[Guess which Japanese ski resort gets the most page views on SnowJapan]

Hmm, the 3 pages with the most reviews are...

 

1.Hirafu

2.Naeba

3.Happo

 

1 and 3 sound good but I'm not sure if Naeba fits there.

[Tsugaike Kogen]

I feel like most posts I make are about Nozawa but... a lot of the guest houses and hotels are right up to the slopes and there are restaurants and a couple bars around town.

 

(Maybe it's time I copied Tsugaike's gimmick and changed my name...)

[No clue for New Year or place to propose]

And if you're in Nagano you should go to Fujiya Gohonjin. It's a very nice Meiji Era restaurant just down the road from Zenkoji. Probably the classiest place in the prefecture. Definitely a good place for a proposal.

[No clue for New Year or place to propose]

Nozawa Onsen has a nice quaint Japanese feel to it though there aren't many especially nice hotels. There are plenty of guest ryokan which might be nice.

 

Judging by this season's report from around that time there was enough snow around for playing even at the bottom of the hill.

 

http://www.snowjapan.com/japan-daily-snow-weather-reports/Nozawa-Onsen-Now/27th-December-2013

 

Not as much as you'd get way up north of course.

[No clue for New Year or place to propose]

Most of the places for snow towards the south probably aren't exactly winter wonderlands. If Hokkaido is too far, would you be able to make it as far as Nagano?

[Dual Snowboards]

Weird. I'd like to try but I imagine they'd be pretty awkward for anything other than the park stuff in the video. My back foot would probably flap around and catch all the time.

 

It seems like they run about $200 USD which isn't especially expensive. I just need to wait for a friend to buy a set that I can borrow.

[Guess Where This Is]

Hmm, it reminds me of Koumi Re-Ex but that would be a pretty obscure choice...

['In defence of snowboarders' (/ski snobs)]

I sometimes get irritated by middle aged Japanese men or kids squeezing through gaps in lift queues. But I doubt that's a skiier thing. More of a rude Ojisan and stupid kid thing. The skis just enable them.

[Heavy snow please. Now!]

Eastern Nagano has had it pretty bad with around a metre in Karuizawa. The expressways are all blocked and hundreds of cars are still parked there with no way out. Here's hoping they've been given blankets at least.