Japan a good place to spend a season with young kids?

[Mike Pow]

i'm living in the city now, weekend warrior on the east coast. i want to spend a season somewhere i won't need a car to get to the lifts, and ideally can walk out my apartment and be on a gondola inside 5 minutes, by foot. interesting enough terrain that it's worth me spending a fortune to do a season with my family, and somewhere that gets lots of snow ideally. you know, what everyone wants

OK let's start with Hokkaido.

The following resorts have ski-in, ski-out / 5-10 minute walk to lifts family sized accommodation suitable for a season, but whether they're still available is anyone's guess. And you'll pay a fortune for the privilege.

Niseko Moiwa - small, but can access the larger Niseko United via skis. But not on the same pass.

Niseko United - accommodation available at 3 of the 4 base areas. Niseko Hirafu is the biggest & busiest with most amenities.

Rusutsu - limited accommodation adjacent to the hotel.

Furano - decent sized town, good skiing, day trips to other resorts.

If you're going to be there for the season then a car is definitely recommended. And if you have a car, then other cheaper options make themselves available to you.

For example, Kutchan is a great base for Niseko United, Rusutsu and Kiroro. Proper town. Trainline to Otaru and Sapporo. Loads of restaurants; supermarkets.

Alternatively you could have small city life in Otaru or big city life in Sapporo.

Both places have skiing 5-10 min drive plus more options 20-60 mins.

SW Hokkaido gets snow.

10m outside your front door between mid-November and mid-March will be the bare minimum. That translates to shovelling out and shovelling back in most days in December, January and half of Feb. I went away for 10 days one season and had to dig my single storey cabin out.

Obviously if you drop some serious cash for a property then the snow clearing will be done by the management company.

Have you ever skied at Big Mountain / Whitefish resort?

Lots of SW Hokkaido skiing is similar in terrain and vibe.

Which sounds like it will be perfect for your family if not necessarily you.

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I've only done one trip to Hakuba, but from what I've seen the sidecountry / backcountry terrain there would be more up your street.

There are Honshu people on here who know more than me.

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Europe

I'll throw a few into the ring

Austria - Innsbruck
Italy - Aosta; Madesimo; Corvara; San Martino di Castrozza

[Mike Pow]

I guess they can stay home on the really deep days Where did you experience your best days in Japan, as far as inbounds/trees are concerned? Everyone says the resorts on Hokkaido aren't very steep.. but what does that mean, no 50 degree chutes? That's ok. But steep enough to keep speed and have fun when it snows like say WH20?

Been posted before but indicative.

Kiroro, lower mountain. Upper lifts were closed this day - snow and windhold. No hiking, straight off lift, straight back to lift.

[XXX-er]

OK let's start with Hokkaido.

The following resorts have ski-in, ski-out / 5-10 minute walk to lifts family sized accommodation suitable for a season, but whether they're still available is anyone's guess. And you'll pay a fortune for the privilege.

Niseko Moiwa - small, but can access the larger Niseko United via skis. But not on the same pass.

Niseko United - accommodation available at 3 of the 4 base areas. Niseko Hirafu is the biggest & busiest with most amenities.

Rusutsu - limited accommodation adjacent to the hotel.

Furano - decent sized town, good skiing, day trips to other resorts.

If you're going to be there for the season then a car is definitely recommended. And if you have a car, then other cheaper options make themselves available to you.

For example, Kutchan is a great base for Niseko United, Rusutsu and Kiroro. Proper town. Trainline to Otaru and Sapporo. Loads of restaurants; supermarkets.

Alternatively you could have small city life in Otaru or big city life in Sapporo.

Both places have skiing 5-10 min drive plus more options 20-60 mins.

SW Hokkaido gets snow.

10m outside your front door between mid-November and mid-March will be the bare minimum. That translates to shovelling out and shovelling back in most days in December, January and half of Feb. I went away for 10 days one season and had to dig my single storey cabin out.

Thats ^^ a pretty accurate account, as for the question how much snow? In Kutchan they get enough snow that they have to use snow blowers instead of snow plows and the snow banks have vertical sides, it was a low snow year and the banks were 5 ft high, i agree its a good central base, we took the city bus to the hiil every day its possible but you probably want a car, I regret not making it to Rusutsu

terrain wise I would call the mtns not very tall and not very steep

BC skiing in deciduous forests is pretty cool

7-11 in japan is awesume, good sushi, beer, international ATM's

[auvgeek]

This whole thread puzzles me.

How did your kid get to be 11 years old in 7 years

Dude should have taken the first piece of advice in that thread.

[PNWbrit]

Dude should have taken the first piece of advice in that thread.

Zing.

[marving]

This whole thread puzzles me.

How did your kid get to be 11 years old in 7 years

Haha yeah i could see how that's confusing, man that was a lifetime ago, jesus. Well TMI time, baby making doesn't always work so in the end we adopted.

[marving]

Dude should have taken the first piece of advice in that thread.

....yeah. thanks for reminding me. unfortunately life got complicated, but the good news it's much much cheaper where we are so we can afford to do seemingly retarded things like spend a winter in japan with our kids. had we moved to vancouver i'm pretty sure i'd be hookin' on the side to pay the mortgage at this point.

[marving]

OK let's start with Hokkaido.

The following resorts have ski-in, ski-out / 5-10 minute walk to lifts family sized accommodation suitable for a season, but whether they're still available is anyone's guess. And you'll pay a fortune for the privilege.

Niseko Moiwa - small, but can access the larger Niseko United via skis. But not on the same pass.

Niseko United - accommodation available at 3 of the 4 base areas. Niseko Hirafu is the biggest & busiest with most amenities.

Rusutsu - limited accommodation adjacent to the hotel.

Furano - decent sized town, good skiing, day trips to other resorts.

If you're going to be there for the season then a car is definitely recommended. And if you have a car, then other cheaper options make themselves available to you.

For example, Kutchan is a great base for Niseko United, Rusutsu and Kiroro. Proper town. Trainline to Otaru and Sapporo. Loads of restaurants; supermarkets.

Alternatively you could have small city life in Otaru or big city life in Sapporo.

Both places have skiing 5-10 min drive plus more options 20-60 mins.

SW Hokkaido gets snow.

10m outside your front door between mid-November and mid-March will be the bare minimum. That translates to shovelling out and shovelling back in most days in December, January and half of Feb. I went away for 10 days one season and had to dig my single storey cabin out.

Obviously if you drop some serious cash for a property then the snow clearing will be done by the management company.

Have you ever skied at Big Mountain / Whitefish resort?

Lots of SW Hokkaido skiing is similar in terrain and vibe.

Which sounds like it will be perfect for your family if not necessarily you.

----------

I've only done one trip to Hakuba, but from what I've seen the sidecountry / backcountry terrain there would be more up your street.

There are Honshu people on here who know more than me.

----------

Europe

I'll throw a few into the ring

Austria - Innsbruck
Italy - Aosta; Madesimo; Corvara; San Martino di Castrozza

amazing, thanks man!

[Any]

3 months! lucky kids.
this was meant to be a quick post, but it turned into a whole freaking book! sorry about that. .......

get a lot of people coming to ski in japan and are shocked at how small the mountains and ski resorts are, especially if you've skied in europe.

[tripice351]

I vote for Niseko United.

I did a week super tourist baller style at the Hilton. Ski in ski out, with a window view few floors up of the gondola line. Could pop in to the room for refueling and resting. Happened to catch a window of sun after snowing every day 30 days in a row, 3rd week of January or so. It lived up to the hype for me. The Hilton would be stupid money, but I think you'll find something workable to your ideals in Hirafu. I really want to go back to Japan and check out Hakuba and all the crazy little spots. ... but I really wanna go back to Niseko. If I had to pick just one mountain to do 3 months, hard to not go with Niseko.

Sounds like you're willing to spend some coin to do this. If you aren't already playing the flyer miles / hotel points game, I would suggest it. Bonus if both you and the spouse have good credit and sign up for cards. Credit card signup bonuses can cover the airfare and some Hilton cards would get you ski in ski out for a week or so.

[neck beard]

"Kiroro. Like Niseko, only flatter."

never been to deer valley, but are you saying japanese resorts don't even compare to big white?

Yes. From a terrain perspective, yes. Japanese ski resorts suck if you are looking for engaging and diverse skiing in a lift serviced environment. Exceptions: ducking ropes, frequency and quantity of powder, slack country.

niseko gets around 1000cm/year.. but that's what whistler average every year as well, and even my east coast hill jay peak. it's a nice amount of snow if you live there you'll probably get a nice powder day once a week at least. but it doesn't seem like the "oh my god its always tits deep in japan" you kinda always hear about? and why doesn't myoko get more hype, it's averaging 1400cm, more than anywhere else? i thought the hokkaido island was king for snow?

Niseko gets more than 1000cm a season at mid-hill. I get that at my house (not in Niseko). Even if Niseko does only get 1000cm at the very base level, it is the best quality 1000cm you'll likely find. On a Big White kind of hill.

Myoko gets more snow than Niseko. It is heavier, about 6-8% water content rather than 4-6%. Myoko seems to get less wind than some other Nagano venues, which enhances snow quality beyond just water content.

[BFD]

I asked something similar when my kids were younger. Telepath, Bjarke steered me towards Briancon. That is where I would go. Been to Japan a few times and would be hard to spend an entire season there. Japan is a great vacation and the advice here from Mike Pow and Neck Beard is top notch.

[XXX-er]

all the lifts look like they were built in the 80's they even play 80's music from loudspeakers on the towers stuff like " thriller " i wonder if there was a ski hill building boom back then? we went in 2016 on the spur of the moment, we were told it was half the usual snow but we still found pow every day, I would say it was fun but it didn't really live up to the hype for us

we met up with some other canucks we know who rent a house every year and they like it so much one of them bought a house YMMV I guess but I can't see it, as for buying one I wonder what you do with it for the rest of the year when its not snowing?

but that might be the thing to do ... rent a house

[babybear]

I LOVE how they play bad music from the lift towers in japan

[marving]

all the lifts look like they were built in the 80's they even play 80's music from loudspeakers on the towers stuff like " thriller " i wonder if there was a ski hill building boom back then? we went in 2016 on the spur of the moment, we were told it was half the usual snow but we still found pow every day, I would say it was fun but it didn't really live up to the hype for us

we met up with some other canucks we know who rent a house every year and they like it so much one of them bought a house YMMV I guess but I can't see it, as for buying one I wonder what you do with it for the rest of the year when its not snowing?

but that might be the thing to do ... rent a house

where did you end up skiing while you were there?

[babybear]

we went to Hokkaido last yr- skied a bunch of the niseko resorts, kiroro, rusutsu, furano and then hit up the quasi ski area- Asahidake
I would equate the terrain with Vermont/ New England but with Utah deep powder
and also the little towns of Hokkaido (we were mostly on the western side of the island) seem to me sort of like Northern VT- very agricultural, then little towns sprinkled regularly in between.
It was easy to get around, people were friendly and helpful, the food was great- sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not much drinking and of course everything orderly and calm as you expect of rural japan- the vibe there is very good/ mellow

The skiing was on the mellower side but of course the trees are great as they are new england-y spaced.
We had our deepest day at kiriro and it was almost too flat to keep yer speed. no complaints though- we laughed like 5 yo's the whole time

[Any]

all the lifts look like they were built in the 80's they even play 80's music from loudspeakers on the towers stuff like " thriller " i wonder if there was a ski hill building boom back then?

doesn't get any better than skiing annupuri to the tune of "cant touch this"

the japanese had a ski boom in the 80's because of a really really popular ski romance movie. i think it was Take Me Skiing - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264171/
they couldn't build resorts fast enough, 3 hour lift lines n stuff.

[XXX-er]

where did you end up skiing while you were there?

Skiing was sucking up here in narthern BC so on a whim we took off on about 5 days notice, 4 days travel we had 10 days on snow, skied the 4 resorts of Niseko united, also Moiwa and the BC on the far side of Moiwa

we stayed in a cheap airBnB in Kuchen and then we were gona be screwed cuz of the language barrier so we texted a friend back home who had a connection to the head guy at Niseko powder guides, they booked all the rest of our cheap accomadation at the base of Moiwa walking distance to lifts and rode a day with us, we paid 40 each per night at the 3 places we stayed

our buddies had a house over on the moiwa side where we also did some BC and I am betting that is also where buddy bought his house

everything always seems to work perfectly in japan, you can bus everywhere they even run on time

it is very normal for people to courier their skis to and from resorts

anywhere else in the world you would never see those skis again

I kind of liked Kool and the gang "celebrate good times"

[nortonwhis]

Definitely no Japan local but have done two trips there in the past two years. here's my breakdown.
Hokkaido is as every one mentioned, generally flattish. Sapporo Teine has some decent steep challenging terrain but is a tiny area. Rusutsu is pretty sweet, but i think if you take the option of Shiribetsu/Yotei backcountry out of the equation, there isn't enough there to keep me interested for a week, let alone a season. I would say, Shiribetsu and Yotei would be some of the best beginner backcountry terrain, and probably not a bad place to get them into backcountry skiing. Minimal avalanche risk in the trees. Niseko is probably the only place in Hokkaido you could make it work without a car. I didn't particularly enjoy Niseko due to the crowds, both on and off the mountain, Lots of Jerry's from England / Aust / Germany ducking ropes, heel sliding anything remotely steep and just getting in the way really, then being obnoxious in the bars after telling everyone how sick they are.

Hakuba is a completely different level (still lots of Aussie Jerry's cunting the place up though). Probably some of the most impressive terrain anywhere i have ever been. Some of the closed areas in Goryu are just mind blowing. Gnarly backcountry, with lots of wind, rapid temperature changes. Really complete opposite in terms of terrain and snowpack compared to hokkaido. In bounds at places like Cortina is some of the best riding i have ever done. Neck Beard would be a better resource for Hakuba as i was there for only 5 days before driving up to hokkaido due to insane warming. Its also can be a very short pow season there in resorts . Xmas - end of feb really (Thats what i remember although i could be wrong on that). I also really noticed a massive difference in the attitudes of people in Hokkaido much more relaxed, where as I felt that many of the Japanese locals were tense on Honshu

tldr I wouldn't do Hokkaido even for two weeks if slackcountry was off the table. Might be ok with the fam, but you will likely get bored. Europe could be a good option, but its much more of a gamble on whether they will have any snow. Japan is guaranteed, even the shittiest years are still deep

[Mike Pow]

"Kiroro. Like Niseko, only deeper."

FIFY

[satori]

FIFY

LOL!!

I'd go straight to Hakuba. Forget Hokkaido. It's flat, and people up here aren't as hard core as those in Nagano. You definitely wanna go there.

[tmokes]

Sounds like you have money to do fun stuff. If so, I suggest buying an RV, one of those mountain collective passes for the family and travel across the states. They can see lots of places and ride different places. Maybe they will find somewhere cool and years later move to that town...

Like others said, Japan might not be the best destination unless your kids are already showing some interest in Japanese culture.