Yuzawa Town was the setting for Kawabata’s famous novel "Snow Country", and for convenience this region of southern Niigata Prefecture is hard to be beat. The Gunma region of Minakami is on the other side of the long tunnel going through the Tanigawadake mountain range between Gunma and Niigata, and is a bit closer to Tokyo. However, if it’s proximity and convenience you are after it doesn’t get any easier than Yuzawa. The mountain range stretches all the way to the Sea of Japan and the area usually gets enormous amounts of snow. If you take the Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, you can be at Echigo Yuzawa Station in as little as 80 minutes.

Today, this old rural village has been transformed into a resort town complete with literally hundreds of hotels, tower buildings and vacation condos. Near the main (Echigo Yuzawa) train station some of the old charm still exists, and it’s worth taking a quiet stroll and visiting some of the small restaurants in the area. Yuzawa can act as a base for over 20 nearby resorts in the town and surrounding area, including Naeba, Kagura, GALA Yuzawa, Iwappara and Ishiuchi Maruyama. GALA Yuzawa is the ultimate in convenience as it has it's own Shinkansen bullet train station and you can literally step off the platform and onto the gondola that whisks you up the mountain. Other notable resorts in the area include Iwappara, Pine Ridge Resorts Kandatsu and Joetsu Kokusai, which are all less than 15 minutes from the station by free shuttle bus.

Naeba is arguably the most well known (and fashionably) resort in all of Japan. Naeba was the first of the many Prince Hotel ski resorts and has been the site of several World Cup and national ski races for years. Naeba is a huge resort that attracts millions of visitors every year. In 2001 a new 8-person gondola called "Dragondola" was opened that connects the Naeba resort area with the Tashiro part of Kagura resort. This new gondola is the longest of its kind in the world and takes 15 minutes from one station to the other.

The other main resort region of Niigata is centered around beautiful Mt Myoko.  This region is in Niigata Prefecture, but can easily reached from Nagano City.

Although not as well known as the Yuzawa area, Myoko Kogen has some excellent ski resorts that include Akakura, Myoko Suginohara and Ikenotaira. Myoko doesn’t seem to get the attention of some of the other big resort areas, and that might be a good thing as it is one of the most beautiful winter sports areas in Japan. The three main ski and snowboard areas join together under one lift ticket commonly known as Myoko Kogen, which makes up one of the largest ski areas in Japan.

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