Japan at Xmas
As the thread title says, we are thinking about Japan at Xmas. My girlfriend and I have to take two weeks leave at Xmas so we thought it might be an interesting idea to go to Japan snowboarding. I’m kinda keen to do resorts in both Hokkaido and Honshu but as flights are easier to get for her with Qantas and they don’t fly to Sapporo we might be better off staying closer to Tokyo.
On my shortlist right now I have Hakuba, Myoko Kogen, and Shiga Kogen in Nagano region I think and then Rusutsu and Furano if we are able to get an inter airline ride to Sapporo.
Anyone have any ideas or knowledge on the snow conditions that early in the season? If there is resorts out there with better snow at that time I’m all ears. Any suggestions for accom would be welcome as well, only requirements are that it’s a private room with ensuite and around the 10,000yen a night mark.
Would it be better to do a accom and lift ticket package? Oh and one last thing, would it be better to hire a car or rely on public transport? I was thinking the bullet train to Nagano and hire a car from there?
I do know that Xmas time is supposedly a crazy and expensive time of the year in Japan!!!!!
And public transport can get quite busy!!!!!
We went a few years back just after Xmas, landed at 10:30pm on NYE, spent 3 days at Kyoto before flying to Niseko.
Snow was amazing, it was really really quiet until about mid January then the world turned up.
We found it to be really cheap, came home with lots of $$$ 
that we expected to spend.
It is early season, but you would have to be pretty unlucky.
If you are going to Hokkaido, I highly recommend Rusutsu! I absolutely loved it when I was there but it isn’t that big.
Also from what I remember, During christmas time, Rusutsu isn’t too cheap. But if you are looking for a cheap option thats close to tokyo, Head over to Nozawa Onsen. There are heaps of great runs and cheap places to stay.
In regards with transport, the way I got to Rusutsu was first a plane to Narita(tokyo) then a plane to Sapporo which then I caught a 3 hour bus to the resort.
And with Nozawa there are two options and they are either, Catch a 6 hour bus (or drive) or you can catch 3 trains there. I was told many Japanese students go to Nozawa for the weekend Via train and its a very popular place!
Was in Jp for last Christmas at Niseko. Didn’t find it anymore expensive than usual. Christmas is really only a shopping day in Japan; new years is a big holiday though. Although I had a ‘most excellent’ time, I wouldn’t go so early in their season next time. Will go from late January onwards next time.
Any of you guys spent NYE in japan?? What is it like?
We spent ours on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo /Bill Murray fans know what I’m talking about!/ where I popped the question (but that’s another story…she said yes by the way!)! Then we headed to Shibuya Crossing for the countdown (tourists I know, but meh…). Was kinda like NYE in a city here in Aus, except everyone was in a good mood and there wasn’t any drunken dickheads, violence and mess, etc. Chilled out in one of the local bars after that. Japan is awesome.
Sounds like you had a great time, and yeah I agree, NYE in australia is pretty messy, plenty of fights and drunken dickheads haha.
That time of year, the cost of airfare are double compared to March. You should really aviod that time. e.g. In March you can pick up a 4 star hotel room Twin deluxe minutes from the lifts plus lift pass, Brecky and Tea at a 4star eatery also has a onsen and sauna for “wait for it” 13,800 yen a night per person. A reasonable room is about 10,000 yen per person, Day lift pass 3,000 yen, Onsen 1,000 yen, Brecky 1,000 yen and tea 2,000 to 10,000 yen. At the same hotel during the time you want to go, the cost would be trippled and booked out. It still dump big it march remember after the Quake in march, snow dumps were hampering the recuers and that was on the coast.
Hakuba and Myoko are good picks. Don’t bother going to Shiga Kogen unless you’re a skier. I think only one section is open for boarders. Nozawa would be a better choice. It always dumps hard for New Years here. You’ll have a better chance for pow over the new year than in march, but hey, it’s the weather - you could get skunked on both. Anyways, you’re not wondering about March since your leave is over new year’s.
i loved shiga-kogen (though i love boarding anywhere especially international:P )
there are only a few sections for skiers only
http://www.ski-shiga-kogen.com/files/documents/trailmaps/shiga/shigaskifields.pdf
3 sections
the place is massive…rest of it is fair game
so explorers will find it fun
i spent a lot of the time in the trees doing unofficial laps 
i guess it’s the principle of the thing, but I don’t want to support a resort that excludes me from some areas because I have one board and not two on my feet.
fair enough, cant argue with that
just saying from my experience
i had more fun at shiga-kogen then i did at Hakuba
and hakuba was pow day every day we were there! (though i didnt have drop in any tree lines there) 
Had my pass yanked by those bastard patrollers on my first day at Happo :-(
Dropped a rope saw others had done it and thought it was okay.
Had my pass yanked by those bastard patrollers on my first day at Happo :-(
Dropped a rope saw others had done it and thought it was okay.
depends on where you were. Those ‘bastard’ patrollers may have saved your life. Happo is big mountain and the ropes are there for a reason. If you don’t know why the rope is there then don’t follow tracks in.
I’ve also said this before: ducking a rope will void your insurance. So if you duck a rope and get hurt, you’re paying for help out of your own pocket.
Still waiting to see what happens, the gf might actually have to go to Tokyo for work so all it will cost us is $300 or so for my airfare with free accom in Tokyo. If that doesn’t happen we might be going to Utah instead, win win really.