Hey guys,

Well i spent a season in canada at silverstar and ive caught the bug.

Hitting thredbo in july and looking to go to japan in dec/jan 09/10

Just wondering if anyone knows some cheap sites/agents/deals for about 8-14days in japan.

Also what is a good hill to visit?

Post from another site. Good information

mate go Niseko if you want an average mountain and to hang out with a bunch of australians.

Hakuba is the ticket. more vertical, more resorts, equally good snow albeit a little later in the season compared with niseko, good parks if thats your thing, dead quite on during the week (we had lifties waving us over to their lifts because they were bored) and close enough to tokyo for weekend trips if for whatever reason you want a break from your month in the mountains.

we stayed at the base of Happo-one, and they had free shuttle buses to all the other resorts in the valley. Hakuba 47 was probably my fave, awesome park and big top to bottom runs. hard on material.

only other tip for japan, don't get caught off-piste. they WILL take your pass.

I'm currently planing a trip over for mid December @ Hakuba, I went to the snow travel expo and got a heap of info.
I'm doing a week boarding, 7 nights 6 days lift pass, coach transfers from Tokyo for $1400~ twin share.
Just do a quick search on the web, theres some much info out there.

i did it by myself in hakuba for 2 weeks boarding
had a couple of overnight flights/buses
all up for around $4000 but the exchange rate was pretty bad at the time like 60-65yen/aud

goryu/47 parks and runs were pretty poor + powder would be skiied out by 10-11am + they wait for you in the trees to try and take your pass lol

Iwatake and tsugaike were the best mountains:D and you could get fresh lines all day(well until it freezes:P)

Most of the tourists were from nz/england was a fair few aussies though...

Hey,

Check out ixsmtravel. com in the exclusive tours section.

They havn't fully organised there 2010 tours as yet though are pretty much all inclusive air, transfers, accom, lift .

http://www.nozawaholidays.com/

I found these guys really helpful. You tell them exactly what you want and they will give you a quote :)

... or www.japanpackage.com.au

These guys wholesale travel from Japan. They are Japanese and have a far greater intimate knowledge of Japan than any other travel agent I've dealt with, and their prices are also extremely competitive when the dollar is right... which should be now :)

They have an office in Sydney at the Galleries Victoria if that helps.

Hey guys thx for all the info. $4000 all up including spedning money? I heard a steak is like $100AU after conversion.

Steak and other Western type foods can get pretty expensive but if you're into Japanese food or at least willing to give it a shot you can eat for the same sorts of prices you pay in Aus.

I had a week and a half each in Niseko and Hakuba split up with a few days in Tokyo and Kyoto back in Feb. They were very different places but both were fun in their own ways.

Niseko is one mountain with a few villages around the base of it with the runs accessible from each village linked by some lifts at the top that get closed in bad weather. Niseko Grand Hirafu is the biggest village and seemed to have the only real nightlife in Niseko. With the large numbers of people staying there things get pretty crowded on the hill if the top lifts are closed. I stayed round at the quieter Annupuri side of the mountain - when the top lifts were closed we were getting fresh tracks well into the arvo because the crowds were all confined to the other side of the mountain. The bad thing about staying there was that the only affordable way to get back at night is to get the bus which takes 40 mins and the last one leaves at about 9:30pm. The bus is also the only option if you're elsewhere on the mountain and the top lifts close. There are pretty limited options for food and drink in Annupuri as well. I guess it really depends what sort of a snow trip you're looking for.

Hakuba on the other hand is a valley ringed by mountains. Things are not as centralised as at Niseko. Happo One is the largest ski area and probably the closest thing to a village. There are heaps of buses from Happo to all the other mountains in the area so for getting around staying in Happo or Echoland might be easiest. I stayed in Goryu at a place called Jimmy's House. It was a pretty basic place but had everything you really need and Jimmy's a good dude. I also ate at the Bear's Den a couple of times which looked really nice, had great food and is ran by a guy who pops up on here sometimes. Another good dude. Trying to get the bus from Hakuba 47 to the other mountains in the morning turned out to be a bit difficult but the combined resorts of Goryu and Hakuba 47 offered some really good riding and didn't seem as crowded as Happo.

In Kyoto and Tokyo I stayed at K's House hostel. The Kyoto one is hands down the best backpackers I've ever stayed in. The Tokyo one was pretty good too. There's other ones in a few places around Japan including in Hakuba pretty near the Goryu gondola. Worth checking out.

When (not if) I go back I think I'll probably skip Niseko and stick to Hakuba - I felt like I saw most of Niseko but barely scratched the surface of what's around Hakuba.

The other thing I won't be doing again is going to a bar in Roppongi by myself. After a couple of beers I went to take a piss and left my drink sitting on the bar without even thinking about it. As a guy I've never considered anyone would spike my drink but that's exactly what happened. About 8 hours later I was still sitting there with my 3rd beer feeling really out of it when I realised what had happened and tried to leave. I was stopped by this guy who told me I had a 50 000 yen bill. That was definitely bullshit so in my mixed up state I did a runner which was really unsuccessful because I could barely walk let alone run. Anyway I made it about half a block before the guy and his mates caught me, threw a few punches and made me cough up the cash. The next thing I remember is waking up in my bed in my hostel on the other side of town and being to out of it to even get out of bed for a day or so. Scary stuff really. I'm not a big bloke but if they did it to a smaller guy or a chick things could end very badly. Sorry to end this post on a negative note but I'd hate for someone to get really hurt. Japan (except Roppongi) really is an awesome place and I'll be going back as soon as the bank balance is looking a bit better.

Have a look at www.snowjapan.com. There's info about all the different resorts, where to stay, how to get there, etc.

Hi guys,

My friends and I went on a tour with Liquid Snow tours last year that was really fun. They specialize in Hakuba, but can also organize stuff to Shiga, Myoko and Nozawa if you like.

They are in Melbourne if that helps.

Anyway, have a great trip, I'm sure you'll love it!

I would do Hakuba, great guaranteed powder snow. Went with ski-express last year and it was a great experience all up for a decent price.

Just remember to bring a lot of money cos you'll definitely need it given the exchange rate atm. Also bring a camera - the views are to die for

I have just booked 2 weeks in Niseko, Feb 20 to March 6. Anyone out there been there at that period? If so what are the numbers like on the mtn at that time of year? And snow depth? I'm sure I won't be dissapointed with the exp. After reading the other posts I'm thinking I should have booked at hakuba?

Anyway, 14 days with travelplane via ski-Japan for $3124 pp all inclusive. Pretty cheap I thought:D

Crowds shouldn't be too bad then. There's a public holiday earlier in Feb that's apparantly really busy. The lift lines on weekends can be pretty long but midweek it's much quieter. The different areas of Niseko are interconnected by some lifts at the top of the mountain. If it's windy these are the first lifts to close which means most people stay in the main Hirafu area. If this happens you can get the shuttle bus round to the Annupuri side and have it pretty much to yourself. Annupuri seems to almost always be a good bet to escape the crowds.

Don't worry about the Hakuba/Niseko thing - both are awesome just different.

I'll be in Japan Feb 2010 too.

I have heard that weekends are packed with locals? Any midweek is the time to get your boarding in.

Can anyone confirm this?

I'll be in Japan Feb 2010 too.

I have heard that weekends are packed with locals? Any midweek is the time to get your boarding in.

Can anyone confirm this?



Hey Zuccs,

Check this out, makes for good reading and answers to heaps of questions. Well it answered loads of mine anyway. http://blogs.smh.com.au/travel/archives/2008/07/wasabi_powder_skiing_japan_hot.html#comments

I'll be in Niseko from 2nd Dec through till 8th Feb.

Can't wait to get over there, its my first season and ill be running the Inski shop for first half of season.

I'm from newcastle and work at Inski here.

Hope to meet some of you guys over there.
Greg.

There are heaps of great resorts in Japan.

Niseko on the north island is not super steep and doesn't have the big exposed alpine type runs of say Whistler. It is however famous for receiving huge amounts of snow on average 14meters per season! It also has spectacular tree runs. It consists of 4 interlinked hills. As Niseko is on the north island you will need an extra flight from Tokyo to get there.

Hakuba is about 4 hours by train & bus from Tokyo. There are 10 resorts in the Hakuba valley. There is a huge variety of terrain and most resorts are easily accessed by the shuttle bus.

At Seven Descents we have some great rates for Japan so email me at jeremy@sevendescents.com.au if you want me to look at prices for you.

Just counted the weeks, only have 8.5 weeks left till some more rather long awaited (4 months) white snow fueled days. Bugger Xmas and New Years, bring on Feb and the white stuff!:D:D:D:D:D

Niseko is full of Aussies but if you don't mind that they do get an average of 12 meters of snowfall and it snows to sea level just like Canada.

The party scene is nuts if that your thing.

There is also some great backcountry spots near Furano (about 2 hours from Sapporo airport) like Ashaidake.

I work for a Sydney based snow holiday travel agent called Seven Descents. If you need any extra info or would like to find out more about our back country trips out of Fuano email me at jeremy@sevendescents.com.au