I'm on my way to a partner conference in Japan this week. We usually have several hundred people show up for these events in Japan. I'm looking forward to it.

Some of the local slopes opened for skiing over the weekend. Hopefully we'll have a better season than last year.

A few years ago I tried indoor skiing in Japan. What a strange experience it was to walk into, rent everything you need and then be cruising the slopes where the temperature was kept at -4 degrees celsius in a huge indoor facility. There were two detachable quad chairlifts as well as a beginner's lift. There were 3 "slopes" in the complex from easy to more difficult. The more difficult slope was like a decent pitch on an intermediate trail. While the skiing wasn't anything to write home about, the novelty factor sure was! The complex that housed the indoor ski hill no longer exists as it went out of business in 2002.