Hi everyone, pleased to meet you.
This is my first post, I'll try not to make myself look like an idiot.
So I only have about two weeks of experience snowboarding but progressed fast thanks to my surfing and skating infused upbringing. I'm doing the whole winter in Niseko and I know (I really hope) I will improve. I am trying to source a snowboard. What is the best way to do this? I have gathered from this forum and a couple friends of mine that it is essential that boots be fitted. So despite living in Western Australia I will go to the one snowboarding shop and get them fitted. What I really wanted to do is buy my board/boards and bindings from Yahoo Auction as they had some excellent second hand and old season gear. Seriously good stuff! and shipping within Japan is cheap. I wanted to pay from Australia and have my gear arrive at my address in Hokkaido before I did (staff accommodation). Is this impossible without a Japanese credit card? I can't do a bank transfer from my Australian account to their Japanese one? Mostly looking at the popular Burton models as they are commonplace on Yahoo and I trust them.
I have explored the option of buying in Sapporo. I would leave my suitcase at Chitose, catch a train to Sapporo and run around for four hours like a headless chook trying to find gear, before returning to Chitose and bus-ing to Niseko. I have looked at many posts and have a series of shopping options mapped out. Of course if you have any retail/shop suggestions I would be very appreciative. I would check second hand places before I looked at the sports stores like xebio etc, Haven't heard much positive about their gear. Of course I am a little worried about this option because I risk not finding anything of quality or in my size etc.
Another option I have considered is ordering from America. I see it is much cheaper but the problem is getting them to ship internationally. I managed to pick my pants, jacket, gloves and goggles up from dogfunk by picking the few brands they were allowed to ship but no luck with snowboards. If you use a third party to ship your gear from the US is it expensive? Can you recommend any companies?
And the final option would be to buy in Niseko but I'm not a millionaire and I don't want brand new gear anyway. It doesn't come with the satisfaction of a hard found bargain. Absolute maximum I would spend on board and bindings would be about 50000 Yen but being my first board I really don't want to spend that much. A friend might, just might, have a short board for me so I'm looking at planks for the powder, maybe a fair sized sherlock or process.
Thanks for your time
This is my first post, I'll try not to make myself look like an idiot.
So I only have about two weeks of experience snowboarding but progressed fast thanks to my surfing and skating infused upbringing. I'm doing the whole winter in Niseko and I know (I really hope) I will improve. I am trying to source a snowboard. What is the best way to do this? I have gathered from this forum and a couple friends of mine that it is essential that boots be fitted. So despite living in Western Australia I will go to the one snowboarding shop and get them fitted. What I really wanted to do is buy my board/boards and bindings from Yahoo Auction as they had some excellent second hand and old season gear. Seriously good stuff! and shipping within Japan is cheap. I wanted to pay from Australia and have my gear arrive at my address in Hokkaido before I did (staff accommodation). Is this impossible without a Japanese credit card? I can't do a bank transfer from my Australian account to their Japanese one? Mostly looking at the popular Burton models as they are commonplace on Yahoo and I trust them.
I have explored the option of buying in Sapporo. I would leave my suitcase at Chitose, catch a train to Sapporo and run around for four hours like a headless chook trying to find gear, before returning to Chitose and bus-ing to Niseko. I have looked at many posts and have a series of shopping options mapped out. Of course if you have any retail/shop suggestions I would be very appreciative. I would check second hand places before I looked at the sports stores like xebio etc, Haven't heard much positive about their gear. Of course I am a little worried about this option because I risk not finding anything of quality or in my size etc.
Another option I have considered is ordering from America. I see it is much cheaper but the problem is getting them to ship internationally. I managed to pick my pants, jacket, gloves and goggles up from dogfunk by picking the few brands they were allowed to ship but no luck with snowboards. If you use a third party to ship your gear from the US is it expensive? Can you recommend any companies?
And the final option would be to buy in Niseko but I'm not a millionaire and I don't want brand new gear anyway. It doesn't come with the satisfaction of a hard found bargain. Absolute maximum I would spend on board and bindings would be about 50000 Yen but being my first board I really don't want to spend that much. A friend might, just might, have a short board for me so I'm looking at planks for the powder, maybe a fair sized sherlock or process.
Thanks for your time