 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All.
I've got a new job that takes me to Asia a lot. Someone said today....... when in Tokyo why not get to the slopes and hire gear for a weekend ski.
So a complete hypothetical couple of questions.
What is the easiest place to get to from Tokyo?
Can I stay in Tokyo and travel there by public transport for a day skiing?
Is it better to get accommodation for a weekend and just be in resort but lug my bags around?
Also going to Korea so similar option there I suppose.
Cheers
Bob
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Plenty of small / mid ski resorts within 1-3hrs by fast train from Tokyo.
Hills not all that steep. Many rely a lot on artifical snow. Need usually to go several hours further north for the proper deep snow.
Good summary:
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-travel/ski-resort
South Korea broadly the same. Better to go on a guided daytrip to the DMZ near North Korea -- far more interesting.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Cheers folks
T tips to get me started.
All the best
Bob
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I've skied at GALA-Yuzawa: it's pretty easy to get there from Tokyo and a lot of people weekend from the city - when I went, we arrived on the Sunday evening just as the Tokyo crowds were heading back. It's not the most extensive hill, but it has a very high lift:trail ratio.
Places to eat on the mountain are good (good value ramen), and there's plenty of places to stay around the base area, with the hotels well served by buses, and most with baths served by the hot springs.
One thing to look out for in the station is the sake sampler: you can purchase tokens that allow you to get a number (I think in batches of 4, but it's a long time since I was there) of small glasses of sake from an automat with something like 48 different brands. I know that one of my mates amazed the lady selling the tokens by going back and buying a second set within about 10 minutes of the first.
I remember that they had an on-hill automatic ski-waxing machine - obviously French in origin, since it was amusingly labelled as a "kiosk de fartage automatique".
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Whitegold, I would also recommend the DMZ day trip from Seoul, very interesting.
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I've just been up to Niseko in Hokkaido from Tokyo. You'd probably need an extra day on a weekend to make it worthwhile, so it isn't really a day tripper place but it was really worth the trip! It's a 1.5hr flight from Haneda to New Chitose (Sapporo) and a 1.5-2hr bus to the resort. We managed to catch the snow in the early part of last week... it was just brilliant.
http://www.snowjapan.com/ has some useful information about the resorts.
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I was born in Japan and lived there till I was nine. I lived in Tokyo O-taku. I went to ski in Kusatu in Gunnma prefecture. I've never heard of a closest ski resort near Tokyo but this is a place where I would go. Has great scenary, reat food, and hot tub. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Hakuba is quite a large ski area and might be ok for a long weekend. It's some years since I went, but as I recall it was an hour or so by bullet train to Nagano followed by an hour or so by coach to resort. Quite a choice of accomodation of all sorts there.
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@GlasgowCyclops, I have just got back from 2 days skiing in Nozawa Onsen. Its a great place and very easy to get to.
The (relatively) new Hakusaka Shinkansen stops at Iiyama (about 105mins), then there is always a bus ready to take you to Nozawa in about 20 mins (600Yen). So in just over 2 hours you are there! I suspect most weekend skiers will ski the closer resorts, so it might not be as packed. Also another advantage of using Iiyama instead of Nagano is when you board on the way home, there should be space in the 'non reserved' cars. After Nagano, there were a lot of people standing!
Nozawa Onsen is a great little ski resort and village, not a purpose built place, and less westerners. The free Onsens are a real experience, especially when the resort is busy, as they are quite small and it can get very cosy! The water in some of them is very hot, try before you get straight in, or get straight in and see the Japanese laugh at your reaction  I stayed in a fantastic Ryoken in a Tatami room, with very friendly and helpful staff, even if we rarely understood each other! Plenty of bars and restaurants to enjoy the evening too. The skiing is varied, with good vertical for Japan. I would thoroughly recommend the place. Any questions, just ask.
Jon
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@GlasgowCyclops, Yuzawa is easy to get to. But Nozawa is great village. But where are you located in Tokyo? You can try the Ausi forum:
http://forums.ski.com.au/xf/forums/japan.51/
Many of them live there and many run places in Japan.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@GlasgowCyclops, we Skied Zao, stayed at the Lodge Scole fantastic skiing, very Japanese and you get see the snow monsters, we also did Shiga Kogen, get to see the snow monkey's, the place we stayed at Bersa Rooms has changed owners not sure what its called, would recommend both resorts.
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