I first skied in Japan in 2002. I dare to say I was probably one of the first Europeans to discover what many else would discover a few years later. Japan is absolutely rocking. Insane. Well, in all aspects if you ask me, but especially when it comes to skiing. Hokkaido, the north island, gets Siberian winds and dry, fluffy snow beyond imagination. I studied one year at university in Sapporo back then, which is the capital of Hokkaido, and used to spend every weekend and all my holidays up in Niseko. I also tried many of the other resorts; Kiroro, Furano, Rusutsu, but my favorite spot remained Niseko Hirafu, where we were a small crew of Westerners back then, mainly Aussies and Kiwis. During the weeks I would teach Japanese skiers at a small resort, Bankei, and sometimes I'd venture up to one of the other 10 resorts within the boundary of Sapporo city. My favorite was Teine Highlands, with a few steep descents and awesome powder under the lift-line after every snowfall, and the snowfalls come often on Hokkaido. Hokkaido University was a good place to study :-)!
I absolutely love Japan, but it had been a while. With COVID I hadn't been back and I was seriously aching for it. Last time I skied in Japan was in 2015 and unfortunately that trip to Niseko finished at Kutchan hospital with a torn ACL. I was therefore a bit nervous this time, but also full of anticipation. I managed to convince my friend who had wanted to go skiing in Japan for a while to join me to ski on Honshu (the main island) and with different flights booked we met up at Narita Airport, not sure exactly what to expect from the resort we had booked, Myoko Kogen.
MYOKO KOGEN
Myoko Kogen is one of many resorts in the mountainous area northwest of Tokyo. Nagano may be the most famous region (where the Olympics were held in 1998) and Hakuba is probably the most popular resort. Myoko is actually in Niigata, just north of Nagano, but we first took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagano, and from there a small milk train up to Myoko Kogen. The train ride up didn't look too promising to be honest, we felt like we were seriously going to the middle of nowhere. I wondered secretly if we should have taken the safe shot by going to Hokkaido after all..? At the end of the train line we got off in a dead little village, or rather a compilation of houses. There was no elevator and we had to drag our skis and bags up and down the stairs over the train tracks. Finally, as were met by our hotel staff, the snow was dumping and our journey up the mountain began, we knew that we had made a good choice!
Myoko itself is a small laid-back village with a number of hotels, inns, restaurants and bars, many run by Australians. From the village you can access Akakura Onsen ski area, which is a very gentle little resort with a few tired lifts, perfect for skiing with beginners or smaller kids (but a bit boring for the rest of us). As you enter the village you first drive through Shin-Akakura Onsen which is where we stayed, in a hotel just across the gondola. Shin Akakura Onsen is connected with Akakura but offer longer, more challenging runs and a few tree runs to have some fun in. There is only a 10 min walk between the two. We stayed in Hotel Silverhorn, a small hotel with fantastic staff, making us feel at home from the moment we stepped in. We had booked a Japanese room with tatami where we slept better than ever, breakfast was nice and the dinners were absolutely awesome thanks to their amazing chef.
SKIING
We had booked a guide through Myoko Snowsport (another Aussie company) which turned out to be the best decision the whole week! Although there are shuttles taking skiers around the different small resorts and the off piste is rather accessible, we felt we got so much more out of our skiing with somebody immediately showing us the best spots, choosing where to go every day depending on the conditions, and also having a view of the safety situation. And we had a lot of fun with our Aussie freerider! We were picked up at 8.30 every day from our hotel in a minivan, and taken to a different resort within the Myoko Kogen area every day.
SEKI ONSEN
The first day will probably qualify as one of the most epic days of my life. And I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing... I cannot even describe the amount of snow that had fallen overnight. The decision was to go to Seki Onsen, which everyone seemed to affirm was a good choice for the day. Seki Onsen is one of the oldest ski areas in Japan, and you can easily understand why it is quite a legendary place. At the bottom of the lift, which is run by a Japanese family, we picked up an old fashioned ski ticket, the one that you put in a plastic pocket on your arm (haven't seen that since the 1980's), combined with lunch. The whole family is engaged in the little resort, with the husband running the lift, the wife the lunch restaurant and the children helping out wherever needed. With our bodies still recovering from jet lag and a few hours sleep, and a bit of that first day anticipation (when all you really want is to get a few piste runs into your legs before hitting the powder) we took the lift up the mountain. Looking down from the lift we could see skiers and snowboarders stuck everywhere like little marmots digging themselves out of their holes. As we laughed carefully at them, we found ourselves painfully realizing that this is no joke a few minutes later. The old man at the bottom had told me to be careful and when I asked about avalanches he shook his head and said 'nono, yuki (snow)'. I didn't realize what he meant until I got completely stuck. And I mean completely stuck. Like quicksand my skis just sank until they didn't want to sink any further and my body could not move. After a small panic attack I managed to get my legs freed, and move through the snow down the mountain. More of a fight for survival than anything else. At one point in time I could feel the snow in my face, realizing that I was skiing in the snow and that the snow was actually above my head. I'm not kidding. Although I'm only 1.5 meter tall, I have never skied in such deep powder that it covered my head before (!)
Once we got the hang of it it was a fun experience, but also quite scary and when the day was over we were both a bit shaken and glad to be alive. My friend had a very near death experience when he got stuck and snow just kept coming and coming burying him with snow; snow in his mouth, goggles black and we didn't see him between the trees. Luckily he managed to locate the shuffle in his backpack and could dig himself out, but he lost a pole (small loss in comparision) and was clearly affected when he came down. I never knew that you can actually drown in snow, but now I know. And I never thought there could be 'too much snow', but now I know that too. The area is very nice though, with only two lifts, the 2 seater at the bottom and the 'pizza box' (1 seater) at the top (both without safety bars (!)). We found some great couloirs in the forest where we spent most of the afternoon, after having enjoyed a very nice traditional Japanese lunch. I think a lot of things happened in Seki that day, skis were lost, poles were lost, from what I know luckily no lives, but it was definitely one of the most crazy, memorable and epic days of my life, good or bad :-)
MADARAO
After a quiet onsen (one of the best things with skiing in Japan) and a delicious dinner it was time for new adventures the next day. This time we were off to Madarao, which is a very different resort from Seki Onsen. It is actually two resorts, Madarao and Tangram, which are connected and where the skiing happens on two sides of the same mountain. We accessed the resorts through the hotel complex at the bottom of Tangram. Tangram has 5 lifts and Madarao 11. From the top you have a beautiful view of Myoko Kogen, Shiga Kogen, Nozawa onsen and you can even see the sea in the distance. We were lucky with sunshine and after the snowfall the day before the forests were filled with the nice and fluffy stuff. Madarao has so much tree skiing, some of it is 'controlled', meaning that there are gates that are either open or closed. When open you still need to take care, but the ski patrols regard it safe enough to ski. We had an absolutely amazing day skiing in-between the pistes, diving into any forest we could find and enjoying that famous Japanese tree skiing. The resort is catering for families as well with nice wide pistes, restaurants on the mountain and offers quite a variety.
LOTTE ARAI
The next day I would again count as one of the most epic ski days of my life (quite an achievement in one week), but this time it was purely positive! As we took off to Lotte early morning the sun was shining, lighting up the beautiful road leading there, framed with snow-covered birches and high snow-walls. Lotte Arai is a modern resort, with high speed gondolas and long fall lines. Lotte was allegedly built by the son of the Sony family, who decided that this is where he wanted a resort. It was later sold to Lotte, a Korean conglomerate specializing in everything from hotels to chocolate, and who currently runs the place (hence the name).
Lotte Arai consists of a big hotel at the bottom of the resort with a famous onsen. Although the resort targets many skiers and snowboarders from Korea, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia and often attracts people with limited ski experience, it is actually an off piste Mecca. On the contrary it may be quite challenging for beginners...The only pistes are the green and blue runs that lead as cat tracks from top to bottom. In between there are huge bowls with ungroomed fluff and the most amazing skiing. Our guide quickly showed us the best places to go. As in other resorts, there are gates open or closed, and we skied one after the other of the gates, leading to different colouirs, tree skiing, open fields and unimaginable untouched powder. As the day progressed it started snowing, which just made the experience even more epic. We found a favorite spot in the Mamushi bowl and kept going up and down until our legs were like jello and there was nothing more to our faces than huge smiles. After a late lunch with a bowl of ramen it snowed so much that the lifts closed, but as we had already skied our hearts out we were quite happy to relax in the outside onsen for a while, before heading back to Myoko. What a day, the epiphany of Japow!!!
SUGINOHARA
Day 4 we took off to Suginohara, another resort in the Myoko valley, and again we were in for a treat. Suginohara is more of a traditional resort, with older and slower lifts. The plastic pocket from Seki Onsen came back on our arms, and it felt very different from Lotte Arai the day before. As it kept snowing throughout the week, the skiing remained incredible, with amazing tree skiing and it may be one of the prettiest areas I have ever skied. The stems of the birches glittered in the snow and it felt like a fairy tale skiing through them. With a few ungroomed pistes that turned into soft moguls over day, some really nice pistes for carving and music playing in from the liftpoles we had a lot of fun. At the end of the day we ventured into the big bowl in the middle of the resort which was great fun with some open fields, more trees and more deep powder. The little lunch restaurant served up a variety of traditional teishoku (set meals with rice or noodles) and again we concluded an amazing day.
SHIN AKAKURA
The last day we spent on our 'home turf' just across the hotel, where we enjoyed some nice skiing by ourselves, realizing how lucky we had been with our guide throughout the week! Being slightly tired from the karaoke and sake tasting the evening before, we still found some nice stuff in the forests and had some fun:-). The left part of the mountain, Shin Akakura, is much more fun and challenging, while the resort linked to the Myoko village is quite slow and flat. Something for everyone I guess. It was a good final day and although it was with complete satisfaction we concluded our ski trip, we felt a little sad leaving this piece of heaven as we took the train back to Tokyo.
TOKYO
Leaving the mountains is always a sad thing. But going to Tokyo is always a good thing! Our feelings were soon replaced by the incredible energy and euphoria that spending a few days in Tokyo gives! I could go on forever about Tokyo, but that's for another time :-)
I loved Myoko Kogen and would go back any day. It's small but varied and it gets an incredible amount of snow. We had more than 1.5 meter during the 5 days we were there, but they get between 15-20 meter during a season. That's massive!!! The village is also nice and very relaxed. Although predominantly Australians, we met some awesome people from all over, with different backgrounds, stories and personalities, all with the common interest of powder. This is the beauty of skiing / snowboarding across the world!
I was really happy to be part of my friend's first discovery of Japan too (and a bit jealous, that virgin encounter is always magic) and I'm pretty sure it will not be his last! There are so many places to discover in Japan (both on and off skis). Next time I can imagine Nozawa, Hakuba or some of the other resorts on the main island. Or Hokkaido, that's always a good option! Bottom line is that skiing in Japan is great - the snow, the landscape, the food, the people, the onsen - Japow is really about the full experience!
GETTING THERE
Japan is open to tourists again since October 2022. Most major cities in the world connect with Tokyo on direct flights, from Dubai I flew with Emirates which takes about 9 hours.
From Narita you take the Narita Express to Tokyo Station, and from there the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Nagano (tickets can be bought at the Narita JR office). From Nagano there are 1-2 trains an hour, going to Myoko Kogen. Beware as these last train-tickets can only be paid with cash (Japan is still a bit old-fashioned sometimes..)
In Myoko there are lots of different hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts. We stayed at Hotel Silverhorn, which I can recommend, especially for their nice staff and atmosphere. Opt for the Japanese tatami room for the full experience. https://myokosilverhorn.com
You can rent skis and organize lessons or guiding with Myoko Snowsport. https://myokosnowsports.com
There is also a mountain guide bureau if you want to ski-tour away from the lifts, run by an American with long experience in the area.
In the village there are a few convenience stores, a few pubs and restaurants. The onsen at Taiko hotel is very nice, there is also a karaoke in the hotel for the ones who like to sing their voices out (kind of mandatory when in Japan). For apres ski or an evening beer (if you have the energy after pumping powder all day), try Popcorn, the Japow House or the Full Circle (or all of them in one crawl, for the ultimate experience :-))
SOME FACTS JAPAN
Inhabitants: 125 Millions
Surface: 370'000 KM2
Language: Japanese
Currency: Japanese Yen (JPY)