Lookout from Shiga Kogen, Nagano
This is written by Jase owner of Japan Powder Culture TOURS with his own personal experience of the Japanese ski scene.
I will give you an assessment of Hokkaido (this also applies to resorts such as Hakuba, Myoko and Nozawa Onsen on the main island of Honshu) vs the area Japan Powder Culture Tours is based in Nagano. I just did a count and I have now skied at over 60 resorts throughout Japan, so I probably have a few valuable insights from my last ten plus years in Japan. Initially I started work at Niseko in Hokkaido as that was all that was marketed back then when I started going to Japan. I did a couple of seasons there working for guiding and ski school companies and then moved on as it changed from where you could get fresh lines all day if you knew the mountain to where it all got smashed up by 10 -11am and it turned into a race to get the powder, with the lift lines getting bigger and bigger. I worked for other guiding companies for a couple of seasons as well guiding all the well know resorts in Hokkaido but also many of the unknown ones as well (which in my opinion was where the gold was at). I really enjoyed my time in Hokkaido and the snow is fantastic especially at the resorts off the beaten trail from the more westernised pockets.
Then fate, the universe, God, source energy or whatever label you wish to use for that unseen power that guides us, brought me to the area we are now based in Yudanaka (home of the world-famous Snow Monkeys).
So, let’s talk about the snow first as that is what most are coming for initially. Hokkaido gets snow just as Honshu does. In Hokkaido the weather pattern is different to Honshu. It storms a lot and can be very cold, windy and blue bird days are infrequent, so it is a lot more brutal up north for beginners and intermediates who are looking to progress their skills. The advanced skiers and boarders can jump into the trees (side country) to combat the weather however the less advanced have to stay to the more exposed trails. Also due to the wind element in Hokkaido and the fact that the resorts can be very conservative with their lift operation there can be many times the upper lifts are closed which causes huge congestions on the lower slopes.
The reason you hear so much about Hokkaido POW in my belief is that many of the resorts that have been westernised meaning you see few Japanese at these resorts and much more gaijin (foreigners) because the western market has purchased land, buildings, bars, restaurants and shops and have a vested interest in promoting the resorts in places like Niseko and Furano. The predominantly Japanese resorts are generally not as adept at marketing to gaijin and are more interested in getting their own domestic skiers to their resorts, so you do not hear about them as much. Also, many of the true powderhounds go to Hokkaido so there are a lot more YouTube videos online promoting the area. The international travel is longer and more expensive as you generally land in either Narita or Haneda airport on the island of Honshu then have to take another flight to Sapporo in Hokkaido then bus transport to whichever resort you choose.
Compare that to where we are based. We are the only guiding company in our area after 10 seasons, and it will stay that way for quite some time which I will explain when you get with us. The real bonus of where we are is, we have a mountain I call old faithful in the form of Shiga Kogen which is not only the largest ski resort in Asia (with over 50 lifts) but also the highest lift access, with the longest season of just over 6 months. To give you an idea most resorts in Hokkaido their lifts go to about 1200 metres. Shiga Kogens highest is 2307 metres with the majority at 2000 metres. Hence the higher and drier slogan comes to bear. They liken a certain part of Shiga Kogen powder to that same consistency as that of Utah which is super dry.
The other great thing of being based in Yudanaka (our base authentic ski town at 600 metres) is that we have our own vehicles and can chase the best snow as we have many other resorts we can go to from this hub. You get a lot of microevent snow happening in Japan so it may snow in the south one night and not in any other directions of the compass, so we go where it snows as we have no pre-arranged cheaper lift prices from any resort, so we do not promote one resort over another just to make a few extra bucks. The 2019/2020 snow year was a lower than usual one in Japan and many guests cancelled their trips to Japan as the resorts that are lower than where we are located did not have the consistent quality of snow. We did not have that problem and were able to still find powder for our clients throughout the season. So, it really makes sense to go to the highest resort you can in Japan to counteract any less than traditional snow years (which thankfully do not happen too often).
Just to give you an idea of how we structure things after a fresh snowfall. We will go to a place called Madarao and Tangram ski resorts as the best skiing is straight after a fall as they sit at 1380 metres so the snow the next day following the POW Day is not only chopped up, but it can warm up being lower making it pretty funky snow. We then can hit a resort called Togakushi which is higher than Madarao the following day as it is a totally Japanese resort, so they do not ski off piste and our groups are like celebrities when we get there – we are definitely the minority there.
We only go to places like Myoko and Nozawa Onsen now if it is snowing during the day as many of the westerners will stay inside their accommodation and bars to await the storm to break so we then get a fair shot at the powder for our guests. Myoko and Nozawa Onsen has become very busy now with westerners and have been given the label of the new Nieko’s of Honshu. We can then go back to old faithful Shiga 3-6 days after a storm and still give our clients fresh lines in the slack country all day. I kid you not. So that's the difference between the two islands in terms of snow. International travel is shorter and less expensive as you land in either Narita or Haneda airports then you can either use the train network utilising the bullet trains or get a direct shuttle to your lodgings in Yudanaka.
Now let's talk about the cultural aspect. The only westerners that come to our base in Yudanaka are our ski groups and others are what we call the snow monkey people, who come for one night to see the monkeys. They generally eat in their Ryokan accommodation so the restaurants in the town are all ours for the taking and there are many amazing mom and pop places to dine where you get to mix with the locals. You only get this type of experience in Hokkaido if you have a vehicle to go to the smaller out of the way resorts away from the western congestion. At the more westernised resorts in Hokkaido the accommodation, restaurants and shops are owned by westerners, so it is more like being in Whistler than Japan.
We also have the benefit of some amazing cultural performances that we can share in the evenings. We include the cultural aspects of your visit in our longer tours rather than giving you options to do them at an extra cost as I have learnt very few people can be bothered organising extras activities and paying extra, especially after a day on the slopes. Yoguri is a third generation Geisha to the area and her performance will leave you spellbound. Sensei Nakano who performs the Taiko drum, Shamisen guitar and lion dance show is world class and gets flown to different parts of the world to share his talents. He is also an ex grand master karate champion of Japan from his youth who everyone trained with and his interactive karate display is amazing. Also, Yudanaka is a hub to visit many famous area with historic castles (Matsumoto), temples (Zenkoji), Winter Olympic Museum, shrines and ancient trees (Togakushi) and the town itself of Yudanaka has many historic parts to visit as well such as Shibu Onsen where the famous Japanese movie “Spirited Away” was based and Samurai used to come and bath after their battles some 1300 years ago. The world’s largest Buddhist brass statue and temple and of course, the world class snow monkeys live in Yudanaka. We also list things like the sushi train, visit to the supermarkets, sake factory museum, Karaoke and the night snow cat tour to the tree monsters at the UNESCO national park of Yokoteyama under our cultural side trips. You generally need another holiday after your holiday with use to recuperate as we pack a fair amount into each day
So, as you can see I am pretty passionate about our little piece of paradise in Japan which we call Utopia number 1 (I do have a Utopia 2 available as well), which will stay this way for a very long time and I will explain why when you come on the bus trip to the mountain on the way to some of the best snow I have experienced in my 10+ years of visiting the land of the rising sun.
Oh, I forgot to mention we get many blue bird days in our area which is so important for beginners and intermediates as it is as much better environment to learn in and the winds are not to the level as Hokkaido so not as cold due to wind chill and the lifts are always open. So, there is my spiel, I hope you found it informative.