mrbrisbane
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Posts posted by mrbrisbane
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PS - not sure from whence you are coming but a stop at Nakano at the Jusco to stock up on Western style nibbles, instant coffee, and drinkable red wine if that is your taste is well worth while as shopping options in Shiga are very limited.
PPS - Chalet Shiga had the cheapest beer vending machine of anywhere that I have seen, but it was Kirin not Asahai.
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We've been to Shiga twice now and are heading back for another week this Xmas. We tend to go to 3 resorts for about a week each but are getting a little boring because of the followers that we have who like "known destinations"
Places we have stayed at Shiga -
Chalet Chiga which was a really good place with good solid food and the benefit of bar down stairs which served light meals, close to a great little isakaya and of course the main st of Ichinose with its erraticly opening convenience stores and 1 or 2 reataurants. Much more Japanese than Sunroute (little Newcastle )and 2 doors up the hill.
Villa Ichinose - Excellent location but really hard to get a booking if you are looking for anything before 12 Jan. Our experience was that they are not even interested in acknowledging a booking request until they know that they will be pretty much empty.
We stayed at a little place right on the snow at Bunadaira called Alpen Glo which was excellent for food and location but somewhat basic. Beware the toilet facilities which may not please females in the group - squats only. Very Japanese, family run, great food (japanese) and absolutely ski in ski out 3 steps. Even if you have to catch the bus back from a late finish at Okushiga or Ichinose it is easy to ski back in the dark from Hoppo Onsen bus stop.Rates are the cheapest snow accomodation I have ever found except camping in the bush. (go to Shiga Kogen website)
We are staying at Shiga Aspen this year which is at the bottom of Giant / Bunadaira and is about $25 a night pp dearer than Alpenglo but has on site Onsen, and a Parisian pastry shop.( of course they also have sit down WCs)
Alpenburg is significantly more up market than any of these other lodgings and is next door to Shiga Aspen.
The shirakabaso was another that my sister stayed in which she raves about. Again probably nudging 3-4 star accommodation with the benefit of being right next door to the Hasuike bus interchange. Access to ski areas is OK but not as nice as all the other options with a bit of sideways to get anywhere every morning. Also can be a bit of an issue if you are at Okushiga (some of the nicest terrain) as you have to make sure that you do not miss the last rides at Giant to get home.
Villa Alpen at Sun Valley is another nice "value" option but just a little out of the way for access to the better ski areas. That said there are times when you can have almost all of uncut Sun Valley to yourself which can be pretttty nice.
Prince Hotels - I wish you luck - We have never been able to make sense of their booking forms and always seem to end up with quotes for like $250 pp per nite. I suppose that is the price you pay to have a gondola in the lobby which seems to be pretty standard for Prince Hotels
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Plans for 10-11 - Nozawa for a week and Shiga for a week as we intro others to it but oh for the 3rd week - who can help out with a worthwhile destination between Nagano and Narita. We will be 15 down to 4 by then and really want to go somewhere that we haven't been before.
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In 2006 we aere in a similar position and had planned to take the west coast train (Nihonkai service) which is on overnight to Aomori. That was the year that all the train services north out of Osaka were disrupted by severe weather and we ended up having to fly.
On the way back we did the train from Kutchan to Hakodate (gr8), then the ferry from Hakodate to Aomori (gr8) then various trains from there down thru Yamagata (ZAO) and Aizu (Bandai). It was all a bit slow - took over a week but wow did we see some different terrain and experience a whole lot of Japan.
Cheapest of all the options is possibly the ferry from Niigata to Hakodate.
There are lots of options especially if you want to see a bit more of the country.
Don't automatically exclude getting a car. The options for stopping and grabbing a ski anywhere and everywhere along the way are huge.
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Hey, I'm sure the busses were on time - just working out when that was, was our problem. Nothing like like a regular - at 10 past the hour interval and the Japanese only timetable was beyond us and any who did not recognise the place names.
Anyway we got there in the end and the rewards were worth it.
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How long each day - out at first lifts and ride the last rides to highest point at end of day - Must say the one really really good thing about Niseko is that night ski-ing is ski-ing with most of Grand H lit up which is not what one usually finds in most places.
Flow style bindings - Just gotta love them although lots of resistance amongst the cool set who seem to be running some sort of extended trial on how waterproof the backsides of their pants are.
I get into trouble all the time for strapping up prior to getting off lifts which is the best way around the delay at the top.(if the unload has enough grade to get you out ) Most lifties either don't really notice or don't care that much.
Must say when ski-ing in Aus I have really seriously considered xc to make the most of the 2-3 hours of light before first lifts in the morning. It is surprising just how many seem to go up and down Kosciusko Rd between Perisher and Charlottes doing just that.
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Hey Black Mountain, can you tell me what the ski resort is in the picture captioned view into the distance.
Our only regret whilst at Myoko was not spending more time at Ikenataira and Suginohara. The tops of the hills are spectacular and the top to bottom run really lets you know where your legs are. Very appealing to us Aussies.
The only criticism, that I have of the whole Myoko experience is of the shuttle bus service which although punctual was neither regular nor frequent and the timetables which defied the best efforts of even native Japanese to accurately interpret.
We liked those two hills so much that we just camped at the bus stop until it eventually came.
We also got pretty good at reciting " Kono buswa Suginohara / Ikenataira ni ikimaska"?
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Hey Iiyamadude,
Can you tell me about the 2 hills that one sees lit up most nights across the way from Nozawa - pretty close I think to Iiyama.
Never seems to be anyone terribly visible on them, and I always wondered whether it would be worth the trip to extend the day.
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We sure did .... and for you Japan Virgins - what are you waiting for?
Do the sums it costs no more to get amongst some of the best ski-ing to be had in the world and certainly what we have found to be consistently good than to take pot luck in Aus or NZ at winter school holiday times. The travel time from SEQ or anywhere except Melbourne or Sydney is similar and the scene change - immeasurable.
Japan is a land of contradictory extremes - eg
Ski resorts fanatically groom the slopes - but by mid morning (with a little luck) you can be ski-ing knee deep pow.
Next cubicle to a squat toilet is an apparatus that has a heated seat, multiple,adjustable bidet and warm air blower functions along with chimes or flushing tunes to help disguise any less than melodious sounds,
Machines that make life quick and easy, vending anything from tickets to beer and yet manual administration systems that seem right out of the 1950s.
When you do get there, you will quickly understand what it is that keeps all of us who are already addicted going back for more over and over.
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We get around the shortage of seats on the long weekend...
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It seems that Trevor on Master Chef is not the only one to use the bait in the meal....
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The girls do "man legs" on a romance lift...
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Tree hugging - Myoko style
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Evening drinks on the front terrace at Alpen Glow - what it lacked in toilets it sure made up with location, space and cuisine.
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Just another conga line - bucka geigin with a whole hill in front of them.....
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The Shiga Kogen Challenge Masters -
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Is this freestyle in the snow? - or just Australian crawl.
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When I use the term Kagura, it is fairly loosely and would include Naeba as it is my understanding that the dragondola links the two. I am under the impression that Yuzawa is what we were looking across the valley at from Akakura and I am busily researching to verify one way or the other whether this is the case. It certainly looked like a Prince sort of a place with 2 massive mausaleums at the base of the valley and a maze of runs spidering up 2 mountains from there.
Have just posted some pix on my album page and will try to attach some here although mainly family sort of photos with limited appeal. (my own method of labelling pix has me having to rename them for posting which is pretty tedious.
Please tell me more about Naeba and Kagura - I am hungry for info.
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For 3 years have been meaning to write of our now annual sojourns to the Japanese Alps with a view to being able to compare each trip. This one however was just sooo good that I can't put it off any longer. Looking through Mama Bear's TR brings back fond memories of our own first Japan trip in 2006 to Niseko which got us hooked. Like her we have children in tow who really do add another dimension to such a holiday. Mama Bear certainly had some good weather in Niseko - in 2006 we saw the sun and Mt Yotei for something like 3 hours in 3 weeks but hey we go for the snow and if you want beach weather - stay home. This year we actually found another place that trucks snow out of town on a daily basis and it is certainly a change to see - grandmas who are so busy shovelling snow that they have no time to sit around playing poker machines at the club.
Back to the trip - Since the Niseko epic, we had visited amongst other places, Hakuba, Nozawa, Zao and Shiga with a few reconnoitres to lots of smaller places.
The design of 09-10 was to prioritise on snow time and reduce travel time to a minimum which we did by -
* Flying direct from Bris to Narita on the JAL day service.
* Chartering a private bus to cart us and all the stuff from airport to resort and between each chosen destination.
* Staying either on snow or seriously close (easy short walk)
They budget was harsh ($4500/adult) and there were times when it was mentioned that a little more could have been found for something as silly as say sit down toilets.
So what did we get for the $ ?
* Return economy airfare on JAL - Brisbane to Narita
* Private bus from airport to Nozawa
* 9 nights (8days) accom, breakfast and lift tix @ Nozawa
* Private bus from Nozawa to Myoko (just over an hour)
* 5 nights (5days) accom, breakfast and lift tix @ Myoko
* Private bus from Myoko to Shiga
* 5 nights (5 days) accom, breakfast, dinner and lift tix @ Shiga
* Private bus from Shiga to Narita (about 6 hours)
And the best ski-ing that we have ever had thanks to the Pacific ElNino, Siberia,Sea of Japan and of course the Japanese Alps.
How did we do it?
We are basically 3 families of 4 and 4 others who formed a loose group to enjoy the benefits of the private transport option which surprisingly was not only much quicker but a bit cheaper than any of the other options. This was a major component in the success if the trip notwithstanding of course the excellent snowfalls.
The carefully selected destinations provided an excellent variety of terrain and accommodations along with just long enough in each place to leave us all wanting more.
Plans are already being laid for 10-11 with hot contenders being Hakuba (an old friend), Kagura, and Shiga as the likely destinations.
Anyone with experience of Kagura please be forthcoming with info and advice for this bunch of addicts.
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The shuttles are fairly easy - get one of the maps - the routes are colour coded then get on at the same colour stop. As for local buses for after hours - are there ant? You might have to walk down to Kamashiro and get the bus or train. If you are just trying to get to HappOne though most of the shuttle trafic is coming the other way.
Good luck - you might need it
PS we caught a taxi from Escal Plaza to Echoland and while it did not break the bank, it was an expence that I would not be looking to add to the budget twice a day.
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We had a great Shabu Shabu at a place just near the level crossing on the main drag in town, Nonjays was gr8 for a casual meal, and a little place sort of diagonally opposite the station was good too.(restaurant guide has them all listed)
Catch the local bus up to Tsugaiki and grab lunch on the side of the hill, with a waffle from the booth near the gondola station. take your skis/boards as well.
Noodles on the snow at the top of Iwataki was also cool as was lunch at the nearly top of HappoOne ( bit pricey though).
The village at the bottom of Iwataki has some great places to lunch (compensates for lack of terrain sort of) Also some intersting retail.
And - the very top lift at HappoOne has some gr8 terrain that is often uncut on the left shoulder just near the boundary.
You are going to have a blast so get your good goggles, warm gear and daily wax kit and everything else will be OK.
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Cooling off on a hot run
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Hey TDK - have a gr8 time - just wish I could be there with u.
re lift tix - this pops up now and again and has been dealt with in some detail on these forums - as well as my 2 cents worth below it would probably be well worth doing a search in the box above to get to the previous threads.
Hakuba has a common ticket that works at the 4 main hills - Happo One, Goryu, Hakuba 47, and Iwataki. The 4 hill pass is the most expensive, but does have the advantage that you do not have to buy a ticket every day. The other thing about Hakuba is that the shuttles do not scan passes (like Shiga) so you do not have to have a pass to get on the bus. Worth knowing also is that the shuttles run to a timetable - not just shuttle so if you go to Hakuba 47 you may be stuck there for an hour or 3 before there is a bus out of the place.
The cheapest tix that we found in Hakuba were at Immori ( Goryu / Hakuba 47) and they had a parent and child deal that was a real saving.
The tix at HappoOne were pretty much the same price as the super pass but all the other hills were a bit cheaper and had discounts - but HappoOne is clearly the superior hill.
If you are only there for a week 3 or 5 day tix are generally best value and let you have a day off if the weather is too bad or you are too sore etc.
Most of the ticket windows took credit cards, but always worth having cash as some did not accept the card at different times.
Have fun.
Where to stay in Shiga
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Most places in Shiga will have the option of private bathroom - although it may be more like something that you would see on an aeroplane than the facilities that you may be more familiar with - ie very compact. If you view their website with google chrome it will translate enough to get you the info. Another clue is in the rates - which generally differentiate rooms with private facilities.
If you go to this Shiga Kogen website, linked to on the below page (right hand side banner):
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/index.html
there is also an accommodation directory which distinguishes those with english websites - a lot easier and generally a fair indication that some verbal or written communication is possible.
Just remember that this is not like Hakuba, Nozawa, Niseko, Myoko, where there is a town within walking or easy transport distance. There are like 3 pretty basic yamazaki shops ( 2 at Ichinosi and 1 at Sun Valley , all of which have some pretty different ideas as to opening hours and can at time just be closed to all but guests in the hotel in which they are located.
Any more ?s just shoot and I will try to help.
PS if private western style facilities are more important than location you better forget about Alpen Glow.