Big Air Snowboard Park, Fukuoka , Japan - Fukuoka - TravBuddy

Well, I was going to write a blog of my whole japan trip, but i'm at work right now, and just decided this would be quicker. In general, I am a pretty avid snowboarder. I ride big mountains, and go 20-40 days every season. As a result when I was on my 16 day Japan vacation, I remembered hearing about how they had indoor snowboarding available. I happened to be visiting the city that had this, Fukuoka, so I decided to try it. I did not bring any gear with me, but it is not a problem, since the facility rents everything you need including jacket, pants, and gloves. Prior to visiting, I went on their website and printed out a web coupon that gave you about 50% off of the rental fee(which is about $20 normally, but $10 with the coupon). The fee to use the slope was about $25 for the first 2 hours and then progressively cheaper after that. I believe it was around $40 for the whole day. The prices were even lower if you were a member. The thing is that the facility is rather small, so 2 hours is enough in my opinion. Any longer and you will start getting bored. The slope is between 60-70 meters long(about 200-250 feet long) and about 25-35 meters wide(80-100 feet wide) it has the steepness of a really easy blue run or a harder green run on a normal mountain. The facility is intended for snowboarders who enjoy riding park. Though it is not very big, they had a decent amount of terrain features. The run had 1 quarter pipe(about 8 ft tall) 1 jump(about 15 feet across and 6 feet tall) 2 rails, and 1 box. Before arriving, I was under the impression that most of the people visiting would not be any good, and that my amazing skills would impress everybody. Boy was I wrong... I was surprised at the skill levels of the locals(granted they had their own boards and I was on a rental so it took me a few runs to get my bearings). The locals began throwing 180s and 360s without even warming up. I, on the other hand, had to take about 5-8 runs before I began trying spins(though i did jump the jump my 2nd run... the 1st was just a "scoping out" run) First I started out by doing half cabs(switch front side 180s, where I jump the jump going switch( backwards) and do a 180 to bring myself forwards). After a few of those, I worked up the courage and threw a few 360s... really was surprised, considering this year I didn't even do any 360s in the normal park all year(I barely even rode park, chose to ride big mountain free riding instead, as I love powder more than anything). Once I got up to my 360s I was happy, since I was doing the biggest trick anyone else in the park was doing... then I had to be shown up by 1 guy. There was one local there who started throwing rodeo flips(back flip with a rotation). I was surprised. Props to them. Anyhow, I rode for about 90 minutes and took off to finish my day of site seeing. Overall, i spent about $35 and had a pretty good time... I can now say I have tried indoor skiing... I would say its a neat novelty... especially if you get a craving to go snowboarding mid-summer and do not want to pay to go to the southern hemisphere or to whistler or mt. hood. I would recommend it to anyone who is visiting the area, though I would not take a trip just for the purpose of indoor snowboarding. there are 2 pic attached for this review. Would have taken more/better ones, but the camera died due to the cold weather(it was low on battery and the cold air from the a/c made it die... as soon as we left the building and warmed it up, it worked again for the rest of the day).