General observations of the Japan FamAll of the hotels that we toured would be excellent for a Florida Ski Council trip. The rooms had all of the amenities needed with mini-bars, toiletries, single room options, etc. The money is easy as it is about 100 yen to a dollar. There is lots of shopping with the prices similar to US prices, but you can buy most items in the US. The toilets were fun. Many of them were heated and make noises such as running water or birds singing to disguise noises from the next stall. Also there is the traditional toilet of Japan. All of the public toilets were very clean. Actually all of Japan is very clean. Another nice thing about the Japanese is that they don't accept tips. In fact they are insulted if you tip them. So you get excellent service with a good attitude for no extra money. Talk about service, many times the people in the hotel would come outside and wave good-bye to our bus and stay waving until we had totally gone out of site. My one wish is that on my next trip to Japan, I would like to visit Kyoto and to perhaps climb Mt. Fuji. Otherwise it was an excellent Fam. Rhonda Atklin was a great Fam coordinator and kept us all in line. Jason Jansen of Ski Japan Holidays and his helper Chad Stewart were excellent and showed us Japan as we should see it. Bob McErlean also did an excellent job and is very well respected by the Japanese Tourism people and Ski Japan Holidays.
Carla Constantino and Bob McErlean The people from the local government offices and the resorts were outstanding and made us feel so welcome. The people that went on the Fam are very enthusiastic about bring people to Japan in the winter of 2009. By the way I enjoyed the food very much and even learned how to use chop sticks. And, of course, I didn't lose weight! By Clair N. Quenzler, Treasurer, Florida Ski Council
