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We are a family from the UK, currently living in Sydney and we want to ski in Japan next Christmas as a once only opportunity. But I am completely baffled by the number of resorts there are and the vast array of accommodation options available.

 

I have been recommended Happo One by a travel agent, because there is an English speaking ski school and there seem to be family friendly hotels there also.

 

But I have also been recommended Niseko by another travel agent who was excellent and knowledgeable, but Niseko is not accessible from Tokyo and needs a separate flight.

 

We have three kids (13, 11 and 9) who can all ski moderately well, although the youngest will definately need lessons.

 

Is there anyone who can give me some advice as to where I should be looking to go? Is there a resort that is better for families (less busy perhaps?) and is everything very expensive when you get there?

 

Finally - are we being foolish looking to go Japan to ski with our kids? I am wondering if it will be all too hard once we get there and we might better off sticking with New Zealand or Australia instead.

THANK YOU!

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Travel agents will want to sell you what they have.

 

I think you'll have a great time at any number of places. There are ski schools that can do English in a few places now (check the link at the top for some).

 

How about trying somewhere like Nozawa, Shiga Kogen and Hakuba - all in Nagano? They might be places worth looking into.

 

Sticking around here, reading stuff and searching is certainly a good start!

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Liz

 

I don't have any specific ski area suggestions, but you should have no fear of bringing your family to Japan for a ski holiday. It is definitely not a foolish thing to do.

 

When my (then) 9yo son finally cracked it, last year, one thing he determined to do was to get up the hill and back down on his own. The lifties took a great deal of care, slowing the lift, to ensure that he got on and off safely. Another time when he had a major stack, an instructor abandoned his class to watch as I got some wind back into him and his kit reassembled. He waited till we skied off to make sure he was OK.

 

Europe may have bigger resorts, but the snow in Japan if fantastic. You won't regret coming here.

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Definitely not a bad idea! This year is (surely) a one-off where conditions are not what we expect, but you will surely have a wonderful time.

 

Might be worth doing a lot of reading and then narrowing things down from there. I'd choose a region first (eg. Niseko or Furano in Hokkaido, areas of Niigata, areas of Nagano, etc) and then go from there with accommodation and details.

 

Good luck.

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generally the further north you go the better chance of snow. from iwate up at xmas very high probability of good snow but then again this last xmas,,,, oh my god i just got wham in my head.

bigger resorts closer to narita may well be more family friendly. save ou money on transport as well.

or you could go to canada and nio probs with language.

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I think it would be a wonderful family experience.

 

Christmas? Pick somewhere that is most likely to get snow for then. I'm sure more people will be more wary next year after the experiences this season.

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Thank you all very much! Many of you have mentioned the snow this year - was it bad? And if so, where was it bad?

 

Would Happo One be a good choice? It seems quite easy to get to, a big choice of places to stay and possibly more a skiers mountain?

 

Can anyone recommend a good travel agent to book through? I don't think I can organise it all without some help.

 

Many thanks again.

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Niseko seems to be popular with Aussie families though, or maybe it's popular with the agents. But there's lots of English language service in the resort and the shops in the area (even saw a pizza restaurant with only English signs on the outside, not sure if they do Japanese :p ), and it's a nice little village where everything's walking distance (by staying in the Hirafu side). Hakuba's difficult to get around without a car. And Nozawa's nice too, but smaller traditional hotspring town. Shiga Kogen's a big skier's resort, a huge place that looks like it'd be worth a week long visit to explore. Not sure about English services though.

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I'm just wondering why it's a "once only opportunity". Once you try it, you'll keep coming back.

 

I have had NO difficulties with the snow over Christmas at Niseko for the past 4 seasons. First 2 weeks in Dec will be scarey as it was this year, but Christmas was GREAT.

 

Coming from Sydney, you're looking at a 16-hour plus ordeal with changing at Tokyo for Sapporo though.

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As far as I know, Niseko might be the best bet IN THE WORLD at Christmas time. Four years ago was one of the starts in memory. On arrival, it was OK up top but all-in-all not that good. Then on Christmas day it started dumping heavily and never stopped. Subsequent Christmas' at Nisko have just been better and better! I've had my fair share of excellent conditions and fortunate luck but I actually had a Christmas curse on me! No kidding. When ever I went skiing on Christmas, the conditions sucked. If I went to Vermont, they sucked in the east and kicked ass in the West. If I went West, they were going off in the East. Niseko put an end to that nonsense. It has a nice village atmosphere and a lot of people speak English too ...and I don't think it's been ruined by tourism yet but there are more and more foreigners up there every year.

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Aren't they doing direct flights from Syd-Sapporo now? I think if I had to book that far in advance and couldn't just travel according to the weather report I'd go for somewhere in Hokkaido. Every year is different and you just never know.

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"are we being foolish looking to go Japan to ski with our kids?"

 

No, not at all - it's a safe and friendly country for visitors and I'm sure they will love it.

 

If you want to be 100 percent sure of snow then go to Niseko, but in almost any season (except this one..) there'll also be plenty snow in Hakuba at that time as well. I'd say Hakuba, because Niseko's really an Aussie colony these days, and you live there already...

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I was boarding Happo on Christmas morning this season. The bottom of the mountain wasn't open (lack of snow), but the top portion that was open had excellent coverage and I had a great time. It's such a big mountain that even with closed terrain - there was enough to keep you busy for the day.

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 Quote:
Originally posted by lizg13865:
Thank you all very much! Many of you have mentioned the snow this year - was it bad? And if so, where was it bad?
Apparently it's bad (worst in living memory) in the south and west. Here in central Tohoku, we've only had 2-3 metres compared with the 15 metres we had last year, but the snow is still good

Zao is another possibility, but I would recommend Appi. It's about 3 hours north by Shinkansen, has a huge area of easy slopes for novices, and some variety for good skiers. The snow here is pretty good.
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yea, this year is a fluke though...it's a bizarre el nino all across the world - I wouldn't judge any location (good or bad) based on this year. Look back at the historicals - we'll probably be back to normal next year...

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Liz - not foolish at all!

A lot of Japanese visit Oz for sightseeing.

Eveyrone has different idea and experience, so anyway you need to collect informations and decide by yourself so that you will never regret anything. ;\)

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I hope we are not on for a super hot and sticky summer. That would be a double punch. Though if that is followed by a decent winter next season I suppose it might be worth it. After all, I can escape for a month or so in summer \:\)

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 Quote:
Finally - are we being foolish looking to go Japan to ski with our kids?
Not at all! The opposite, I'd say. It would be fantastic. Good luck with the decisions on where to go and the like.
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  • 2 weeks later...

With kids, my advice is to not just come over for skiing. Experience a bit of Japan proper also. For that, the big resorts on Honshu are probably better than Hokkaido. Hakuba and Nozawa are my picks.

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I think that if you're with kids, the best place to go to is Club Med in Sahoro Hokkaido. They will they the kids off your hands after breakfast every day and set them up with ski lessons. You can then do ski lessons yourself or go skiing on your own. They will give you back your kids at tea-time in the afternoon. Apart from skiing, they also arrange playgroups for kids including games and having them practice for a performance as part of the after-dinner evening show each night. All-in-all, neither the kids nor the adults will be bored and the adults get a good part of the day to themselves. The main drawback is that it's a bit pricey.

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