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The most popular image of the Japanese countryside is probably
the stunning countryside in the spring, summer and fall months of the year -
endless greenery, cherry blossoms, mountains, temples and spectacular fall
foliage being the most prominent elements of the picture. Nonetheless, one of
Japan’s most loved Novels, written by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata,
is called "Snow Country" (Yuki Guni), and was set on the west slopes
of the Japan Alps – the mountain chain running down the spine of Japan’s
main island of Honshu. Many people seem to be almost surprised when they find
out that Japan also has breathtaking winter scenes and, more importantly, some
of the best (and unique) skiing and snowboard resorts in the world, which have
until recently have been one of the countries best kept secrets.
With resorts dotted all over the Japanese islands, from the northern island
of Hokkaido right down to the main southern island of Kyushu, almost all of
Japan’s inhabitants live within a couple of hours of a resort. Think of this
amazing fact taking into consideration the country’s size, and Japan is the
home to the largest number of ski and snowboard resorts in the world - with
over 600 resorts. You can now see that the size of the Japanese winter sports
scene is quite large and there are many great skiing and snowboarding choices
for everyone.
Not only is Japan home to a large number of ski resorts, a respectable
number of these are large-scale world-class ski resorts. There are also a lot
of smaller operations with just a few lifts and runs, but these ski areas can
often be just as enjoyable as the major ones. The incredible deep powder of
Niseko (Hokkaido); the huge Shiga Kogen resort area of Nagano; the quaint
traditional villages of Nozawa Onsen (Nagano) and Zao Onsen (Yamagata); the
"Olympic village" of Hakuba with it's superb selection of resorts and
facilities; the popular Yuzawa Onsen resort region in southern Niigata
Prefecture, offering over twenty resorts within a short train ride of Tokyo...
the variety and depth of choice open to snow-lovers in Japan is breathtaking
and difficult to match anywhere else on earth.
For those looking for variety on top of all those choices, there are also
over 70 cross country resorts for free-heelers and 20 artificial slopes for
people who want to be able to ski or snowboard all year round. The Nagano
Olympics of 1998 brought winter sports in Japan under the international
spotlight and word got out. Year on year more foreigners travel to Japan in
search of powder and the Japan experience - many coming back again and again.
But it wasn't always this way...
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