Japan Snowboarding Trip Report - pic heavy
Discussion
We did 2 weeks in Japan this year. We were a group of 5 and this was my third time in Japan for snowboarding. Tokyo was as mental and amazing as it always is but they had pretty much the worst snow season in a couple of decades on Honshu (the main island), where we were going. Of course! The plan was to go to two of the bigger resorts and then stay up in a city up North (Morioka) and hire a van and drive to some of the other smaller, less well touristed ones. We did a couple of days first in Tokyo to get used to Japanese insanity before we headed out:
First up was Naeba. It's a big (by Japanese standards) Prince Hotel (chain) resort that's only 1 hour form Tokyo by bullet train. The town in Naeba was pretty busy with quite a few nice restaurants. Gaijin (foreigner) count was pretty low - we only saw a couple of other groups. It had had pretty good snow for a couple of weeks before we got there but then a warm spell with rain and positive temps the day before we arrived! They also had a round of the FIS world slalom on the weekend we arrived so they were pretty disappointed by the conditions too. We spent a day there cruising the slush and then the next day went across to the neighbouring resort, Kagura which is linked by a 5km gondola.
Whilst off-piste is officially banned in Naeba, in Kagura it's no holds barred. Since it had snowed the night before we played in 20 cm of fresh over some pretty brutal ice. Just how brutal was demonstrated on an icy cat track home, where the missus' brother (7th day lifetime on a board) fell and broke his wrist. On day 2! We had some more smaller drops of snow and explored Kagura over the next couple of days as the missus tended to her brother and went and got an xray. It was a much better resort with some serious off-piste / slackcountry options. I would love to come back and spend some proper time here.
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Next up, we caught the train back to Tokyo and up North to a resort called Appi Kogen.
Bus from train station looking good!
Again, it's a big-for-Japan Prince resort with quite different terrain. Gainjin count was lower - maybe only two other groups. And again they were having some ski races on a few slopes so they shut off half the mountain!! But we had some good snow and the terrain that was left was quite nice. Because the snow pack wasn't as deep as normal, we still had to bush-bash through thick shrubs to get into the trees and even once we were in there, it was pretty tight. The upside was that because it was not allowed we had no competition!
On-piste:
Off piste:
We put the missus' brother back on a board with wrist guards as his wrist fracture wasn't bad - no swelling or pain - and because it was nice and soft.
We stayed in the "pension village" and had a really Japanese ski holiday experience. We arrived on the first night at about 6pm and they told us dinner is at 6pm and 8pm. We came down at 8pm and they looked all embarrassed and showed us a bit of paper that said we had to book the night before for dinner! They ended up getting the bus driver to drive us up to the local convenience store for conbini-sushi and canned 9% alc. lemonade, which we ate in the lobby.
We ate at the hotel restaurant the next two nights as the pension village had no restaurants at all and the food was spectacular (Korean BBQ and hot pot). Breakfast was great as well.
They also had a couple of outside onsens that you could private book, which were really nice after a day on the slopes.
Next up, we caught the bus back to Morioka and moved into a business hotel next to the main train station. Hotel mascot:
Morioka is a fair sized city of 300k, under the dormant volcano of Mount Iwate. It has a nice river running through the middle and is absolutely stacked full of izakayas (Japanese taverns selling beer and food) and even a few craft beer bars which are non-smoking. Best of all, it just had a really good friendly vibe to it. We hired a van (a Honda Stepwgn <-- actual spelling) that would fit our gear inside in a tarp I brought with me and drove to some of the nearby resorts. The actual vehicle was certainly the dullest mode of conveyance that I've ever driven. Electric steering, a CVT and some form of 4 cylinder that when combined with the universal 50kph speed limits had me falling asleep after driving for even 20 minutes. But it was roomy and comfortable, 4x4 and had snow tyres, so who cares.
They are all pretty small (3-7 lifts) and range from 30 - 60 mins drive away. Gainjin count was zero at all of them. We made it to Tazawako, Shizuikushi, Hachimantai Shimokura, Amihari Onsen and Iwate Kogen which I think you'll agree, are all great names. Most of them were not busy - here's peak parking:
|http://thumbsnap.com/xeW6XC86[/url]
Most had decent off-piste although again, low snowpacks meant we had to dodge more obstacles than normal. A couple of them had a real focus on off-piste and tree skiing in their advertising which was a refreshing attitude. Again we had a mix of powder and slush days. We were able to choose a couple of more sheltered resorts on days when wind got up on a couple of days, which was cool.
So yeah, a great holiday. Conditions were "bad" by Japanese standards but it didn't seem to matter - they were still pretty good by rest of the world standards! We never got any of the really deep snow dumps I've had in Japan before (>50 cm) but they can be really hard work anyway. It was a great experience to get away from the crowds and suck up some proper Japanese culture with our powder and beer.
I also fell in love with some of the vans. All of these will be 4x4. The Nissan ElGrand with a cool grill:
Honda Stepwagon on cool wheels. A steezy snowboarding couple was actually living out of this one:
A new Mitsubishi Delica - I loved these things:
A Toyota Prado on big snow tyres:
A Jimny snow-plow:
A Toyota Bb - mild pimping:
And an NSX in Tokyo:
First up was Naeba. It's a big (by Japanese standards) Prince Hotel (chain) resort that's only 1 hour form Tokyo by bullet train. The town in Naeba was pretty busy with quite a few nice restaurants. Gaijin (foreigner) count was pretty low - we only saw a couple of other groups. It had had pretty good snow for a couple of weeks before we got there but then a warm spell with rain and positive temps the day before we arrived! They also had a round of the FIS world slalom on the weekend we arrived so they were pretty disappointed by the conditions too. We spent a day there cruising the slush and then the next day went across to the neighbouring resort, Kagura which is linked by a 5km gondola.
Whilst off-piste is officially banned in Naeba, in Kagura it's no holds barred. Since it had snowed the night before we played in 20 cm of fresh over some pretty brutal ice. Just how brutal was demonstrated on an icy cat track home, where the missus' brother (7th day lifetime on a board) fell and broke his wrist. On day 2! We had some more smaller drops of snow and explored Kagura over the next couple of days as the missus tended to her brother and went and got an xray. It was a much better resort with some serious off-piste / slackcountry options. I would love to come back and spend some proper time here.
[url]
Next up, we caught the train back to Tokyo and up North to a resort called Appi Kogen.
Bus from train station looking good!
Again, it's a big-for-Japan Prince resort with quite different terrain. Gainjin count was lower - maybe only two other groups. And again they were having some ski races on a few slopes so they shut off half the mountain!! But we had some good snow and the terrain that was left was quite nice. Because the snow pack wasn't as deep as normal, we still had to bush-bash through thick shrubs to get into the trees and even once we were in there, it was pretty tight. The upside was that because it was not allowed we had no competition!
On-piste:
Off piste:
We put the missus' brother back on a board with wrist guards as his wrist fracture wasn't bad - no swelling or pain - and because it was nice and soft.
We stayed in the "pension village" and had a really Japanese ski holiday experience. We arrived on the first night at about 6pm and they told us dinner is at 6pm and 8pm. We came down at 8pm and they looked all embarrassed and showed us a bit of paper that said we had to book the night before for dinner! They ended up getting the bus driver to drive us up to the local convenience store for conbini-sushi and canned 9% alc. lemonade, which we ate in the lobby.
We ate at the hotel restaurant the next two nights as the pension village had no restaurants at all and the food was spectacular (Korean BBQ and hot pot). Breakfast was great as well.
They also had a couple of outside onsens that you could private book, which were really nice after a day on the slopes.
Next up, we caught the bus back to Morioka and moved into a business hotel next to the main train station. Hotel mascot:
Morioka is a fair sized city of 300k, under the dormant volcano of Mount Iwate. It has a nice river running through the middle and is absolutely stacked full of izakayas (Japanese taverns selling beer and food) and even a few craft beer bars which are non-smoking. Best of all, it just had a really good friendly vibe to it. We hired a van (a Honda Stepwgn <-- actual spelling) that would fit our gear inside in a tarp I brought with me and drove to some of the nearby resorts. The actual vehicle was certainly the dullest mode of conveyance that I've ever driven. Electric steering, a CVT and some form of 4 cylinder that when combined with the universal 50kph speed limits had me falling asleep after driving for even 20 minutes. But it was roomy and comfortable, 4x4 and had snow tyres, so who cares.
They are all pretty small (3-7 lifts) and range from 30 - 60 mins drive away. Gainjin count was zero at all of them. We made it to Tazawako, Shizuikushi, Hachimantai Shimokura, Amihari Onsen and Iwate Kogen which I think you'll agree, are all great names. Most of them were not busy - here's peak parking:
|http://thumbsnap.com/xeW6XC86[/url]Most had decent off-piste although again, low snowpacks meant we had to dodge more obstacles than normal. A couple of them had a real focus on off-piste and tree skiing in their advertising which was a refreshing attitude. Again we had a mix of powder and slush days. We were able to choose a couple of more sheltered resorts on days when wind got up on a couple of days, which was cool.
So yeah, a great holiday. Conditions were "bad" by Japanese standards but it didn't seem to matter - they were still pretty good by rest of the world standards! We never got any of the really deep snow dumps I've had in Japan before (>50 cm) but they can be really hard work anyway. It was a great experience to get away from the crowds and suck up some proper Japanese culture with our powder and beer.
I also fell in love with some of the vans. All of these will be 4x4. The Nissan ElGrand with a cool grill:
Honda Stepwagon on cool wheels. A steezy snowboarding couple was actually living out of this one:
A new Mitsubishi Delica - I loved these things:
A Toyota Prado on big snow tyres:
A Jimny snow-plow:
A Toyota Bb - mild pimping:
And an NSX in Tokyo:
Edited by seefarr on Friday 1st April 14:21
Edited by seefarr on Friday 1st April 15:03
Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 5th April 09:44
ks. Google isn't playing the game...
OllyMo said:
Looks amazing. What's the season like in Japan, compared to the Alps (the only place I've ever skied).
Same hemisphere, so pretty much the same! They do (normally) get a deep snow pack - think 4 meters - so it can run for a while. But this is tempered by the fact that most of the mountains are not very high. As an example, Appi Kogen says that their spring season runs until May 5 but whether they make it this year is another matter. 
g3org3y said:
Mascot needs referral for quite a notable umbilical hernia! 
They had an even more unsettling stuffed toy version next to the front desk - I couldn't stop staring every time I went past...
I also managed to miss my favourite little van - this little beast on snow tyres and fake bead locks. I think it's a Suzuki Wagon-R?
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