Snowboard In Japan

We’re getting very close to our departure date for this years trip to Furano.  This week has been a whirlwind of activity including finalising and paying for our internal flights from Tokyo to Sapporo, exchanging some AUS$ for Yen, filming some more footage for the DVD and website, organising and creating an inventory for all our camera gear, fine-tuning our shot list, filming instructions and interview instructions.  These are checklists we will be using as we film footage in Furano.

The exchange rate between AUS$ and Yen is quie good at the moment.  You can currently get about 80 yen to the dollar.  This time last year, you would have been lucky to get 50 yen for every dollar you exchanged.  You can check the rate at www.xe.com but keep in mind you will always get slightly less than what is quoted at that website as your bank, or foreign exchange company will take a margin as profit.

You can currently get great deals on internal flights within Japan with JAL and ANA if you are a foreign visitor.  You will pay about 50% of the cost you would normally have top pay if you present an international flight booking reference number upon booking your internal flights.  Check the JAL and ANA websites for further information.

Current snow depth at Furano is 155cm – and remember this is all powder.  Adding to this the fact that Japanese mountains get an annual snowfall of 11-14 metres we look set for a bumper season, and poised to capture some great snowboarding action on film.  Keep track of Furano snow conditions here.

We have also spent the last week creatingand editing additionl video footage for the documentary and website.  All our videos will be uploaded to our YouTube account snowboardinjapan.  You can view and subscribe to our channel here.  All these videos are linked to this website and also available on the Videos page above.   

You can read the top 5 reasons to snowboard in japan here.