1. Do the companies that provide you with water sell you the actual water, or just the service? I would assume it would be the water itself, as they charge per liter. Therefore, any recycling of said water, and then charging again for it would be, in a sense – illegal. They are taking the water we paid for, cleaning it and then selling it again. We should get a cut for the water that goes down our drains – if it ends back up at the shower-head.

2. Tests in Japanese high schools are stupid. This may only apply to the school I teach at, but the way students are prepared for tests (English anyway) is ridiculous. Again, this is based upon my personal experience so your opinion may differ. What I remember about tests in ‘High School’ or ‘College’ (that’s what we call it in New Zealand) is that the teacher would tell you that: 1. There is a test and 2. Everything you have learnt in class so far may or may not be in it.

This makes sense, as the purpose of a test is to see how much you have learnt. Now compare it to the tests at my Japanese high school. First, the teacher will tell the students there is a test. Second, what particular section of related textbooks will be covered in the test. The teacher, under the assumption the students are semi-retarded may or may not provide the exact page numbers and/or actual test questions to ensure all of them pass the test.

To be fair to the teachers, the entire education system over here is messed up, so it’s not entirely their fault. They are expected to have an average class score of around 65% to keep people happy. Students in Japan aren’t allowed to fail no matter how stupid they are.

Thats enough ranting for today.

The weather was notably miserable. Non stop rain for the first ~24 hours after arrival. We went up the famous Taipei 101 nonetheless. Obviously there was nothing to see out the window but clouds. The damper was mildly interesting. The elevator was surprisingly fast, about 60kmph if I recall correctly. However, this did not seem to help with the wait to get on it (15 minutes up and down).

The hotel (Hotel New World) was better than I expected. It worked out at about 7000 yen a night. The only bad thing was the mosquitoes. There were at least 15 of the little buggers, and they kept streaming in from somewhere.

We also went clubbing for a few hours (Room 18). Nothing out of the ordinary there. I was playing around with my camera to avoid dancing with anyone and pass the time. It cost about 2000 yen to get in, with one free drink. Kind of a waste of money but the wife wanted to go….

The food in Taiwan was great. The dumplings and pork buns were the best I have ever had. Midnight snacks from the night markets were also really tasty and crazy cheap. I did notice that there was an abundance of fried foods. Not only the usual ones like chicken, but also bread. I even saw someone wrap some fried bread in more fried bread – for breakfast. Not the most healthy food, but damn tasty.

The second best thing about Taiwan was the taxis. They are so much better than taxis in Japan. They are not only significantly cheaper, the cars are newer, have younger drivers (as in not senile) and like all drivers in Taiwan (Or at least Taipei) ignore most of the road signs. Speed limits do not seem to be an issue, nor do red lights or hundreds of scooters. The base charge was $70 (about 200 yen) – the most we were charged for going across the city was around $200 (600 yen)

One other thing that was annoying other than the weather, was the smell. There were so many new smells. Many were pleasant and interesting, but every once in a while I would come across a smell that would make my insides turn. I came across one such smell at a night market, near where they were selling food. Words could not accurately describe this smell, but if you could image a laundry drain pipe (those that have grey gunk sticking everywhere) filled with the remains of a dead animal that had been left in the sun to ripen, you might come close to the intensity of the smell.

It was not an uncommon sight to see dogs lying around the place. Most were sleeping, but a select few were doing their business on the roads or pavements.

This brings me to the most disappointing part of my trip. Prices of electronic / computer products. I assumed that because many of the computer products I buy come from Taiwan, it would mean they would be cheaper. This was not the case. The SD cards and motherboard I was planning on buying cost almost exactly the same as they would in Japan. So, I ended up not buying anything I had planned on buying. This also sucked because when I changed my Taiwanese dollars back to yen, I lost about 4000 yen due to the exchange rate.

To finish up I should talk about the people. I don’t know how to put this bluntly, but I found the Taiwanese to be extremely pushy. For example. when we were lining up to check our photo (in Taipei 101). Two people pushed right past us without even saying a word, to join their friends at the front of the line. The same behavior was apparent with the traffic on the roads. If you need to get somewhere, just push your way through.

These observations are obviously lacking as I was barely there for two days, but you know what they say – first impressions last. If I were to give the trip a rating from 1 to 10, it would be a 5.5.

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/product/X/09wi/#x06ht

Sweet! Definitely getting this phone as soon as it comes out.

So Happy!

30/03 UPDATE

The Softbank website says that you can place your order/reserve the phone at stores from the 1st April.

スタイリッシュなデザインに、3.7インチ有機EL液晶と1GHzの高速CPU「Snapdragon®」を採用したハイスペックなAndroidケータイ。GoogleTMの各種サービスやAndroidマーケットTMが利用可能。Wi-Fi対応

I hope that this will be released early March as I am really wanting to get one. I phoned Softbank asking about a release date and they told me that there are no details available for this device. They indicated that they usually have the phone in the database two months prior to release indicating the phone may be released around June.

Distance from Tokyo: Approximately 200km by car

Resort Details: http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resortdetail.php?resid=50

Resort ‘Category’: Snowboard Park

Resort Rating: 7/10

Resort Value: 10/10

Resort Homepage: http://www.hotakasan.co.jp/hotaka/index.html

Hotaka Bokujyou is a relatively small resort with many features great for snowboarding. The thing I liked most about it was the distinct absence of skiers. It’s also the best in terms of affordability. If you are staying at one of the pensions in the area (I recommend Pension Tsukasa – Booked through Tocoo) you can get a full day pass with a 800 yen food voucher for 2800 yen.

I would recommend this resort to beginners all the way through to advanced snowboarders who are looking for a good area to practice jumps, boxes and halfpipe. They have a lift that runs just the course of the jumps, making it easy to get in many runs without going down the whole mountain.

Unfortunately the snow condition wasn’t too good when I went (Twice in February) but is most likely due to the warmer winter here this year. I am looking forward to going again next year mid winter.

Note that they do not accept credit cards, so take enough cash for the day.

Live Camera

As always, the size is just a little small (L size) but I have little choice living in Japan. It is however, much bigger than my last Jacket – as my wrists would be exposed all the time.

The jacket is really warm, and fairly comfortable.  The only issue I had was with the underarm zips, they would be almost impossible to zip close without taking the jacket off. The zips would always get stuck in the netting. It also gets dirty very easily, obviously because it is white, but there were no other colors available in the store.

I now look like a zebra, everything I wear is black and white.

1. The Board. I picked this up cheap from the winter sports festival in Kaihin Makuhari two years ago. It’s served its purpose of being a beginner board for me. Ill be investing in a better board come next season.

2. Bindings. My original set came with the board, but these broke after one season, so I bought the Burton Freetyle bindings for this year. Much, much better than the previous ones.

3. Boots. Again, I started out with a budget pair when I bought my board. These were fine but would cause immense pain around my ankle bone after an hour or so. So I bought a new pair last month. It was a toss up between Burton (cheaper) and Head (More comfortable) – I went with the Head BOA Classic Black.

Unfortunately the Head insole/liner (inner boot) seams split after the first time down the mountain. Kind of  inexcusable for a new pair of boots. I contacted the Head guys over here and they were happy to repair them but I would have been happier if they replaced them with a new pair.

4. Gear. Just a standard set of clothes and some protection. I have Knee pads, Helmet, and ass pads for protection. Clothing wise, its just a standard snowboarding jacket and Burton Poachers for pants. I also bought some cheap wrist guards for the big jumps, but haven’t tried them out yet.

Looking forward to going again this weekend. Hopefully it will snow sometime this week.