ncorrenti 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi there, Just wondering if anyone can offer me some advice on skiing Japan. I'm a novice skier and my boyfriend is a novice snowboarded. We've heard that the skiing in Japan is great and are interested in finding out more about it. Firstly, we'd like to know when the best snowfalls are and which resorts would be best suited to our skill level (i.e. a good mix of beginner and intermediate trails). Any other advice would be appreciated! Thanks P.S. Forgot to mention - we're from Brisbane, Australia. Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi NMC! Welcome to the forums. Have you tried reading through some of the 140000 or whatever posts on here (try the Search thing above), or the site in general. That should keep you occupied for about a month to fine tune some questions Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Yup SnowJapan you are going to have to make up a questionaire for this type of thing Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Where are you planning on going, NMC? (have you come to any ideas on that yet?) Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Come on Veronica Are you feeling guilty from your 1st post on here? Let her do the work Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 I'm "Friendly V", thats who I am. Anyway, welcome NMC. (Might work to have some more specific questions!) Link to post Share on other sites
ncorrenti 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Author Share Posted October 5, 2005 I'd love to trawl this site for info but only have net access at work for 10 mins at a time. Frustrating, considering this dinosaur of a machine keeps freezing up on me! Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 This might be a good place to start: http://www.snowjapan.com/e/voice/review.php Check out some of the popular places (maybe the ones with the most reviews). Popular prefectures are Hokkaido, Nagano, Niigata, Gifu, Yamagata..... Link to post Share on other sites
ncorrenti 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Author Share Posted October 5, 2005 Erm. Please don't hate me people, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got! I have to run before the boss returns so I'll make this brief. We have no idea where to go. As I mentioned, we've got limited net access so researching this is slow and painful. So far we have only ever been to the Remarks in Queenstown, NZ. We had fun but I found the whole 'party town' deal a bit wanky. Would like to go somewhere with genuine people and a no 'let's rip off the dumb tourists' mentality. Thank you in advance for your patience? Meh, I hate being a newbie! Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Nobody is gonna hate on you man. Id try sticking to the main island lots of resorts in yuzawa or hakuba. you can try 4 of 5 resorts and youll never get bored. Link to post Share on other sites
sava 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 yes everybody was a newbie once except for ft, toque and o11. Welcome to the board, my posts are the most informative and at the same time, most witty. I agree with FT's suggestion of honshu somewhere. If you're booking through some sort of travel agent in Aus, then that basically means Hakuba. If you're not, then have a read, but it sounds like it might be hard. Link to post Share on other sites
ncorrenti 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Author Share Posted October 5, 2005 Thanks guys! Your advice is much appreciated. I seem to be getting lots of help today - the flatmate has kindly given us access to her uni account so that we can do some proper research. Is it bad that I am attracted to Niseko Hirafu? The reviews make it sound like heaven but I get the feeling it's a bit of a sell-out. ??? Also, is it difficult to get around if you can't speak the language? My Japanese isn't too bad but my boyfriend can't speak a word. Link to post Share on other sites
sava 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 yes it is bad that you're attracted to hirafu and you will go to hell (if you believe in such things) There are lots of places other than niseko, I think there are quite a few people in a similar position (for instance, check some of TimFromOz's posts). Quite a few people here will tell you not to go to Niseko but it depends why you're going to Japan imo. Niseko has a reasonable environment, it's cheap and it's trivial if you don't speak Japanese. Quite a few people want that, which is fair enough. If you read what other people say about other places, you should be able to get a feel for some of them. If you speak some Japanese, I reckon you'll be fine but you can always post here and see if somebody has been to the place you're talking about. Link to post Share on other sites
TJ OZ 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 The Travel agents in Oz will push the Niseko thing but I reccommend you try Hakuba. As far as beginner/intermediate it doesn't matter much because most resorts will cater for that standard. If you need more specific info just let us know otherwise head into a flight centre and get some info there. They should be able to start you off with flights and accomadation and then come back and ask us what we think. Good luck Link to post Share on other sites
ncorrenti 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Author Share Posted October 5, 2005 Sava, gotcha!!! I am really hesitant to go to a travel agent. They are bloodsuckers and I usually like to book everything on my own, purely because I am a control freak. But I will definitely go in and steal their brochures! May I just say, it's so awesome getting instant replies from people. Instant gratification! Loving it. You guys have a great forum going on here. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 you dont need to go to niseko to get the type of terrain that you are after. hakuba 7 plus resorts, pm me if you want some info on this place. nigata naeba, kagura, whats the other one that is beside kagura? all big and all will keep you happy. pm montoya for info there he might be able to lead in the right direction for places there. nozawa great place 2nd biggest resort in japan behind niseko hirafu,annapurri,higashiyam put together. Link to post Share on other sites
sava 0 Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 yes, pm fattwins, he loves to type and he provides good advice. you can also pm me if you want because i'm kind of in a similar position (although have pretty much worked out our trip). I basically trawled a lot of info to work out where to go and what to do. FT also helped me a lot because he is kool. congrats on 6k Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 very hot, hot springs but also very free. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Hitting Yuzawa - Nozawa - Hakuba in one trip sounds like overkill to me. You'd get to see an awful lot of icy Japanese roads. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 ocean on a bus or a frain youd would see the roads. lol Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 How long are you going for? Are you coming just for the skiing, or some Japanese culture? Best best, for a short trip, ski and culture, hit Nozawa... all the best, no car needed... For a longer trip, Hakuba or Niseko... Niseko gets a bad rap. but it's fun and has it's own special kind of magic, esp. for beginners. January is probably the best time to go, esp. recently, for best snowfall So, summary, stick to researching Hakuba (variety), OR Nozawa (shorter trip/jap culture) OR Niseko (easy fix) in January, avoiding Japanese holidays where possible. As for skipping between areas, I agree with O11, don't waste your time unless you're coming for a long time. The above resorts have more than enough to keep lower levels happy for a long time, esp. all the resorts around Hakuba. Link to post Share on other sites
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