Sup peepoles,

Ive got 10 days (at least - might decide not to go to Tokyo for a week) in Niseko (Hirafu) from the 18th of this fine March. Im trying to tie up all loose ends before i go and have a few budget related quextions for you lovely helpful forum types.

First off, how much are (rough averages):

Beers (in the shop/ pub)
Whiskey (a bottle from the shop/ a nip in the pub)
General meals (Lunch/ Evening meal)
A pair of Goggles (i fancy some oakley crowbars with yellow hi-vis lenses)

That should about cover it, I cant think of anything else i might need, booze, food and a lift pass (i already have a price for that) and i should be set.

An unrelated enquiry here - do onsens supply towels, or will i need to bring my own. Its space i would rather use to carry boxers.

Thanks mon snowjoggers

Onsens and towels: Only went to one - in a hotel in the big N - yes towels available - you buy your entry tix from a machine, same machine you pay for towel hire and small towel hire - present tix to lovely peeps behind the desk and they will give you towels to use. Not expensive.

Alcohol: Dunno if it is the same for the Scots but we have our alcohol taxed into the luxury bracket here in Aus - and I never realised how MUCH until we were buying booze off the shelf in Kutchan - MAN that stuff is CHEAP!!! If you are feeling poor from forking out $10 a glass in the ice bar (but you get to keep the glass made of ice) then stop in Kutchan or Seicomart or LAwsons and buy yourself a bottle for your room.

Meals: You can go lowbrow or highbrow. We had a swisho evening meal that cost similar to an expensive night out here in Perth, but the teen boys with thier need for constant fuel often grabbed hot fried chicken, hot chips etc from Lawsons for small change. Seriously you can eat on the cheap if you need to.

I can't remember the ACTUAL prices - leave that to one of the locals!!

You can buy a can of beer for 250 Yen and a bottle of scotch for 800.

It that in the shops or in the pub (im talking about the beer)

What you will find is that booze is generally cheep. Couple of years ago, I bought a large bottle of JW Black Label Scotch (with a free mouse) for under $30Aus. Things are a tiny bit more expensive of late, but still way down on the Oz prices for booze! What the ...

Big thing was the vender machines where you can get beers in 750ml and 1L cans (as far as I can recall) - many of them are on the street.

Have a ball, but don't get too wasted at night, the early runs are fabulous!

BTW the cams are showing a fair amount of melt - hope there's a big dump heading in for ya!

melt schmelt! Its gonna be a banger either way! Im used to scottish conditions which are similar to muddy hills with ice cubes resting atop heather...i recon there is some snow coming, but i base that statement on nothing whatsoever

Understand exactly where you are coming from ... several years ago, we were skiing in Oz on a "official snow depth" of just 12 cm.

And the locals in Hirafu a couple of years ago were complaining about the depthy "A miserable 1.4 metres!!" and that was in the village, the top was a heap more! We had a ball.

If you're going to Hirafu, give GoNative a yell, he's a good bloke, tells it like it is and knows a thing or three about the place.

Those are shop prices. A beer in a bar will be about 500 Yen. Don`t turn your nose up at Japanese whisky, it`s not bad at all.

You can get a meal (curry rice, spag bol type) for about 800 Yen.

Japan can be expensive as you wish, but you don`t have to spend a lot if the budget is tight. The snow`s a bit beter than in Scotland too.

Im exited to try the whisky, apparently some of the finer drams are on a par with our fine examples of the good stuff!! Obviously i would be willing to pay extra for good stuff but just looking for a general guide. Looks like its going to be cheaper than france, which is nice.

edit: I almost forgot to ask, what is Japans view generally on smoking/ smokers and how much is a pack of smokes!?

Try this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masataka_Taketsuru

He studied in Scotland, married a nice Scots lass and founded the Japanese whisky industry. WWII gave them hard times but they stuck together.

320 yen for a pack of fags. We are largely free from nazis here, you can still smoke in pubs. I can easily get my Gauloise here, impossible in the UK.

You will need a portable ashtray though. Dumping fag ends is (rightly) a no-no.

cheap fags and no nazis! amazing! life is sweeet! Gauloise were popular in germany when i lived there. Im a regal kid, but those prices are cheaper than on my rig (its tax free in the north sea but still heeafing expensive) so i think i will adopt a japanese variety for my visit.

I`m a geo. Aberdeen was an option that never quite happened. London had as much appeal as having my fingernails drawn without anaesthetic, so I went to Oz. What`s your game?

drilling engineer. in the sea as we speak but there are no anchor handlers avalable and the weather is bad so it looks alot like a week of waiting on weather before i head off to land of rising sun! F-in bonus!

you geologists are a strange breed. Although you probably think the same of us company reps.

Aberdeen is alright...i was brought up here so i have a soft spot for it. Im only in my second year out of uni so i have to stay in this 'lovely' place to go into the office in my time off. As soon as i dont have to. Im straight outie! Who'd you work fo?

Who do I work for? Erm, I'm unemployable. I work for myself, teaching English to children.

I used to work for the CSIRO in Oz. The day they sacked me and six other scientists was the same day they took on 3 journalists. Let's tell the world about the science we want to do. We don't actually need to do science.

In the mining game, drillers were noted for being able to drink a slab (24 cans) of beer before crashing. I hope you shower before passing out

NEVER!!!

im a morning shower'er so it would have to be a very heavy night for that to happen:)

We are all about Oil and gas here in the north sea, but they are also all about not letting us drink at all when on the job/ on the rig - gutted! och weil! its gooder for my health and brain. Yes. Already past the point of no return i fear...

7 sceintists for 3 journos...i know who i would trust more. Companies can be ruthless. You didnt say why you are unemployable though some things are best left unsaid.

Drill ahooooay!

You're a drilling engineer and need to travel on a budget?! I thought you guys earned a good wad of cash...I guess you really are stingy. What are you saving for?

technically, i dont do too bad, although not as much as these day raters that are nipping about (im a salary boy as im new to the game - job security and that). Im not saving, which is the problem, i seem to be living month to month so im just checking how much money i might need. If i was that stingy, would i really bother going to japan to snowboard? I think not:)

Tokyo is expensive for bevvy Al. There are bars dotted around that are cheap for beer, 300 -500 yen for a glass is good. These cheap bars will be populated by many foreigners so if thats your thing just follow the trail. The real trick is finding the local cheap spots, these usually don't look like bars at all but some kind of restaurant...bingo!!! Japanese don't really do bars like we do, if it is in the western style then its usually expensive. You want to hook into the local drinking spots, look for ramen, soba, udon, yakitori yaki niku bars (restaurants). The beer is usually cheap and the food is great!

Convini drinking is great, cheap as chips all round. A word of warning, I'm sure most on here will agree that the cheapest "beer" in a convini should be avoided, for it isn't beer in the real sense. Happoshu is crap and will give u a filthy headache. Sapporo, Kirin Red can or Gold can and Asahi super dry are proper beers.

as for the goggles, check out the shops in Ochanomizu in Tokyo.

I have been practicing for Japan by drinking Asahi (available in asda) and Sapporo (yo sushi) so im up on those two. Kirin, im aware of due to the fact the only cup my (and yours ~TB) beloved scotland has won in recent memory is the Kirin cup. I celebrated that day - i think there were 3 teams in the torny!

By the time i get to tokyo i should have been paid again so i should be alright for expensive booze. Having binged a few times in london im sort of used to pissing my wages up the veritable wall, but cheers for the heads up. One of the guys i work with on the rig's son is going to be out in Tokyo at the same time, so im gonna try and hook up with him and get a bit of local knowledge.

Apparently there is some Anime festival the weekend im supposed to be in Tokyo, so that might be fun...