The Hakuba Valley is quite a beautiful place on bluebird days, with the backdrop of the Japanese Alps reminiscent of their European namesake.
Here’s a resort guide for Honshu, Japan’s main island. If you want a general overview of skiing in Japan, click here. For a guide to some of Hokkaido’s resorts, click here.
The boomerang-shaped Honshu is Japan’s largest island, and although it lies south of Hokkaido it gets a fair packet of snow each winter as well. The main resorts are located in the so-called Japanese Alps between Nagano, Niigata and Toyama prefectures. Hakuba Valley, which comprises 9 resorts in one area, Shiga Kogen which is like a European mega-resort, and Nozawa Onsen, which is renowned for being a uniquely traditional ski town – a 9th Century medieval town which gets its name from its many natural public hot springs, as well as having a kick-ass ski hill in the town – and might be the place to go for your fix of real Japanese culture and powder.
These places are all fairly accessible by bus or train from Tokyo. Snowfall isn’t generally a problem here, so maybe the slightly greater convenience of this area’s proximity to Tokyo, Kyoto, et al, or the look of the resorts themselves might be the thing to tempt you here.
If possible I’d actually recommend leaving it last minute to see what the snow is like when you’re actually in Japan, if snow isn’t the main reason for your trip and you’re just taking some of the slopes in as part of a wider holiday.
Hakuba Valley
One of the biggest and most popular ski areas in Japan, the valley features ten resorts in an easily accessible area surrounding Hakuba town. The resorts are all between 5 and 20 minutes’ drive from the town, and there are free (or cheap) buses to shuttle you around as well. There’s a bit of something for everyone, from the all-rounder Happo One (pronounced ‘Happo Aw-nay’ – it’s a Japanese name!) to the snow-park focused Hakuba 47 (pronounced ‘Four-Seven’!). Cortina is the furthest north away from the town and is also known for being a great spot on a powder day (a bit too well-known as its lift service is kind of inadequate for the large crowds who show up). Tsugaike Kogen is a good shout for powder days, for lesser crowds but with a really cool back bowl full of cool terrain and tree runs.
All the areas have their own villages where you could spend your whole trip. The Hakuba Valley is similar to Niseko, and while vast, is very foreigner-focused. It’s got great variety though in its resorts, and the town itself is a good little taste of Japanese mountain life. The town is also easily accessible by car or bus from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. There are also cool day trips you could do like visiting Nagano city or the snow monkeys at Jigokudani.
Go to Hakuba if you want: Big variety of resorts and terrain, English-speaking convenience, parties, easy transport to the rest of Japan.
Nozawa Onsen
Also located in Nagano prefecture, Nozawa Onsen is a good place for those looking for a more traditionally Japanese place to ski. It’s a medieval town dating from back in the 8th Century AD and it gets its name from the many natural hot springs which the town is built around. Lots of them are free for public use. Nozawa
The town is also thought to be the home of skiing in Japan, and its ski hill is also quite highly regarded. Nozawa also gets huge snowfalls, and like Hakuba, it’s easily accessible from Nagano city or the rest of the main island. Popular with tourists, English is widely-spoken and there is a good mix of local and foreign food and bars.
Go to Nozawa Onsen if you want: Japanese culture, hot springs, a good all-round ski hill.
Conclusion: I spent half a winter in Hakuba, though after an initially insane two-week flurry of snowfalls, with the odd metre falling every second night, it quickly dried up for the rest of my stay. There’s definitely enough variety in the valley for a week or two, and although many of the resort areas are quite foreigner-focused (Echoland or Happo villages, for example), there are still plenty of Japanese restaurants and bars if you’re not just there for the skiing. The nightlife can be fun too in places like Echoland, if a bit pricey and like an Australian college night out or something). I’d also recommend renting a car, even if you only plan to stay in the valley for the week, as it makes beating the crowds up to, say, Cortina on a pow day, that much easier.
Unfortunately I never made it to Nozawa Onsen but it’ll probably be my first destination on my next ski trip to Japan. From what I hear it has a great mix of snow, ski terrain (including trees) and the traditional Japanese village and culture. I may have also become a more serious onsen-user than snowboarder during my time in Japan, and the array of different hot springs, each with their own minerals and temperatures for different moods and ailments, sounds like heaven (seriously, do not under-estimate how much positivity they will contribute to your trip to Japan).