JAPAN! Give Me tha Beta Please~

[barryj]

Might get to Japan for two+ weeks in-countery this Jan. Tell me where, how and what I need to know!

BJ

[kipstar]

I am not sure I know what a beta is, but I will share what I know about Hokkaido. I did a TV show about Sahoro and also Furano, which was on air here in Thailand, will find the link and post for you on youtube in the next few weeks. Gives you an idea of the place (show was pitched for beginners though so no real footage of dudes ripping).

Japan has a LOAD of ski resorts, spread over the main island and the northern island of Hokkaido. I can only talk about Hokkaido and only 3 resorts there, actually I think there are about 15 major ones and another 12 small ones.

If flying in there are two airports, Chitose and a domestic one called Asahikawa more in the middle of the island.

All the major resorts have bus systems that run directly from the airport to the resorts, although it cuts down where you can stay a little (unless you know the places). Bus takes around 2-3.5 hours from the airport to the resort, and also back again. Cost each way is about $30USD. You don't want to be cabbing it if you can avoid it; the cost of catching the train is cheap...but the savings get wiped out when you have to cab it from the train station to the resort. been there done that.

The prices of most of the resorts is similar, you will find almost no crowds at all there even during new year, and the challenge will be finding groomers if you want to ride a carving board; they get a LOT of snow in this part of the world - light and really dry sometimes - excellent for powder boards, and slightly more challenging for a raceboard. If you are used to Mammoth weekend type crowds, then you are in for a major treat - also the Japanese I saw for the most part (and expats also although the resorts I went to have mostly Japanese) don't tend to be bomb the middle of the run types, unlike what I saw the last time I was in Tahoe.

You have the choice of the Niseko area (all wrapping around one major mountain) which is very popular with Aussies and has plenty of offpiste powder but slightly higher snowfall means maybe fewer groomers and fewer bluebird days simply because it's snowing a lot, or a variety of resorts all over the island. I've been to Sahoro, Furano, Tomamu and stopped by a few of the smaller ones. For my pick, Furano is by far the best of this group for hardboots. Excellent excellent grooming, big vertical drop, good lift system (Tomamu has some good runs but the lift layout is designed by a 5 year old), a few hardbooters, it's big, and supposedly it gets the best weather on the island (more blue sky days and slightly less snowfall).

Offpiste is resort dependent; Niseko AFAIK you can ride the whole mountain. Tomamu and Sahoro you register and have a bib and can ride inbounds roped off runs. Furano is out of bounds =out of bounds, but I saw plenty of tracks in places roped off. Not sure I would have ridden some of the places though; the amount of snow means you need to know what you are doing if you slip a rope.

Prices of lift tickets are around 5000yen thereabouts give or take, which is about $60?USD a day. In Jan you will ride early morning 8.30am until around 3pm when it starts to get dark and can get extremely cold - it was -27C one blue sky day in Furano (the TD3s were seizing as they metal had shrunk so much). Accomodation varies, if you stay in brand name hotels then it's expensive (as in Mammoth village prices) but if you stay in 3 star hotels then it's cheaper, and pensions (like a backpacker) cheaper again. If you are there in beginning Jan you MIGHT be able to convince me to share my studio apartment for a few days, or I can certainly tell you where to stay in Furano as it's a pretty simply laid out town.

There is also riding at night which can be good if it is snowing as the yellow lights provide good contrast. Freezing cold though.

There is not so much apr�s ski outside of Niseko, which is ok for me since I don't drink. I prefer the local experience of eating Japanese food and a town like furano the language barrier isn't so great as they have a point and choose menu system - Niseko is more touristy so I would imagine it would be easier to get around there. Provided getting around means getting drunk with Australians and talking about (guessing at that time of year) Creeket mate, and stuff that would 'go straight to the pool room'. Speaking of pool rooms, the whole onzen experience is awesome. If you do decide to do an onsen, wash yourself clean and learn the etiquette first, as it's not so pleasant sharing the big tub with people treating it as a bath to wash themselves in as a few Germans decided to do when I was there.

You will need to bring your gear to the resort, I didn't see anywhere that did servicing or sold hardboot stuff; the Japanese carvers I rode a couple of days with all buy it in where they are from (around Tokyo). I bought spare parts from Bomber for my boots, and take extra bindings etc, simply because I don't know where you would buy it over there, no doubt you can buy in Sapporo (big town) but you'd want to know where to go there too.

If you think I am biased towards Furano, it's probably because it's a small town of 5000people so similar in some way to Mammoth (where I lived) and has a free tourist bureau with guides who will ride with you, the prices are good and it's good great terrain for an alpine board. My Thai former boss and current boss both went to Niseko, and keep telling me I am crazy not to ride there with them as it's great - I am sure it is, but for them they are renting a whole house and living a slightly er, how should I say, 'luxurious' approach than me. I'm mid budget.

getting around Japan not so hard, everything runs exactly on time and you can plan most stuff ahead as there's loads on the interweb. English capability not so great; when I tore my ACL last trip, communicating what I needed was quite hard as my Japanese is quite limited based on watching Japanese movies subtitled into Thai :_) and the menu :_)

In Japan they aren't so big on taking credit cards, ATM machines are a bit prone to not working, so easiest to prebook the acomm, and take a stack of cash. There is no crime (although Niseko has Australians, so I would assume given that they are descended from criminals and ride kangeroos to work, at least according to FOTC so there might be the odd spot of theft) so you don't need to lock boards up and stuff like you do in SoCal. Great local beers (they have non alchoholic beers too which taste really good when served super cold). Great food in Hokkaido. Mobile phone system is a bit hit and miss also; I seem to have issues with running my BB over there, but that's also the same in Tokyo.

Let me know what you plan, I'll be in Furano from 29 Dec - 8 Jan, if you run out of places to stay you might MAYBE be able to crash at the studio apartment I'm renting in Furano for a few days and we can do some runs; for the princely price of a few bowls of yakisoba :-) Also, anyhow, happy to help you plan, if 2 weeks you should definitely hit up more than just 1 resort. If around, would love to ride a bit as well.

The Japanese have some great local brands of gear; Yonex, Grey, Moss, Ogasaka with some awesome looking carving boards; the dudes I rode with all had multiple boards, plate systems, everything, and rode like Japanese do most stuff; precisely and with purpose with elegance. The women ripped also. But sadly couldn't talk much due to the language barrier. They were fascinated by the bomber BTS.

Some of the resorts are small, go for the ones with decent vertical drop and you will have a good time.

Edited October 17, 2013 by kipstar
more info

[barryj]

Hey Kipstar!

Thanks for the great info!

Well if you know Tahoe, I'm right at Squaw......literally less than 5 minutes from the Far East Chair or Squaw Creek Chair......and all the weekend warriors! (Last two seasons have been below average so hopfully were going to get buried this year!)

......so yeah, Furano sounds more like what I'm looking for. Not interested in Niesko......Looking at Moyoko and Rugutsu also.

You coming to SES this year? Maybe see ya there?

[snowmatic]

Thanks a lot to kipstar for all that details.

I heard Japanese ski resorts have now way less tourists due to radiation scares of ***ushima nuclear disaster (what the hell happens here: ***ushima? I mean F-u-k-u-s-h-i-m-a, thats a Japanese city and not anything of a 4-letter word).

If they get a lot of snow, we can ask frome where the waterdrops of clouds have come in.

Many hotels and tour companies are offering special deals to try to drum up business now. They offer up to free rooms if buying lift tickets for a week. So it's a good time for to get goodpriced snowboard weeks.

[stokely]

I should do a combined shamisen and snowboarding trip to japan sometime . . . awesome even aomori and furano would not be that far apart :) anyway don't know if that ever happens but I'll keep furano in mind just in case so thanks for sharing that info . . .

[kipstar]

For us from Thailand, the flights going Bkk-Chitose direct and the elimination of the Thai VISA to visit Japan have resulted in massive tourism to Japan including Hokkaido; I had to book to fly out there in August (and the plane already then was almost full, so had to fly business). Almost all my friends go every year now many of whom never skied or boarded before - we don't care much about the radiation, as Hokkaido is quite a distance away; however others might feel differently.

One of the big Thai property companies just bought a ski resort in Hokkaido (kirori I think from memory) with the aim of churning out condos and selling them to us here in Bangkok....it's big business.

Rusutsu from what I know is really good, like Niseko but slightly closer and the drawback is no nightlife unlike Niseko. Same owner as Sahoro from memory who I met. I never heard of Moyoko.

To do Furano, Sahoro and Tomamu would be dead simple; to do Niseko, Rusutsu and the west side of the island would also be super easy but to mix the left and right sides of the island would start to burn through travel time, but still easily possible. You just want to avoid changing train lines where possible, as the trains often require walking up and down stairs which is a bit tricky with 2 boards, bags, etc etc. But ok if not too much.

I may yet make a trip to Tahoe this coming winter; one of my best friends from when I worked in Mammoth now lives in Reno, and used to work until recently for a property developer in squaw. Last trip to Tahoe road Alpine, Diamond, Squaw and mostly Mt Rose which is easiest to get to from Reno plus has the awesome EC guys riding there too and ripping it up.

[amjet12]

Hey welcome to Japan!! I was up in Niseko for 3 days in January and it was AMAZING! The powder was just awesome and the runs were great. I didn't see any carvers up that way though but I had a great time on the rented all mountain board that I got. It's too bad that I won't be able to get up there this year because of time/work commitments so I am completely jealous that you get to go. Niseko has a great rental board program. For one man (about $100) I was able to rent a demo board that felt amazing on the powder. I wish I could have taken it home.

As for lodgings I stayed at this great place about 5-10 minute walk downhill from the resort. I loved it and they were really friendly. I can't remember what it cost because I did package deal trip with a group of people but I will find out where I stayed and how much it would be.

If you are going to be anywhere else in Japan hop over to my prefecture and ride Tateyama mountain! It's a nice ride nothing like Hokkaido but descent and I really enjoyed it. I did see some carvers there but never got a chance to talk/ride with. DON'T rent equipment from there if you can help it. Hokkaido had the best board/this place had the WORST board.

You also have Hakuba in Nagano which also provides excellent riding. Will be going there quite a lot this season (fingers crossed).

Getting around: I highly suggest flying Peach Airlines if you are on a budget. From my prefecture round trip flight was 18000 yen. They are the low cost carrier airline of Japan. If you aren't on a financial and time budget take the night train up. I haven't taken it before but some friends of mine took it last year and they thought it was nice.

Have a great time!

[leeho730]

Hakuba was a bit on icy/slush side in February due to low altitude (800m above sea level) but quite English friendly resort town with one English pub (might be more, haven't checked) and a few restaurants near Happone have English menus and one can speak English in Hotels no problem. Some of the workers at Happone (pronounced Ha-ppo-ne but many tourists say Happo One) speak English so buying tickets no prob, they also offer English speaking snowboard/ski instructors.

For me, I'd go to Shiga Kogen. High altitude means snow is usually softer (I had waist deep powder in Feb for 2-3 days), resorts are a bit easier to get around, plenty of good carving slopes, foods on slopes are better, lift tickets are a bit more streamlined compared to Hakuba resorts, lift facilities are more modern. But if you're into freestyle then Goryu/47 in Hakuba is hard to beat. And Hakuba has better night life if you're willing to use bus.

[barryj]

Hey Guys - Thanks for all the info!

I'm open to anythig, but I don't to go to Japn to be surronded by Aussies. So I imagine I will avoid Niesko in Jan. If I'm the only English speaker at the whole town or resort doesn't bother me at all - I'm a bit of an explorer and like to seek out the out of the way Mtns. for an authenitic cultural experience.

Does anybody have a map with all the great resorts you guys are talking about shown?? I'm a little confused by all the island/resort/prefecture distinctions you guys are thowing around!

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

http://www.j2ski.com/asian_ski_resorts/Japan/

http://www.japanski.com.au/locations/

http://www.japanski.com.au/fact/comparison.htm

http://www.powderhounds.com/Japan.aspx

http://myokokogen.net/resorts/madarao-kogen/

[Miltie]

Hey BarryJ, Where are you heading to in Japan? There are many resorts in Japan as others have stated. Hokkaido is by far the best in my experience. If you can't make it to Hokkaido, I would check out the Nagano area or even some resorts in Gifu (north of Nagoya area). There is a resort called Echo Valley in the Nagano area (near Suwa city) with a lot of alpine riders or Dynaland resort or Ciao Ontake resorts in Gifu. Many of SG Japan riders are based out of Dynaland. You might even be able to rent gear at Dynaland through their snowboard school if your feet aren’t too big.

The link below is a useful resource for resorts in Japan.

http://www.snowjapan.com/

If you plan ahead real well, you will have a great time.

Riding in Japan is a different animal and usually more crowded than USA (even more crowded than Mammoth!). I had many good days there and met many super cool people.

Have fun! Tom

[barryj]

Hi Miltie,

Thanks for the great info. I'm liking the sound of all the options on Hokkaido........but all the youtube videos I have seen show ZERO crowds? Is that because locals stay on the groomers and out of the pow?

Is it AOK to ski off piste at these resorts?

I'm looking for a Mtn. to be able to ski anywhere I want, more locals, less tourists and no crowds like Mammoth.........am I dreaming?

[Dan]

Hi Miltie,

Thanks for the great info. I'm liking the sound of all the options on Hokkaido........but all the youtube videos I have seen show ZERO crowds? Is that because locals stay on the groomers and out of the pow?

Is it AOK to ski off piste at these resorts?

I'm looking for a Mtn. to be able to ski anywhere I want, more locals, less tourists and no crowds like Mammoth.........am I dreaming?

I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to Kipstar, who met up with me when I was visiting Bangkok in 2010, took me to a bar that was showing the Winter Olympics, and pumped me full of beer. Being snow freaks, all you guys will understand when I say that while I loved visiting Thailand, I was a little disappointed to miss watching the Olympics (pretty hard to find the Winter Olympics on TV in SE Asia), so it was awesome to get a few hours of snow sports on TV and shoot the breeze with Kipstar about alpine. So thanks to Kipstar for helping build a strong international Bomber community.

Compared to other folks that have already posted, my info is from the stone ages; last millennium in fact, but when I lived in Sapporo, 98% of Japanese snow riders were weekend / holidays only. That meant if you went up mid-week, you could have the slopes largely to yourself. I suspect that's no longer true to the same extent, but I imagine that midweek days in Hokkaido are still pretty chill. I had some friends who moved up from Tokyo and had always ridden in the Nagano area before moving to Sapporo. They liked to say "Nagano was so crowded! One skier per mogul!" They loved Hokkaido for the much lower skier density.

At that time, there was essentially no poaching in out of bounds areas. Some areas (Niseko in particular) had opened lift-accessed side-country, but most closed their off-piste areas. So, if you were willing to poach, you could ride powder all day long, 4 feet outside the rope. Again, not sure if the picture is still that rosy, but I would guess that locals are much more likely to be riding on-piste and not poaching closed areas.

I understand where you're coming from with wanting an "authentic" Hokkaido ski experience, but I think it's too late for that: the secret is out. It's kind of like going to Whistler and not wanting to ride with anyone who's not Canadian. Anyone who lives there is going to be be pretty deep into snow sports and probably not a bad person to get to know...and high concentrations of Aussies are probably a good tip off to areas with good powder. You might get your dose of Japanese culture by spending a few days in Sapporo at some point.

Living in Sapporo, my home area was Sapporo Kokusai, about 40 minutes by transit from downtown. The ropeway there ran every 15 minutes -- we used to get 4-hour tickets and try to get 16 rides (we usually failed because we would stop at the on-slope ramen window after about 2.5 hours, and miss one car). It's a small resort, but had good steeps, and there were some off-piste areas that rode pretty amazing on a deep day -- PM me for the details if you think you might find yourself there.

I would suggest you stay open to the idea of riding powder and not being carving-exclusive when you're there. It was not unusual to see a foot in one storm, and the snow is typically dry and light -- why struggle on an alpine board when you could rent a powder board?

Kipstar and the others that have posted already have much more recent info than me, so I'll defer to them on specifics, but I will say that I always had fun at Niseko, and there's a huge amount of terrain there (there are four ski resorts on the mountain and they offer a joint pass: here's a <a href="http://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/map/index.html">map</a>.

If you do go to Niseko, this is a great place to stay: <a href="http://fryingpaan.com/index_En.html">http://fryingpaan.com/index_En.html</a>. The owner used to be a chef at the Sapporo Grand Hotel (swanky hotel in Sapporo), and the food is amazing.

You're going to have an amazing trip -- I'll look forward to seeing some photos next year!

[Miltie]

BarryJ, If you want to escape the crowds, Hokkaido is the place. One of the best days I ever had in Japan was at Rusutsu resort on a day after it snowed about 8". The groomers on the larger side of the mountain were amazing and uncrowded. It seemed like the whole mountain was open (like Mammoth) so you could hit all the powder lines. The were some locals on powders boards with hardboots and Bomber bindings doing tree runs. You might give a shout to BOL member Flywalker as Rusutsu is his home mountain. I have heard great things about Niseko as well. Have fun! Tom

[barryj]

Dan, thanks for the info...........yeah I plan to take an alpine board for the groomers and my powder board for the JaPOW! I'm used to 2-3ft. dumps hear in the Sierras.

Miltie, what's the the off piste legality like in Hokaido? It reads like it's totally forbidden at some Japan resorts and moderately allowed at others?

I do like what I've read about Rusutsu - I'll make a call out to Flywalker - thanks for that. Any of you guys coming to SES in Feb.?

[barryj]

Yo! - So is it legal to go off piste at the resorts on Hakkaido? What's the closest airport?

I do have business in Tokyo for a couple days but could schedule that at the begining or end.

[kipstar]

Tomamu is the nearest biggish size field about 90 min from the airport.

They and some other resorts allow inbounffresihies supposed to register with a bib. Next closest are sahoro and rusustsu in opposite directions both of which allow access to ungroomed again I think with registration. Take a mobile u need it in case they want to contact u.

Crowds in hokkaido are way less than mammoth midweek in my experience.

Biggest issue will be lining up buses to get from airport to resort. U don't want to taxi it if u can avoid it.

[kipstar]

I managed to get the video clip from my old employers and cut out the studio components, so it is only the info about Furano.

I hope this gives you some idea of the snow - bear in mind this was for a Thai audience.

[kipstar]

Sahoro Resort review also.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Kipsan! These are great video shorts! Fun to finally see and hear you! Well done and very informative. Great to get a tour of these areas.

Nice looking set up by the way!! Thanks again, Bryan

[kipstar]

Dear Bryan

Thanks for the kind words.

This season hoping to get some good riding in at Furano and shoot some video of me riding (rather than rushing around working shooting and trying to explain what I wanted and needed, as no producer was flown over either). It's an awesome place to ride! At Furano also they have Kajima who is a former worldcup Japanese racer doing private lessons, aiming to do a lesson with him this year.

[Corey]

Kipstar - nice videos!

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Here's an interesting angle on new residential development at Niseko.

[Masahiko]

Hi ,

I am a local guy in Hokkaido . I've been riding here over 20 years .

I can give some advices to you if I know what style of riding you want . I know exactly where you should go.

If you will come in January ,

If you like to carve sharply and push so hard and make adrenalin on your brain ---> go to KAMUI SKI LINKS around ASAHIKAWA or FURANO . Never to Rusutsu and Niseko .

If you like to have some easy times and dive into deep powder ---> go to NISEKO or RUSUTSU . Don't head to north part of Hokkaido.

If you really hate crowded slope and want to escape to almost empty slope , go to BIBAI , NAYORO .

If you like to enjoy riding in daytime and enjoy night like in the night like buying girls or something like that , ride in SAPPORO KOKUSAI or KIRORO and stay in Sapporo city around SUSUKINO downtown area .

There are bunch of slopes in Hokkaido , it is almost countless .

Give me PM if you like to ask me some deeper information .

[Shred Gruumer]

Come on...I did even read a book in college....give me the cliff notes..

Im big japan... I love the 80's