able to find out along the way, I’ll let you know.

so we are busy partying at the moment in queenstown, the party capital of new zealand. we are not just getting wasted like you imagine, but we are busy spreading the word of this epic travel to japan to other powder hounds in an envoironment like this where alcohol can easily blur their decision making process so that they say yes without thinking too much of their financial situation ot usual “oh i don’t know…” that kind of negative attitude. sometimes you need a shove on your back from someone to get started. believe me, it’s going to be good, i’m not going to lie to you…

Well it would seem that the others do care, well at least one of the others. I’m luke and I’m  from Glenorchy and have been working up Coronet for a few seasons patroling along with Pete the other guy who’s apparently coming to japan and Toshi. this trip has been a few years in the making and finally it looks like its going to happen thanks to Toshi who knows how to get out of Tokyo airport and get us very lost in the process. The ticket’s are cheaper if you are under 26 which the other two old men aren’t so well travel in style with Air New Zealand and hopefully drink the difference between the two flights because there has got to be flip side of traveling with a more expensive airline. Heres to skiing blower pow in a few months

So the boys went down to United Travel in town united travel and saw a friend of ours who works there, Sally, and booked their flights already. So keen, aren’t they?

Their itinerary is:

26/Jan/09 5:40am Christchurch - Aukland on NZ500
          9:30?am Christchurch - Narita, Tokyo on NZ99

26/Feb/09 18:30 Narita, Tokyo - auckalnd on NZ90
          ??:?? Auckland - Christchurch

And the airfare is $2320, fuel surcharge etc all inclusive, I could be wrong, though…

So if you are in Queenstown and thinking about the same sort of trip, just contact Sally and she will look after you. Don’t forget to mention of this site if you go see her!

United Travel is situated in the corner of Shotover Street and Camp Street, at the main roundabout in town, right across The Station Building, in Clocktower Centre, the ground floor.

Sally Mackaness
Ph: (03)442 9815
Email: sally@queenstownunited.co.nz

as the other authors don7t really seem to care about this blog….

Oh well, anyway, let’s get the show going.

So, me, “Toshi the japakiwi”, from Tokyo, Japan, living in New Zealand for 8 years now. Telemark skiing, tramping (treking), climbing and mountain biking is my passion as well as making videos about lots of things…

This time am taking a few Kiwi boys to the land of the rising sun and am quite exited about that!

So I, and a few others as well hopefully, set up this blog for a reson, and that is to show you how we plan a ski trip to Japan in Feb, 09′. And along the way we want to disclose whatever we find out about anything we need and want to know about anything about the place we are heading to.

I reckon you can break down into these, “who?”, “where?”, “what?” and “how?”

Who are going? – Me(Japakiwi) plus 3 kiwis (as far as we know so far)

Where are we going? – Tokyo(my home away from home) and then Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture in Central Japan.

What are we doing? – POW! skiing

How long? – 3-4weeks around Feb.

How much is it going to cost? – That’s a very good question and we will find out from now on.

These are the key points at the first stage of organising a trip. So we will slowly start out investigating each of the points above, hopefully, with a lot of help from other authors…

Nowadays you must have heard of legendary powder if you like any of the winter sports. You must have read an article in a paper, magazine or through your mates who already have been there. It’s been a hidden secret until, say, 5 years ago then the word on the streets down under has spread out throughly and now everyone’s talking about it. So, why not, go check it out.

Still there are so many things that we don’t know. Thought it is a bloody good idea to record and leave in this blog, all the things we go through when planning a ski trip to Japan. There may be an useful information for you if you are thinking likewise…