Snowboard hire for bigfoots (size 13+)

[DoubleSupercool]

Kind of an incoming JET's question, but thought the people here might know more.

I am coming back to Japan after 10 years and am bringing all my snowboard gear (including boots/bindings) with me but am not sure about bringing the actual board. I learnt in Japan but looking back, the boards were *definitely* not wide enough, resulting in toe/heel drag = a nightmare (especially when learning). The thing is, my board is pretty much a 2nd hand cheap beginner board, so shipping to/from will easily cost more than the board.

So, the questions for the bigfoots out there are:

a) What's your experience (if any) of hiring boards wide enough for you?
b) Did you bring your own board?
c) Did you buy in Japan or buy OS and ship it to yourself? What was the cost like for either?

Cheers, big ears.

[phoenixphreak]

I brought my boots from home, but bought everything else second hand here. I found one really crummy small board which had 'okay' bindings, then a longer also 'decent' board that is close enough to the right size for me. After moving the bindings over, I was out no more than 8000 Yen. Which is maybe a bit much if I was buying a similar condition board back in the states, but for here it does me well enough.

[DoubleSupercool]

Cheers mate, thanks for the info. There is a combination deal for sending over boxes and snowboards here that I found, so it might be worth it just to avoid hassle over there. And I am all about avoiding hassle . . .

[positivity]

I've never hired myself in Japan, but my big-footed friends never seemed to have much of a problem when going to the medium/large size ski resorts. They seem to factor in that the odd giant/foreigner will come. Though if there is a big group of you who are big footed and you are going to a small/medium size resort you may find it a little tricky.

In terms of buying new, I never looked for boots as I brought my own over but I was looking for a board and I found that they had a so-so selection of wide boards in Tokyo but if you are looking for a mid-wide board you are gonna struggle. Also, judging by the selection of boards, freestyle seems to be much more popular than freeride so if you are looking for a broad-choice like you would find in Europe/North America then you'll be outta luck.

[Nicky_FukuiPA]

What our JETs often do for larger sizes is call ahead to the rental place. That way, the limited number of larges boards or boots won't run out. Also, if there aren't any in stock, the shop will often order stuff in the right size or will be able to suggest another place for you to rent. And, yes, larger places are much more likely to have special sizes in stock.