News just in from our reporters in London and Christchurch: Sloth, Jarmarl and their good friends Mr Fancy and Mr That to embark on mission to find Sookie and Her Old Guitar.
Four years of careful planning (continuously watching the Japan section in Saturation) have gone into this ground-breaking adventure in The Land of The Setting Sun. With such an epic trip in the bag, both Sloth and Jarmarl have been busy preparing themselves. Speaking to Mr Fancy earlier today, he explained about the rigorous (albeit slightly obscure) Bull-Fighting training schedule he has designed exclusively for Sloth.
vs 
Jarmarl, meanwhile has neglected all common sense and gone down the body-building and dietary supplements route, more of which you can read about here. He has also been studying the ancient art of "Wisestupba". Anyone any idea what that is? Find out please.
Tokyo
First things first, the fearless adventurers have got to try and find each other in the sprawling madness that is Tokyo. Fortunately their flights from the UK and NZ are only arriving 20 mins apart, so what could possibly go wrong in that time? Jarmarl on his own in Tokyo? It doesn't bear thinking about! Straight in, no kissing, wasabi all round please. They've got a couple of days to play around the city, eat some bizarre creatures (but no whale thanks) and stock up on tap pants.
Hokkaido
They've got to get themselves on an internal flight to Sapporo (Tokyo Dash thrown in the middle there somewhere - how much luggage can you get in to one Tokyo Subway?). From then on they'll be in the capable hands of Japan Powder Tours.
8 days of deep powder will follow, all the time searching for the elusive Sookie and her old guitar. They shall of course endeavour to recreate as many scenes as possible from the aforementioned Saturation. There'll be no time for Alain on this roadtrip, he's not welcome here. The Hokkaido Powder Tour takes in: the open bowls, gullies and groomers of Niseko; the back-country and steeps of Kokusai and Teine; the secret stashes of Rusutsu; the ungroomed powder fields of Furano and Kamui. They are also around Sapporo at the time of the Sapporo Big Air – where they can watch the big boys (and girls) go bigger than any of us can imagine. Chuck in a trip to an Onsen (Japanese hot springs), plenty of sake and more endless powder and I think they'll be having the trip of a lifetime!
Plenty more to come on this epic journey in the coming weeks - only 9 weeks to go!!! Holy crap, time for some more bull-fighting! Best get the snorkels packed.
Keep up to date with how the season is coming along on this GoneBoarding thread and the snow conditions here. They had 25cm in Niseko last night, bringing it up to 133cm so far. It's only the beginning of December!!! Jeez, we only had 180cm all season at Coronet Peak. 
p.s. can someone make sure he doesn't forget his jacket this time 