Japan - An Excellent 2024/25 Winter!

ChrisC

ChrisC

Well-known member
I keep watching the total snowfall and reports coming out of Japan this winter in Honshu and Hokkaido. It looks like Kiroro, Sapporo Teine, and the Nagano/Niigata regions (Hakuba, Myoko, Nizawa Onsen).

It seems like everyone is there this winter, and I am bookmarking reports. It's the place to be for snow!

Luke Snow from OpenSnow took off to Honshu. He received 21 ft/ 256 inches in 2 weeks: LINK
His Profile for posts and reels
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Kiroro has received 540" so far this winter, with 120" base LINK


An Excellent NYTimes about some of these resorts:

A First-Timer’s Guide to Skiing in Japan Link
Don’t expect raucous party scenes or over-the-top après-ski. In Japan, it’s all about the snow. Here’s a primer on where to go, stay and eat.
 
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Yesterday I booked some accommodation for next year which could well be a poor snow year like there have been in 3 of the past six. (They’ve had more mid winter rain in Hokkaido the last 5 seasons than the previous couple of centuries apparently). Low elevation makes warm ups regular occurrences.
The NT article didn’t mention Shiga Kogen which is the largest linked Japanese ski area but also has the highest base. (It’s not very westernised though).
If you go to any of the resorts mentioned in the article it would be best you brush up on your Australian language skills.
 
Sbooker said:
Yesterday I booked some accommodation for next year which could well be a poor snow year like there have been in 3 of the past six.
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I have not been watching Japan's snowfall. This year, so many reports are due to Japan's belated reopening and significant snowfalls on Honshu.

I look at the following for snowfall data:

SnowJapan | The independent guide to skiing, snowboarding and ski resorts in Japan

www.snowjapan.com www.snowjapan.com

Snow Reports | 360 Niseko

360niseko.com 360niseko.com

Some old sites are no longer reporting data.

Interesting about rain. I did see that mentioned at times, but I did not experience it on my 2020 trip. Mainly continuous cold NW flows resulting in snow almost daily (typically 2-6, but we had 8-12 occasionally) in a poor season.
 
Some Japan forecasts...nice!

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You may wonder why I would book somewhere so far out. And that’s a fair point.
The place I booked in Myoko Kogen is very hard to get into (apparently) as it’s frequented by regular year after year clientele. I booked mainly for the outdoor onsen overlooking the hill but it also has a great location and meals apparently.
h-taiko.net

Hot spring | Hotel Taiko

Government registered international tourist inn Hotel Taiko. New style of modern guest room.Large public bath and the open-air bath in Akakura Onsen with superb view of Mt. Myoko.
h-taiko.net h-taiko.net
Check out the onsen.
 
Sbooker said:
You may wonder why I would book somewhere so far out. And that’s a fair point.
The place I booked in Myoko Kogen is very hard to get into (apparently) as it’s frequented by regular year after year clientele. I booked mainly for the outdoor onsen overlooking the hill but it also has a great location and meals apparently.
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You do need to book ahead for Japan.

Restaurants are super small, with 10-20 seats, so they need to know you are coming. It's the same with places to stay - typically smaller. Also, ski tourists often come from considerable distances, so they tend to book ahead. For example, Rusutsu's bed base is minimal for a major resort.

We had to book our AirBnb in Niseko many months ahead. In 2019/20, we almost pulled the plug on January 1st, but the snow finally arrived in January to make things decent, and we wound up with typical daily ocean effect snowfall our work. If we were going to the Honshu areas for a segment, we would have canceled that portion - the skiing was not passable the entire winter.


Yes, our Niseko portion - particularly Hirafu Village - was similar to my time in Sydney and Airlie Beach - Aussies in the Snow. With a few Americans and Chinese thrown in.

The other Niseko villages were more traditional Japanese, but Central Hokkaido or Honshu resorts are much more authentic visits. I am interested in going back one more time to add some other ski areas and cities.
 
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^^
I’ve only booked 5 nights there and will have a car so if the skiing is poor we can do tourist things around Nagano area. The much higher elevation Shiga Kogen only an easy hour away and offers a big complex that should have decent groomer skiing if the snow doesn’t cooperate.
I’m told last minute lodging for a couple in the cities is easy to source mid week so most of the trip will be booked on the fly.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
Shiga Kogen is much closer to the west coast and the ocean effect snowfalls than Nagano and Hakuba.
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The Shiga Kogen I’m referring to is a little north east of Nagano. Near the snow monkey place. Yadanaka is the nearest small (onsen) town.
IMG_1628.png


www.powderhounds.com

Shiga Kogen

The Shiga Kogen Ski Resort is made of up many ski areas. See our Shiga Kogen reviews for more information.
www.powderhounds.com
 
Tony Crocker said:
Shiga Kogen is much closer to the west coast and the ocean effect snowfalls than Nagano and Hakuba.
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:icon-redface: I recalled incorrectly. Myoko is the place on Honshu near enough to the west coast to get Niseko level snowfall per SnowJapan.com. Shiga Kogen is farther inland and gets about half as much.
 
No mention of when the writer was in Hokkaido. His trip has many parallels to ours in 2016 with the car rental. We skied the same resorts plus a couple more. Even though he was comped two hotels I do not get the impression that any of his skiing was guided and his skiing seemed less comprehensive. Maybe he didn't want to provide as much skiing detail as I do in reports.
 
I would redo Japan again in the January-February timeframe.

Yes, I would include Hokkaido - especially Niseko, since it's one of the few resorts that has alpine-style terrain and vertical drops of over 3000 feet. To me, it resembles a more reliable Mt. Bachelor with 360-degree skiing, but with more hiking.

There is such a mistake with the Niseko lift system in that you cannot connect with other pods during storm conditions, since the four areas never built below the treeline connector trails. The two eastern resorts did: Hirafu and Hanazano.
Likely, Hanazono (NE facing) and Annupuri have the best skiing.

I would skip the following on a second trip: Kiroro (unless there's snowfall), heli-skiing, and snowcat rides. Maybe add Asahidake or Furano - and yes the main island. While it has enormous mountains, off-piste seems even more restricted.



I could see EMSC disliking Hokkaido. Most of the big resorts face south, which is fine during JaPow season in January or February. But March is iffy. And the terrain is good, but not amazing. You could wind up skiing a lot of solar slop. I had one sunny afternoon around Feb 1st, and the transformation was real. There is no altitude to gain, nor too much exposure to change.

If a significant Ontario Lake effect snowfall is hitting Dry Hill or Snow Ridge, get sushi at Wegmans after skiing in Watertown, and it's almost the same experience, .....especially if fronts could make it to Gore Mountain - about the same amount of tree-thinning has gone on there as in Hokkaido.

The verticals are not huge in Japan, but a 50" storm in Holiday Valley, NY, is not all that different from a 50" dump in Kiroro. Few immigration lines, too.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
Ouch but +1 on Wegmans sushi, love it.
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Well, everyone raves about how intoxicating Japan is: Anthony Bourdain says Tokyo is the best food city in the world; all the touring groups going into the Japanese backcountry; 7-11s are great for dining; and there's constant powder for 2-3 months.

It is exceptional, but it's not. To me, the terrain resembles the Arctic Quebec, with a few volcanoes. Mont Tremblant is like Niseko, but with fewer trees and more development.

I'm smacking all these saplings going into drainages. Some are bamboo. Easy. Some dicdious -hard.

If you don't like the Alps, I really can't recommend going to Japan - it's the Northeast during a good season. And a 12-hour plane ride.
 
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