Thinking of going to Japan....

So yeah has anyone got any first hand experience of boarding in Japan? There seem to be sooo many resorts and I'm finding it a little hard to choose where to go. It seems Niseko gets alot of praise. I'm basically looking for an authentic Japanese experience but above all good snow and fun parks! Any ideas where to go and where to base myself?
Thanks!

[Milo303]

I know a girl in Japan right now, I will ask her.

Just bump this thread if I never post back in it and that will jog my memory

[Milo303]

Here's her reply




"Oh wow...I don't even know where to begin there...Getou is really nice, and Hakkoda seems like it'd be awesome if you don't catch it at the end of the season like I did. I also liked Hachimantai-Panorama. I've heard Zao and Niseko are awesome, but I haven't been there. Tell him to check out hakkodapowder.com and snowjapan.com. Best time to come is probably Jan-Feb."

Japan is awesome. If you want ridiculous powder and easily accessed backcountry Niseko is the bomb.

[Zandax]

If you're realy looking for the japanese experience i wouldnt go to niseko since it's crowded with aussies and also owned by them. There are alot of resorts in Japan and like milo suggested you should check out snowjapan.com . Other big resorts are Hukabu (wich hosted the 1998 olympic downhill,...) Myoko kogen and Rusutsu.

[RaID]

Ive been going to Hakuba for the last 3 seasons
For two week trips in Feb ive always got at least 1m of fresh snow over my trip

Hakuba has proper mountains with 1000m vertical, about 5 proper resorts to choose from.
Easily accessed backcountry with avalnche knowledge required, endless hiking if thats what you want.
Can get steep tree runs, great varied terrain. I love the place.
Parkwise dont expect anything close to north american parks. You come here for the powder and BC not park riding.
Hakuba has definitely got more english signs and facilities for westerners in the 3 years ive been coming but you can still get authentic feel in the town.

Havent been in Niseko but from my research it has slightly better snow, but more flat terrain ie big hills rather than mountains. Its pretty much aussie town like whistler which i wanted to get away from.


There is buckload more great ski areas that are less known, so dont discount them, the above are the most popular with westerners.

Ask any questions if you have about Hakuba.

If you want powder you cant loose coming to Japan

[HoboMaster]

Man I want to go to Japan.... Where's the hell is the dead distant relative with tons of money.

[Zandax]

Originally Posted by RaID

There is buckload more great ski areas that are less known, so dont discount them, the above are the most popular with westerners.

Doesn't there appear a problem when you go to the resorts that almost never see westerners? i doubt there will be alot of people that will speak english.

[HoboMaster]

Well, probably if you want to go to the smaller resorts you might want to learn basic Japanese. Japanese actually isn't that hard to learn, nothing like mindfuck makes no sense English.

[RaID]

Originally Posted by Zandax

Doesn't there appear a problem when you go to the resorts that almost never see westerners? i doubt there will be alot of people that will speak english.

Japanese will help, however youll find that Japanese people are very accommodating and will go out of your way to help you even with the language barrier, and show off their country. If youve got a sense of adventure I wouldnt discounted.

We had a 50 year old guy in Nagano stop a group of us (4 guys) on the street, and proceeded to drive us around the city to for 6 hours showing us the historic spots. He just wanted to speak English with us. He even wanted to pay us, where as we wanted to pay him for his time.