ski japan

[jase12]

anyone been? thoughts?

 

[HEWSINATOR]

I know some people skied there in 1998.

 

[aleeboy]

It's where a lot of the Japanese come. It's more reasonably priced, the exchange rate is excellent and the girls are much better looking here too!

 

[Mr T]

Japan has excellent powder and a variety of slopes. My personal favorite is Appi in the northern part of Honshu but there are resorts to fit any experience level. For some real adventure head up to Hokkaido.

Also, if you are just wondering from resort to resort be sure to try some of the local, unadvertised hills. These don't see many foreigners and sometimes have other benefits. I am remembering specifically a small local place near Aomori. It had mediocre hills but provided a great view of Aomori bay that made the experience memorable.

Like much of Japan (outside the cities) the best part will be meeting the locals. Wonderful people.

 

[Journeyman]

Since you're in Australia, it will probably be cheapest for you to go to Hokkaido, as I believe that Qantas owns (or co-owns) a resort there and there is quite an Australian ski community in central Hokkaido. Package deals that include airfares, accommodation and other stuff should make it relatively affordable, although the way that the AU$ has plummetted against the yen in recent months doesn't help. The depth and consistency of the snow is excellent, and the facilities are generally superb.

There are also a multitude of ski resorts throughout the main island of Honshu, and quite a few of them are accessible via shinkansen (bullet train) or express train from Tokyo or Osaka. Nagano hosted the winter olympics about a decade ago, and there are many other resorts, some very large, some smaller and off the beaten track, that offer great skiing. A bonus is that quite a few of them have hot springs either in the ski area, or close by the ski fields and so after a day of skiing you can slip into a steaming hot pool of water under a starry sky, whilst flakes of snow fall around you and a few monkeys have a bath on the other side of the rock pool.