First time to Japan, driving questions too, experienced peoples enter please

[robbied 0]

Hi guys,

 

Great forum you run here!

Hope I can get some advice from you seasoned veterans.

 

I finally bit the bullet and bought flights to Japan.

There will be 5 of us staying from 11th February to 4th March.

I would say our groups skill levels ranges from lower intermediate to upper intermediate/lower advanced.

This will be a 60% snow and 40% sightseeing oriented trip.

 

So far I know we want to explore Tokyo for a few days.

We also want to snowboard in the Nagano area (Hakuba) and Hokkaido area (Niseko and Furano).

 

I guess what I'm really after are some recommendations on excellent, lesser known ski areas around Nagano, Hokkaido and in-between that have easily accessible off-piste and tree areas.

There are so many resorts in these areas that its hard to know whats worth going to considering we only have 3 short weeks.

 

Any advice would be very appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

 

 

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Hi and welcome

 

Are you going to be mobile in terms of vehicle? That will probably make a big difference in what is accessible.

 

You could even drive up from Hakuba north through Tohoku into Hokkaido. That would be a blast.

 

Without typing it all out again, here's our fab trip from last season which took in some of the interesting and (perhaps) less well known areas inbetween the two

 

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/304194/TR_Tohoku_2009_Alts_Inawashiro.html

 

Only one idea of course, from someone who is far from being expert, but experienced in planning from overseas!

( btw I'm in the UK and have no interest in you going anywhere in particular ). I'm sure there are lots of other ideas.

 

Good luck and have fun with the planning. You have lots of time to make a really excite plan there.

 

[robbied 0]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I am reading through your TR as we speak bagofcrisps

 

Not sure on whether to buy the railpass or hire a car yet?

 

What do you guys think?

 

It seems to workout the same price wise.

 

Not sure if language will be a problem since there will be some decent distances and many stops involved (approx 1400km return Tokyo to Niseko).

[rach 1]

Driving in Japan is pretty easy robbied. Easy for us to say living here, but Bag seemed to find it hassle free as well. You might want to start another thread for just that and get other peoples experiences from outside Japan (they might not see it in this thread).

 

Trains are excellent here, but they don't go up the mountains (or not all so to speak). A car certainly would give you a lot of freedom and adventure.

[robbied 0]

Originally Posted By: rach

Driving in Japan is pretty easy robbied. Easy for us to say living here, but Bag seemed to find it hassle free as well. You might want to start another thread for just that and get other peoples experiences from outside Japan (they might not see it in this thread).

Trains are excellent here, but they don't go up the mountains (or not all so to speak). A car certainly would give you a lot of freedom and adventure.

Thanks for the reply rach.

I am now very interested in hiring a car, flexibility is important to us and I like that we'd see more of the everyday life.

Just a few quick questions about driving in Japan (if it gets too long winded I'll start another thread).

-Whats the drive from Nagano to Hokkaido like? Is it mostly expressways?
-Are most road signs also written with english characters?
-Is there many tolls along the way? Are they expensive?

Thanks a lot!

[muikabochi 208]

Hi robbied

 

Nagano to Hokkaido is certainly a fairly long drive. But you could certainly plan it to make it very interesting. You could go from Hakuba through Nagano, stopping off at Shiga Kogen/Nozawa, then go up through Niigata, take in Yamagata, up similar route to what Bag did and up to Hokkaido. Would be fun! You wouldnt need to use any toll roads if you didn't want to (I don't think, though I am not familiar with northern Tohoku). And it would probably be more fun taking the local roads though obviously that would mean it would take more time. Depends on how much time you want to be driving and exploring vs how much time on the slopes.

 

Most of the roads have English as well as the Japanese (if I recall correctly, don't notice them of late I suppose!)

 

(Probably best to start a thread anyway, might get more eyeballs that way)

[robbied 0]

Thanks for the insight muikabochi.

 

I have changed the thread title, hopefully that will get more views

 

What do you think about this plan keeping in mind we have 3 weeks?

 

-Drive to Hakuba first, stay a few days.

-Then begin driving north, stopping at a new resort for 1 or 2 days every few days.

-Eventually arrive in Hokkaido, explore the resorts there.

-Then drive down the expressway back to Tokyo and check it out for 3 days or so.

 

 

[muikabochi 208]

You're welcome.

 

You'd have to think out the timing of course etc, but it sounds like a good plan to me that.

 

Got quite a few months to plan it all - happy planning!

[thursday 1]

Too rushed. Hokkaido alone needs more time than that to explore.

[robbied 0]

Originally Posted By: thursday

Too rushed. Hokkaido alone needs more time than that to explore.

You raise an interesting point thursday.
The last thing I want is a rushed trip.

Okay, let me ask you experienced guys/girls something:

If you could go back in time and had 3 weeks for your first Japan snow trip, how would you do it?

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Well. Our trip was not in the least bit rushed.

 

Surely all relative isn't it?

 

I could easily spend 4 weeks in Nagano, but we didn't want to just stay in the same place. In our short time in Japan we wanted to take in more than just one place.

 

Do you want to plonk yourself in one place and get to know it, er, intimately?

 

Or do you want to have a trip round lots of places and get lots of flavours.

 

Just what you want - but for the record, our trip wasn't rushed.

 

I'd go for the trip round each time.

 

thursday obviously (and he will surely admit) likes going back to the same place and staying just there. That sounds boring and such a waste of an opportunity to me.

 

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Oh yes - driving = easy and fun. Signs in English on all the main roads.

[gerard 6]

Originally Posted By: robbied

-Drive to Hakuba first, stay a few days.
-Then begin driving north, stopping at a new resort for 1 or 2 days every few days.
-Eventually arrive in Hokkaido, explore the resorts there.
-Then drive down the expressway back to Tokyo and check it out for 3 days or so.

Yeah, that one would be good if you had a whole season. Too rushed. Sounds like you've got a great trip in the works though.

OK, imagining I could take 3 weeks off, I'd probably choose between Nagano, Tohoku or Hokkaido. Nagano's got a high concentration of resorts so you could spend a number of days exploring four or five areas from one base (in Hakuba for example, then a few more days in Shiga, etc...). Tohoku would probably involve more driving as it's more spread out and many of the places you'd probably want to hit aren't that big. Hokkaido is more spread out still, but with a concentration of resorts in the Southwest. Then there's still Niigata. Maybe you could slide that into either the Nagano or Tohoku plan.

If those ideas don't do it for you, you could do a Shikoku ski safari but that might be a little too hardcore for your crowd.

[SKI 15]

I don't see it as being impossible myself though perhaps a little ambitious. But need the whole season? Don't be silly! Look what Bag did in less than 2 weeks..... just needs good planning.

 

Obviously depends on what you want. Stay and relax in one place or do a bit of traveling and explore more places.

 

I'd go somewhere in the middle myself but make sure I tried at least 4 or 5 different places/regions with 2.5 weeks at my disposal.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Wherever you go, wish I had 3 weeks!

 

[robbied 0]

Thanks for the replies and advice,

 

I really want to find the middle ground I guess.

We're definately not going to just stay in one area.

 

I want to go to Hakuba, Hokkaido and Tokyo at the very least.

 

Hakuba, 2 or 3 stops along the way, then Hokkaido, then Tokyo is how it will most likely happen.

 

Would it be best/possible to leave the car in Hokkaido and catch the train back to Tokyo? I imagine a car will be pretty useless in Tokyo traffic.

[scouser 4]

travel 1 day

 

Hakuba - 3 days

 

travel - 1 day

 

Shiga Kogen and/or Nozawa and/or Myoko - 4 days

 

travel - 1 day

<expressway up to Shibata in Niigata, then local roads to Zao)

 

Zao - 3 days

 

travel - 1 day

 

Niseko - 4 days

 

travel + Tokyo

 

end

 

How's that?

[scouser 4]

You don't want a car for sightseeing in Tokyo....

[robbied 0]

Originally Posted By: scouser

travel 1 day

Hakuba - 3 days

travel - 1 day

Shiga Kogen and/or Nozawa and/or Myoko - 4 days

travel - 1 day
<expressway up to Shibata, local roads to Zao)

Zao - 3 days

travel - 1 day

Niseko - 4 days

travel + Tokyo

end

How's that?

Perfect!
Thats exactly what I was looking for thanks!

Would it be better to drop off the hire car in Sapporo and ride the train to Tokyo? Would save 700km's of driving.
I assume Nissan/Toyota lets you drop off the car in a different location?

[scouser 4]

Quote:

Would save 700km's of driving.

It certainly would. Though surely no need to go back to Sapporo, rather drop it off nearer Niseko or Hakodate or something. (Don't know area well someone else better for that).

Hey, is there a few pints in this for us?
Not that I'm asking or anything

[gerard 6]

Originally Posted By: SKI

But need the whole season? Don't be silly!

Wasn't being silly, cept for this part:

Originally Posted By: ger

[if those ideas don't do it for you, you could do a Shikoku ski safari but that might be a little too hardcore for your crowd.

Three months between the end of December and end of March would be great if you really want to check out "the excellent, lesser known ski areas around Nagano, Hokkaido and in-between..." AND not be too rushed, AND squeeze in some sightseeing. Robbied will have an excellent time for three weeks. Scousers plan of hitting the big name resorts sounds great and he deserves a couple of pints. Either way I'm totally jeolous but if I had three weeks and winter was in full swing I probably wouln't leave the Hakuba area actually, but that's just me.

[snowboarder 0]

I wouldn't even enter the Hakuba valley myself. But that's just me. We're all just us!

 

But if you are coming for 3 weeks then I would get the car and visit a number of places. Sounds like a top idea to me. But I'm not the hardcore type would could spend a month or more in any one place, I'd get bored and restless.

[sanjo 2]

My driving time estimates on what scouser said.

Hardly the drive of the century, very doable.

 

Tokyo to Hakuba - less than 4 hours

 

Hakuba to Shiga Kogen/Nozawa/Myoko - 2.5 hours

 

Myoko > Zao - 4.5 hours

 

Zao > Niseko - ?? hours

[SKI 15]

Originally Posted By: robbied

This will be a 60% snow and 40% sightseeing oriented trip.

I didn't notice this comment originally. I reckon a road trip of some kind would be great fun.

[TheOriginalMyoko 0]

Driving would be fun and not really difficult. All of the main routes have English 'subtitles' and if you got an English map before you came you could really plan it all down to details.

 

Seems that you do want to see a fair few places. If you don't want as much travel as what is being suggested you could get a lot of out of just Nagano - there's a lot of choice and variation all within reach.