Japan 23/24 Season

[powfiend]

Definitely quicker to take the shuttle bus to Hakuba from Nagano station than the slow train. Or rent a car in Nagano as the ski bus situation in Hakuba is very much less than ideal, stupid crowded, expensive @1200 yen pp round trip and fairly limited schedule. I don’t think I’d go back to Hakuba without a car. North end of the valley (Cortina, Tsugaike) are better for storm day skiing and Happo, 47 better for side country/taxi runs if weather and stability line up.
Nozawa is better for accommodations, cultural experience, food. But as far as terrain goes doesn’t compare to Hakuba. That being said, Hakuba barely feels Japanese any longer, food is mostly subpar and very difficult to get a table most places. Nice hotels are expensive and affordable ones are mostly run down so between the 2 I guess it just depends on what type of experience you’re after

[jackattack]

Interesting comments. I’ve read through the last couple of pages. We’re just starting to plan for next winter and a friend is recommended a guide service in the Tohoku region. I’m not familiar with any specific region or guides.

We’ll be a group of 3-4 couples but all capable skiers. We’re interested in pow skiing and as much vertical as possible as long as the snow is good. We’ll also be looking for good authentic food experiences, reasonable accommodations, hot springs, etc. We don’t have a rigid timeframe at this point.

Any suggestions for region and/or guided/unguided?

[gaijin]

I know of a few guiding ops, and used to (kind of still do) guide myself. There are also some cat operations that are fairly low-key. I'm based in Yamagata and know it really well. So feel free to reach out whenever if you're looking at this area. I also have my toes in the food/hotel world around here. But I know of guides in Hakuba, too, for you. As well as north of Yamagata, in Aomori, Akita, and Iwate.

What are some conceivable dates/months? IMO, the ski season changes fairly drastically through the year and different regions are different experiences.

And what towns/resorts specifically are you considering?

I always break it down most simply and generically like this--
Pow specific-- Hokkaido. (and or, early season specific)
Bigger Lines specific-- Hakuba. (and or, mid-late season specific)
Culture specific-- Tohoku. (also better mid-late season.)

For resorts-- it's nice to have a local guide just show you the ins and outs your first day, especially if it's a storm cycle and you can't see more than a few feet in front of you. That is, if you're hunting forest lines that may be obscure. But if you have time to relax, then most resorts are pretty easy to figure out.
For the cat ops, you will most likely have a guide service available.
Full BC touring has a whole other set of challenges that definitely benefit from a guide.

Most of the guides I know operate at resorts until late season when the snowpack settles down and the sun comes out.

That said, there is also a big tourism boom from SE Asia for people who simply want to see and experience winter. They don't even ski and/or barely ski. Those guiding ops have expanded to cover hiking to frozen waterfalls, snow-shoeing, etcetera. So, booking a ski guide might become an issue if you wait too long. The Chinese are notorious for double or triple booking hotels and restaurants and guides and then cancelling what they don't want at the last minute. This infuriates companies and there are emerging non-refundable reservations.

All in all, Tohoku is generally fairly country-side and lacks the hustle and bustle of the heavier "ski tourist" destinations... meaning if you have time and patience, you can function within the ski resorts very comfortably without a guide (whose secondary job aside from snow, is getting you around the masses.)

[tgapp]

bumping this thread, flights to Japan out of SLC are dirt cheap right now. a few questions -

1. Is end of January a decent time to ski?
2. Is it better to rent a car or just take trains everywhere?
3. Is flying into Tokyo okay, especially if we plan on doing some general sight seeing for a while?

Sorry for asking some stupid easy questions I'm just sleep deprived and hoping the community can help me with some basic info so I can impulse buy cheap tickets asap

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[Blaster]

Do it. I’m no expert but that seems reasonable. We did the first two weeks of feb. Flew in and out or Tokyo, enjoyed a few days of sightseeing there before training to Nagano area to ski Nozawa Onsen and Mt Myoko. It was easy to get shuttles to resorts and the side country touring offered enough options we didn’t regret not having a car to go further afield. Being February we did have to chase aspects to avoid some sun cooked snow but very manage. I’m sure there are many other ways to do trips there but what we did worked well for us.

[m2711c]

End of January beginning Of February can be excellent.

The trains don’t go everywhere. No matter where you go it’s easy to rent a car. Some combination of the two will do you well.


Tokyo is the easiest place to fly into. Some skiing is nearby. Some skiing is quite a ways away.


any more questions?


you gonna bring the kid with you? Japanese love kids. An RV might work better with The kid than schlepping in and out of hotel rooms on the regular.

[gaijin]

I’ll keep it simple for you—

Book the flights into Tokyo. Then spend the coming months slowly filling in other logistics.

Don’t sweat where or how you’ll ski. Just book those cheap Tokyo flights when you see them.

Your trip will lay itself out for you over the coming months.

1– late January is storm season. Depends on you. You can’t really fail for skiing, but you might not plan well enough and get frustrated for travel.

2– trains are easier deeper in the city. Cars are easier out of the city and also more flexible. I have a car, so I never travel by train. I can’t think of a situation where I’d prefer no car. Especially since I advise that you take time to cool down in Tokyo.

If I were any foreigner, I’d fly into my desired location (Tokyo or Sapporo) and then rent a car, and take 1-3 days off to adapt.

3- fly into Tokyo and plan 2-3 days at each end to enjoy that engineering marvel. Tokyo is a destination in of itself. Don’t skip that part of your Japan experience. It’s a phenomenal way to cool down after a flight and to cool down after a ski.

PS— skip Niseko. Fly into Tokyo, take it easy, drive to Hakuba after a few days. Ski casual or insane lines, enjoy the mountain culture, drive back to Tokyo and enjoy that world. And if you’re traveling with a baby (which is quite common) cars provide much more comfort and freedom.

All of your destinations are visible via Google maps on your iPhone. You’ll be fine driving around. It’s intimidating, until you realize this is 2024 and our screens are smart as fuck.

Also- a friendly mom informed me in the airport that "Nobody cares that your baby is crying. Don't stress that." I still remember her piece of advice to this day because she was right. Nobody cares. Well-- no valuable contribution to society cares, anyway. And yes, all of your destinations will be absolutely stoked that you're traveling with a baby and will go above and beyond to accommodate you. You'll get the red carpet treatment.

[TahoeJ]

Tokyo is definitely worth spending a few days checking out. Even if you then go back to the airport and fly to Hokkaido.

[neufox47]

bumping this thread, flights to Japan out of SLC are dirt cheap right now. a few questions -

1. Is end of January a decent time to ski?
2. Is it better to rent a car or just take trains everywhere?
3. Is flying into Tokyo okay, especially if we plan on doing some general sight seeing for a while?

Sorry for asking some stupid easy questions I'm just sleep deprived and hoping the community can help me with some basic info so I can impulse buy cheap tickets asap

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

We might cross in the airport. Wife and I are arriving 2/1 and leaving 2/12.

Question for the experts. With only 12 days and the wife’s strong desire to do site seeing and my strong desire to ski and our mutual desire to eat great food, we have loosely arrived at a plan of flying into Tokyo, spend a few days, go to Kyoto, then fly to Sapporo and ski the last 4-5 days, flying out of Sapporo back to the states. Is this a good plan? We originally planned on flying in and out of Tokyo but I feel like that’s too much travel in 12 days. If we are going to do that I think we need to ski Hakuba instead of Hokkaido.

Lastly, I’d like to do a day of cat skiing. Could do backcountry but my plan is to bring one pair of skis that are heavy and “side country” oriented. Any recommendations for cat skiing that isn’t mellow / closed ski area terrain? Is this feasible solo or am I doomed to get stuck meadow skipping with gapers?

[Dromond]

We might cross in the airport. Wife and I are arriving 2/1 and leaving 2/12.

Question for the experts. With only 12 days and the wife’s strong desire to do site seeing and my strong desire to ski and our mutual desire to eat great food, we have loosely arrived at a plan of flying into Tokyo, spend a few days, go to Kyoto, then fly to Sapporo and ski the last 4-5 days, flying out of Sapporo back to the states. Is this a good plan? We originally planned on flying in and out of Tokyo but I feel like that’s too much travel in 12 days. If we are going to do that I think we need to ski Hakuba instead of Hokkaido.

Lastly, I’d like to do a day of cat skiing. Could do backcountry but my plan is to bring one pair of skis that are heavy and “side country” oriented. Any recommendations for cat skiing that isn’t mellow / closed ski area terrain? Is this feasible solo or am I doomed to get stuck meadow skipping with gapers?

I would cut down the sight seeing by a day in each city to add some ski time. Kyoto is cool, but you will get temple fatigue after two solid days of temples. Have your ski luggage sent from the Tokyo airport to your hotel in Sapporo so that you don’t have to drag it around. Take the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto which makes it a cool and easy trip.

[Mike Pow]

We might cross in the airport. Wife and I are arriving 2/1 and leaving 2/12.

Question for the experts. With only 12 days and the wife’s strong desire to do site seeing and my strong desire to ski and our mutual desire to eat great food, we have loosely arrived at a plan of flying into Tokyo, spend a few days, go to Kyoto, then fly to Sapporo and ski the last 4-5 days, flying out of Sapporo back to the states. Is this a good plan? We originally planned on flying in and out of Tokyo but I feel like that’s too much travel in 12 days. If we are going to do that I think we need to ski Hakuba instead of Hokkaido.

Lastly, I’d like to do a day of cat skiing. Could do backcountry but my plan is to bring one pair of skis that are heavy and “side country” oriented. Any recommendations for cat skiing that isn’t mellow / closed ski area terrain? Is this feasible solo or am I doomed to get stuck meadow skipping with gapers?

Shimamaki with Hokkaido Backcountry Club

https://www.hokkaidobackcountryclub....maki-snowcats/

[gaijin]

I would cut down the sight seeing by a day in each city to add some ski time. Kyoto is cool, but you will get temple fatigue after two solid days of temples. Have your ski luggage sent from the Tokyo airport to your hotel in Sapporo so that you don’t have to drag it around. Take the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto which makes it a cool and easy trip.

This is good advice. And your desire to fly from Sapporo-->Home is a good move... skipping the Hokkaido to Tokyo travel time at the end of your trip.

I agree... Kyoto Temple Fatigue is a real thing. Kyoto is 1-2days, at most, in reality... unless you're digging deep into food/culture. And then Kyoto is its own trip.

All in all, your jet lag will hit when you arrive... not when you leave. So arranging sightseeing at the beginning of your trip is a good move. But again, from the perspective of a guy who has lived here for the majority of his life, I must say--Tokyo is is trip. Kyoto is cool, it's old-school... but Tokyo is new-school. Tokyo is not like "any other city." Tokyo and San Francisco are by no means "The same big city."

When people visit me, I meet them at the airport and we hit a hotel to cool down, immediately. Then we hit Tokyo for a few days. Slowly. Then we move north and truly cool down and get into it.

Also keep in mind that both Narita and Haneda have showers. You can easily arrive, shower, re-set, and then travel up north all within a day quite comfortably... skipping the whole sightseeing thing all together. Just pack a set of fresh clothes in your carry-on, arrive, ship your gear up north via Black Cat (Kuro Neko), take a shower, travel to your hotel, arrive 6 hours later, check in, wait for your skis to arrive, go skiing. It can be that easy. Assuming you have a magic ability to kill jet lag.

[m2711c]

You don’t need to go to a specific place to experience “Japanese culture“. It’s gonna be all around you. Every place you go there’ll be some sort of cultural experience to take part in. if you want more culture, go to the less famous ski areas. Places like Niseko and Hakuba Are going to have way more Australians and other foreigners than someplace like Ani or Hakkoda.

[muted reborn]

I went to Kyoto for 3 days and thought it shoulda been a 7-10 day visit. if Kyoto is boring, why are you in Japan?

[mcski]

Kyoto is a Time Capsule attraction. I like it but temple fatigue is real and Kyoto isnt Japan anymore

[muted reborn]

To me, that's like saying powder skiing is boring after 2 days. And there's much more to do then see Temples there, and it helps to avoid the super busy ones. But from all the travel advice threads I've read, I don't often travel like you guys like to. And saying Kyoto isn't Japan is fk'n ridiculous.

[mcski]

When I lived in Japan that was a common sentiment. Kyoto is cool and I’m a temple fan, but it isn’t really what modern Japan is about. It’s a tourist town

[muted reborn]

I think that states the obvious. it's a historical town, yes. A living museum. If you prefer tokyo to kyoto, no problem. I like both.

[neufox47]

Thanks for all the info.

Shimamaki with Hokkaido Backcountry Club

https://www.hokkaidobackcountryclub....maki-snowcats/

Looks like they are sold out.

[Jimty]

Does anyone have experience of Stealth Backcountry? A friend of mine asked me about them the other day and I hadn’t heard of them. Their website looks good, but I couldn’t find much online apart from a couple of Google reviews which weren’t great…

[Mike Pow]

Thanks for all the info.




Looks like they are sold out.

Try these guys

Awesome location

https://iwanairesort.com/en/cat-ski-niseko-japan

[rudy]

Anyone have any suggestions on places to stay in the Niesko/Rusutsu region? I'm leaning toward staying in Makkari as that would give us good access to Rusutsu, Niesko and Yotei but open to other towns as well.

[montanaskier]

We’re booked for Feb. Denver to Honolulu for 3 days then Honolulu to Tokyo first class (points). Tokyo for 3 days then skiing for 6 days in Rusutsu area including two car skiing days. Then Tokyo to Seoul to LAX first class suites on Asiana (points). Super stoked, hope it snows! Thinking of shipping skis vs hauling them all over creation…..anyone done this?


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[SUPERIOR]

^^ I’m doing the same this year. Worth it if you’re flying with multiple pairs. Hauling 50 pounds of skis plus a duffle through Haneda or Narita is lame.


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[powfiend]

^^ I’m doing the same this year. Worth it if you’re flying with multiple pairs. Hauling 50 pounds of skis plus a duffle through Haneda or Narita is lame.


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Why not just use ta-q-bin? Drop em off at the airport right outside of customs and they ship them to your slope side hotel. Definitely the pro move, you don’t have to worry about gear getting lost in international mail and it’s only 20 bucks