Hi All!
Crayon - I'm diving with an outfit named "Umitaro". "Umi" means "ocean" in Japanese. They have a little inn in Futo, Izu. They're a really nice group. I think they have multiple locations.
glbirch - There is a lot of good diving here, from what I hear. Especially down in Okinawa. My only dives so far, my training dives, took place off of the Izu peninsula, East of Tokyo. It's about a 4 hour drive from Kofu (where I live). I have nothing to compare it to, but it was quite beautiful. Japanese divers also travel frequently to Guam, Saipan, Palau, and Hawaii. I'll probaby be saving my pennies and spending most of my time in Izu or heading down to Okinawa. But trips to Guam seem to be pretty reasonable, and I've seen some awesome pictures from there!
jpbeck - Bullseye on both points... expensive and fun! Done quite a bit more investigation on the price differences between Japan and elsewhere, and it seems that the difference is almost exactly double, item for item. Sooo.... I can beg/borrow/steal/save $2000 to get started, or only $1000. If you do find the guy who said diving is cheap, smack him a coupla time for me, ok?
Really looking forward to getting back in that water!
Joel
