Information about Skiing in Japan

 

Japan's major Ski regions 

Major Ski regions in Japan

There are more than 500 ski resorts across Japan from "Hokkaido" to "Honshu"( the main island). Speaking of skiing in Japan, Niseko and Hakuba are world famous, but there are many other attractive ski areas and resorts in Japan.

Hokkaido

Hokkaido is Japan's northern island. Snow of Hokkaido is well known as "the driest powder snow on the earth". It attracts many skiers and snowboarders from all over the world. There are many large scale ski resorts with sophisticated western style accommodation such as Niseko, Rustsu, Kiroro, Furano, etc.. If you are back country skier you can also enjoy back country ski and tour in Mt.Asahidake, Mt.Kurodake, Niseko etc.. Some international flights that operate direct to Hokkaido (Hong Kong, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok etc.) as well as many domestic flights from Narita, Haneda and Osaka.

Tohoku

Tohoku is located at the northernmost part of the main island, Honshu. Powder snow quality is also as good as Hokkaido(especially in Aomori and Iwate). In the several area amount of snow all is more than Hokkaido. Although the number of ski resorts is not so big, they are several attractive ski resorts such as APPI,Geto, Shizukuishi, Zao-Onsen etc. For example, Appi is located about 550km north of Tokyo. It takes around 4 hours by the combination of high speed train and express bus.There are still few foreign skiers, if you want to enjoy less foreigner ski resorts, we recommend you to visit Tohoku.

Nagano

Nagano Prefecture is located in the heart of the mainland, Honshu. It has impressive highland areas of the Japan Northern Alps. From the point of abundance of mountain ranges, natural scenic beauty, variety of ski resorts, we can say Nagano is a world-class winter sports resort including hosting of the Winter Olympic games in 1998. The popular ski regions are Hakuba, Shiga-Kogen and Nozawa-Onsen. Access to Nagano is also convenient. For example, to get to Hakuba from Tokyo, it takes only about three and a half hours by using high speed train and bus.

Gifu

Gifu prefecture is located in the center of Honshu, east side of Nagano Prefecture. Gifu also has a lot of snow fall and many nice mid-large scale ski resorts. Gujo region is a cluster of popular ski resorts, which has Dynaland,Takasu snow park,Washigadake etc.. In 2019 "TAKASU MOUNTAIN" project has begun. Common ticket of 6 resorts in Gujyo has been available. One of the attractive points of Gifu is the variety of tourist spots where you can enjoy Japanese culture. "Shirakawa go(world heritage)" and "Hida Takayama" are not so far from ski region. Gifu is a recommended area for who want to enjoy skiing and sightseeing together. Gifu's ski resorts are easily accessible from Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka by bus.