JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba Blog 2013 / 2014
Im jumping on the praise band wagon too. This is prob my fave thread on BW at the moment!
rad rad rad!!
Just caught up on this again, Happo Banks looks sick! Also, those pow pics 
When I win the lottery I’m going to fly those guys out here to build a few bowls at Hotham
Less than one month, can’t wait!! This thread has done an awesome job of keeping me sane waiting to get to Hakuba. Good stuff Marc!
Welcome to BW unremarkable! Head HERE and introduce yourself and tell us about your up coming trip 
Welcome to BW unremarkable! Head HERE and introduce yourself and tell us about your up coming trip
Thanks K2_TeacherBoy! I’ve been reading for a while, just quietly 
This time next week day 1 in Hakuba will be just wrapping up.
Welcome to BW unremarkable! Head HERE and introduce yourself and tell us about your up coming trip
Thanks K2_TeacherBoy! I’ve been reading for a while, just quietly
Good to have more lurkers coming out to post! Thought I forget sometimes that other people actually read our antics in here 
haha
Welcome to BW unremarkable! Head HERE and introduce yourself and tell us about your up coming trip
Thanks K2_TeacherBoy! I’ve been reading for a while, just quietly
Good to have more lurkers coming out to post! Thought I forget sometimes that other people actually read our antics in here
Need to get my fix somehow!! Surf has been good though so that helps
Hey Unremarkable,
Welcome! Standby, I’m about to drop a massive post. Just getting the pics together. 
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Happo Banks Opening Festival!
It was quite the event - we had sunny skies all morning and it was a blast! Loads of people showed up, including these guys from Sydney and Brisbane.
At first Bubbles had a few words.
Gentemstick founder Taro Tamai was on hand, and his son, Tenma had the honour of dropping first…
...but he had a change of heart and Bubbles dropped in first, followed closely by Hoshino-san.
It really felt like a momentous occasion! Everybody was quietly watching.
They exchange a slap
then Bubbles points to the crowd
a final thumb’s up, and he’s off!
After that, the 40 pros on hand started dropping one by one to loud cheers. It was quite the scene.
Tenma drops in
Local legend and Replant Snowboards boss, Goro Komatsu drops in
This sitski dude absolutely killed it! He was doing full layback euro carves all the way through!
This guy held that nosepress for a solid distance for some solid cheers
I tried shooting Hoshino-san on the first bank with a fisheye….In my mind’s eye it seemed like the perfect shot, but in reality it’s quite hard. As he came up to the lip and threw down a massive slash, he sent up a machine gun hail of compacted snow chunks in my direction. The snow I can deal with, the fear of him losing his edge and chopping me in half….that’s another story. Next time, I will shoot from further away with a telephoto!
What can I say? It was a great vibe - just everyone being stoked on turning left and right on piles of snow.
So glad I wasn’t crouching with my fisheye on the edge there! Oi!
Even with a bad back, Taro Tamai can still slash better than me
All smiles after his run
This pro did a super nice 180 butter to 180 out or 360 out..I didn’t see. Whatever it was, it was sick.
Here’s a huge sequence. First the guy with the reddish top does a sick layback slash…then
the next guy comes in and does a 540 on his head! Amazing! (not sure if intentional though…. 
)
This pro photographer had a novel business card case. Good thing in this country nobody finds it offensive
There was an hour-long jam session for the public where ten pros rode around and they had one sticker each to give
to someone who was ripping. Andy cracked the top ten with an indy gap over the middle spine. Hooray for the foreigner!
Bubbles had a rock, paper, scissors contest for prizes
Paper! No, scissors! Crap, I lost straight away
choosing a prize
Happo One gave away some lift and onsen tickets with another rock, paper, scissors contest
What a day!
Looks like an awesome day Marc, great pics!
I working there last year and there for the opening, but sadly it was dumping rain lol.
We still had fun though, they just carried on with it the best they could.
Dang, that was awesome Marc! I wanna ride that banksss
Epic!!!!!
And they say that Snowboarding is dying?????
Soo epic marc
Getting me sooo hyped I fly out for Japan on friday 