Harold, thanks for your reply. Your rec last season for the FR9.5 seems to work fine for me. Apart from a bit of small movement after they wore in, I really like these boots. The new Heads sound interesting, though since I just splashed out last season I'll stick with the FRs for a little longer. Getting the Conformable custom liners plus skis is my budget's limit this season.
Actually my question was about the stiffness and basically the difference of two different types of Conformable foam custom liners, not actual boot stiffness. I'm assuming your response re soft/stiff boots was referring to the boot itself or the liners since you never referred to the liners and your subject was about boot stiffness.
So, back to my question about which Conformable to get. What would you recommend for my level of skiing (as per my first post)? I'm hoping there's a choice here between the 2 Conformable models, but there might not be.
By the way - we're in the dark ages out here, and with my limited experience it's like the blind leading the blind! Thank god for you guys! Unfortunately I'm not likely to be able to get aligned properly until I can eventually have time and funds to come and do a Harb camp in some future season. The best I have is Conformable footbeds. Japan is not big on alignment (racers, or course would have it, but I have no idea where they do it, more than likely not in Tokyo, but closer to the slopes). My lack of the language doesn't help either.
JC - I don't speak much Japanese, but definitely a bit more than you
- Tokyo is easier to get by with in English than other places, but it depends. More people speak English here, but millions don't. But they tend to love tourists in general, so you'll always get some kind of help if looking for directions. The Aikikai HQ must be the one in Shinjuku.
Julianne