gkanai

Just curious- you'd rather have a two-step release? And where would you put the release if not on the base?

Now Pilot. I bought the 2021-22 model. Very nice binding for carving and not as stiff as the O-Drive which is Now's stiffest. https://www.now-snowboarding.com/men/234-pilot.html

Interesting new binding from Nidecker coming fall 2022. Nidecker Supermatic bindings

Found a used F2 Eliminator LTD in 167. Not sure what year this is tbh. The base is in good condition but I will have it tuned/structured/edges sharpened before I use it. I plan to use my Now Pilot bindings on this. If anyone has ridden this board and has opinions, would love to hear them. Thanks in advance.

Freestyle/park riding is also quite popular in Japan. Japan has a number of top freestyle/pipe boarders at the international level too including Ayumu Hirano who has won two silver medals at two Olympics in the halfpipe.

I don't know for sure- I think it has to do with a few things. Japan was fairly early to jump onto snowboarding, only a few years after the sport launched, since Japan is a big winter sports country. Back in the early years of snowboarding, carving was much more prominent (if you remember the old Burton PJ boards, F2 had their Speedster race boards, Raichle had their hard boots (which are now the Deeluxe) etc. And so I think carving never went out of style in Japan. There's a lot of groomed runs in Japan and while Japan/Hokkaido is now famous for powder and off piste, I think snowboard racing and carving has always had it's place. When you see how many Japanese manufacturers make carving boards (Moss, Ogasaka, BC Stream, Gray, Yonex, etc.) it's clear that the carve/race market is vibrant even with 1/3 the population of the US. I ended up posting all of the pics to this thread, so no need to go to Imgur.

There's a district in Tokyo that has a lot (probably 20+ stores, I'm not kidding) of sports gear stores (Kanda/Ogawacho area) and this was just two stores. I was on the hunt for some bib pants for the kid and didn't have time to shop carving gear but I plan to go back so will visit more stores and take better photos.

A few photos from a few stores in Tokyo recently: More images here: https://imgur.com/a/gJ0SCxu

Not sure if this was shared here yet or not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cva3OtCFidI

Great photos! Please take more! I hope to carve in Italy someday.

Thanks Jack! Likewise :D

Thanks! I'll be in touch re: TD2s.

Dude- that would be awesome! Morning? Afternoon? I need to juggle my schedule around so let me know. Ore no keitai wa: zero hachi zero, san yon zero zero, ichi kyuu ichi zero desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Gecko, thanks for your ideas. I am not ex-pat or mil, unfortunately. I could have my family bring over a board but I'd have to move Immediately and I'm not sure that I'm ready to buy just yet. Maybe I'll browse Ochanomizu this weekend. If you're free and are willing to guide me, I'd love your help.

Hey folks, I've been away from hard boots for 2 years, but am jonesing for them once again. Right now I'm on a Volkl Cross 167 (boardercross) with soft boots. I love the board but I cant carve as deeply as I want to. As an aside: can my Volkl Cross support a TD2? My last hard setup was a Mistral with Burton Races and Raichle 225s. I had a 169cm Burton Alp that I liked. I also had a mid 90's F2 race board that kicked my ass all over the mountain. That thing was so damn stiff. My first board was a '91 AsymAir with Flex bindings. Damn I loved that board. Anyway, I'm thinking about a 17x cm freecarve board. I'm also 220#s. Any advice would be appreciated. Should I be going longer than 17x? I'm going to order some TD2s, but barring that, I'll shop for board and boots here in Japan. Fin- do you remember me from way back when? 1993? Copper? Gen (in Tokyo)

Cool! Thanks for the offer. I dropped you an email. Sunday may/may not be good. I'll try to reach you on Sat to confirm either way.

I need to visit your hill and go riding with you because I can't seem to get my heelside down well. I'm much more comfortable with my toeside. One problem is (I think) that my angles are such that I am dragging either boots or bindings. I had a few falls up at Shizukuishi where I was really moving on my heelside and the board just jumped out from under me and I went spinning on my back like a turtle. My friends loved it :D So I am going to crank the angles and maybe get a new set of hard boots/bindings too. I think this Volkl Cross can take them.

The side-attachment (rather than heel-toe) seems to make them even more suitable for hardboots, where the main forces are side-to-side rather than heel-to-toe. Hmm... I'm not sure I agree with you here. If edge to edge quickness is paramount in racing, then wouldn't you want the lever point to be as close to the edge as possible? I think for freeriding, where slop is almost a good thing, the Switch design is fine. I think it would be tough to create a really stiff plate binding if the lever points were near the center of the binding, rather than at the edges. --- Unrelated to this, I took your advice and prowled the myriad of snowboard shops near Jimbocho and Shin-Ochanomizu. My god that is a lot of stores! It was like some kind of snowboard retailing nirvana (aside from the high prices.) I found a helmet in XXL (after a LOT of searching) and only one decent race board shop- selling mostly F2s and Raichle/Deeluxe. No Cateks or Bombers yet.

Very cool! Thanks for the info. I will get in touch the next time I visit Tochigi-ken. Can you email me your info or leave a comment on my site? (it's in my sig) Thanks!

whoa checkout these Japanese race boards

Cool! Are there any legendary resorts in Japan for carvers? Like a Buttermilk or Whistler? As I am based in Tokyo, I'm a tad limited to say Gunma, Nagano, Iwate, etc. but would love any recommendations on places to hit this winter. Also, if you know of any good carving stores in Tokyo (or in Japan period) I'd love to know about them. I know next to nothing about Tochigi-ken. What's cool to ride out there? Thanks! Gen

Any Tokyo (or Japan)-based carvers on this board? Would love to pepper you with some questions....