Snowboarding in Japan

One of the things I was really excited to do in Japan was hit the slopes. Japan is renowned for having some of the best powder in the world and we wanted to check it out. The family was planning an awesome resort trip up to Hokkaido, but unfortunately we had to cancel so I just did a few day trips myself. We’ll try and go up north to Hokkaido next ski season!

The base does some really cheap trips where they bus you to some ski slopes and back in a day so I signed up for three of them throughout the ski season. I just had to get to the bus by 2:30 in the morning and they did the rest. The first two trips I went on were to the Hodaigi Ski Resort in Gunma. It was a pretty small resort, but the snow was really nice and it wasn’t crowded at all. Felt more like a resort for the locals because there weren’t any big places to stay there.

I’ve done a lot of skiing before but this was my first time snowboarding. The original plan was to take some private family lessons on our Hokkaido trip, but since that didn’t happen I just spent the first trip to Hodaigi teaching myself how to snowboard. It was pretty rough, but I still had a good time.

The bus ride up was pretty fun too because I got to see what Japan really looks like in the winter. Not sure how people live up there with feet of snow covering cars, houses, roads, etc. but they seemed to be fine. Sure looked pretty though!

My first day in Gunma also had spectacular weather. It had snowed a bunch the days prior so the powder was excellent, but my visit had blue skies and excellent views.

With the exception of one ill-advised run down an intermediate slope (worth it for the pictures up there though) I spent the entire day on the bunny slopes learning how to snowboard and went home sore. My second trip was to the same resort and I went with some friends on this trip. My skills had definitely improved and we spent most of the day going down some really fun intermediate slopes. Snowboarding is definitely more fun on a steeper winding slope through the forest than on a flat crowded bunny slope, and we avoided those as much as possible.

My third trip was to Tsugaike Ski Resort in Nagano Prefecture. Gunma is nice, but Nagano is where Japan is really known for some excellent powder. Unlike Hodaigi, this resort was huge. I wasn’t able to even see the entire mountain during my day there.

By my third day on the board I was feeling pretty confident. Sure, I still crashed a bunch, but I knew why and could correct my problems, and for the most part was just gliding down the slopes. This park had some really awesome trails and the snow quality was still pretty good considering it was late March right at the end of ski season. The weather was very cloudy with intermittent snowing though, so I wasn’t able to get many good pictures of the mountains.

Overall I had a blast hitting the slopes this year and can’t wait for next season. We’ll definitely get a fun family trip to Hokkaido and put the kids on some tiny boards. Jackie and I have all our own gear now too so we’re itching to go. I’ll be doing the base day trips too so I can see a bunch of different resorts around the country. Until next time!

BRB, out to Japan – Taylor