Nagano Prefecture has 85 ski resorts. Add bordering Niigata and you are looking at over 130 ski areas, all reachable from Tokyo on a Shinkansen ticket that costs less than a single day at Aspen. The 1998 Olympic downhill course, Japan’s longest piste, the country’s highest chairlift at 2,307m, the steepest in-bounds run in the country at 42 degrees, and a tiny resort on a 2,612m alpine cirque that opens for spring skiing only after the snow corridor melts: all of them sit inside the same regional ticket plan. This guide is the cluster hub for everything we publish on Japan Alps skiing. The resorts, the seasons, the lift-pass economics, and the honest verdicts on which one matches which kind of trip.

I have skied Niseko, Tateyama, and most of the Hakuba Valley in the same season. They are not interchangeable. The Japan Alps trades a small amount of consistency for a lot more terrain, a lot more cultural pairing, and pricing that still reads as a typo to anyone who skis North America. This is who should choose the Alps over Hokkaido, where they should go inside the Alps, when to come, and what the lift-pass maths actually look like in 2026.

Why ski the Alps instead of Hokkaido

Hokkaido’s snow is the deeper, more reliable product. There is no argument to be had on annual centimetres. What the Alps offers in trade is everything else.

The terrain is older and steeper

The Hida range is geologically older than the Hokkaido cones. Shirouma sits at 2,932m, Goryu at 2,814m, Kashimayari at 2,889m. Niseko’s parent peak Mt Yotei tops out at 1,898m. The Hakuba resorts use that 700-1,000m of extra elevation with steeper pistes, alpine bowls above the trees, and proper pitched faces. Hakuba Cortina has a marked run at 42 degrees. Niseko’s steepest in-bounds is around 28.

You can pair it with the rest of Japan

Hakuba is 3.5 hours from Shinjuku door-to-door on the Hokuriku Shinkansen plus an Alpico bus. Niseko is a domestic flight to Sapporo plus a 2-3 hour bus or rented car. That is the difference between adding a culture week to your ski week and committing to a single-purpose trip. The Alps lets you bolt on Tokyo, Kyoto, Kanazawa, the Hida-Takayama loop, or our seven-city Japan Alps run without losing a day. The full set of cross-country options is in the Japan Alps itineraries hub.

Bluebird days, more often

Niseko gets more snow because it gets more storms, and more storms means more flat-light days where the off-piste is unrideable. The Alps sit further from the coast, get fewer storm-cycle days, and consequently more bluebirds in between. If you have a camera in your pocket and want to actually see the Northern Alps from the lift, the Alps win this trade.

Where Hokkaido still wins

Be honest about the trade. Hokkaido has more snow per year, gentler beginner terrain at the famous resorts, more English-fluent staff at every lift station, and the most-developed apres-ski. If you are travelling with absolute beginners, want the highest possible chance of waist-deep powder every day, or rate apres-ski highly, Niseko or Furano is the right choice. The Alps are for people who care about terrain quality, cultural pairing, and price.

A map of the region, the resorts

The skiing splits into four working zones. Hakuba Valley is the international flagship. Norikura is the smaller alpine cousin with summer skiing. Karuizawa is the family and early-season option. The eastern Nagano cluster of Shiga Kogen, Nozawa Onsen, and Myoko sits over the ridge and most travellers consider it together with Hakuba. There is also one freak alpine resort, Senjojiki Sky Resort, which we cover at the end.

Hakuba Valley, ten resorts, one pass

All ten valley resorts run on the Hakuba Valley Ticket: ¥7,500 day, ¥40,000 for the 5-day pass at 2026 prices. Free shuttle buses connect the resorts at intervals you can plan around. Actual interconnected terrain is around 220 hectares at Happo-one (the largest single resort), 200 hectares for the linked Goryu-47 pair, and 200 at Tsugaike. The full set of valley trip-planning detail is in the Hakuba travel guide.

Happo-one, the flagship

Happo-one has 23 lifts, 1,071m of vertical, 14 marked runs, 30% beginner / 50% intermediate / 20% advanced. It hosted the 1998 Olympic downhill and you can still ski the full course on the Riesen-Slalom black. The terrain mix is the deepest in the valley by a long way. When people say the Alps have steeper terrain than Hokkaido, what they actually mean is that Happo-one has steeper terrain than Hokkaido. Single-day pass is ¥8,700 if you buy at the gate.

Hakuba Goryu and Hakuba 47, linked, terrain park

Goryu and 47 link gondola-to-gondola. Combined this is around 200 hectares, with around 40 marked runs. Goryu has the Toomi gondola straight to the upper mountain. 47 has the terrain park: rails, tabletops, kickers in the 5-15m range, and a superpipe in peak season. Two resorts on one ticket, no shuttle bus, and a measurable step down in queue length compared to Happo-one. ¥7,500 day.

Hakuba Cortina, the deepest snow in the valley

Cortina is technically in Otari Village at the northern head of the valley. Six lifts, 16 runs, 530m vertical, and an in-bounds steepest pitch of 42 degrees that is genuinely double-black. Tree skiing on the central faces is the best in the valley. The base is one Bavarian-style hotel and an empty car park, which is why people make the trip up specifically. If you can ski one day in Hakuba and a storm has come through overnight, this is the call.

Tsugaike Kogen, beginner-friendly with serious upper terrain

Tsugaike has the best beginner terrain in Hakuba (50% beginner rated), 18 lifts, 25km of marked piste, and a gondola to the alpine zone where the snow stays cold longest. It also runs heli-ski operations from the top in peak season, almost the only legal heli-skiing in Japan that isn’t the Tateyama backcountry. Good for mixed-ability groups. Day pass ¥5,900.

Hakuba Iwatake, the family option with the bakery

Iwatake is the family resort: 30% beginner / 50% intermediate / 20% advanced, 539m of vertical, 26 runs, and a rebuilt summit zone with The City Bakery licensed branch (the New York bakery) at 1,289m. Sandwich and coffee ¥1,200, view of the Northern Alps included. New-summit gondola, refurbished mountain bike trails for summer overlap, and a quieter atmosphere than the big three. Day pass ¥5,500.

The smaller Hakuba resorts

Three more sit on the Hakuba Valley pass and almost nobody mentions them: Sanosaka (cheapest in the valley, beginner-friendly, ¥3,500 day), Kashimayari (intermediate-leaning, lower crowds, ¥5,500), and Hakuba Norikura (different from Norikura Kogen, confusingly, sits next to Cortina, shares the lift pass, ¥5,000). The Hakuba Jump area is the 1998 Olympic ski-jump complex, used for training, occasionally open for tours but not for skiing.

Eastern Nagano, Nozawa, Shiga, Myoko

Strictly speaking, Nozawa, Shiga Kogen, and Myoko are in the Shinetsu mountains rather than the Hida-Kiso-Akaishi Alps. But anyone planning a Hakuba ski trip with more than a week available will look across the ridge at them, and it is right that they are part of any cluster guide.

Nozawa Onsen, ski-onsen-village in one

Nozawa is 300 hectares of single connected resort, 565-1,650m elevation, 1,085m vertical, 36 runs, 19 lifts. The Skyline run is 10km top-to-bottom: walk-it-out-on-warm-thighs long. Day pass ¥7,500. The village has 13 free public bathhouses (soto-yu) you can use without paying. Towel and a small donation box, that is the system. The fire festival on 15 January is one of Japan’s three great fire festivals; book accommodation 6+ months ahead. Full breakdown in the Nozawa Onsen guide.

Shiga Kogen, Japan’s largest connected ski area

Shiga Kogen runs 1,330-2,307m. That top number is Japan’s highest chairlift. 18 ski areas under the Shiga Kogen All-Mountain Pass at ¥6,500/day, of which 15 are interconnected for 425 hectares of skiable terrain. Inland and high, so the snow stays drier than Hakuba and the season runs longer (early November to early May in the upper areas). The Olympic downhill course at Higashidateyama is still open. Backcountry permitted only with a guide. Better suited to skiers who want pure terrain and don’t care about apres.

Myoko Kogen, deepest powder, fewer foreigners

Myoko Kogen is technically in Niigata Prefecture but accessed via Nagano, which is why it always ends up grouped with the Nagano resorts. Five resorts: Akakura Onsen and Akakura Kanko (linked, 115 hectares combined), Ikenotaira, Myoko Suginohara (the longest single piste in Japan at 8.5km), and Seki Onsen. Add Lotte Arai Resort just up the road. Annual snowfall around 13m, some of the deepest in the country. Allows backcountry without a guide, which is the headline draw for splitboarders. Less English signage, smaller apres scene, much shorter lift queues.

Norikura, Karuizawa, and the alpine outliers

Norikura Kogen, the alpine cousin

Norikura is roughly 20 marked runs, 5 lifts, top elevation 2,000m, day pass ¥4,600. Quieter than Hakuba by an order of magnitude. The base is the village of Norikura Kogen, a 1,400m alpine plateau that doubles as a summer hiking hub and a spring photography destination. This is the resort I send anyone with three non-skiing days in Matsumoto who wants one day on snow without the Hakuba logistics. Bus from Matsumoto Station 1h 20m, ¥2,000 each way, four runs a day in winter. Full village-side detail in the Norikura Kogen guide.

Karuizawa, early-season and family ski

Karuizawa Prince Snow Resort opens earliest in Honshu, typically 1-3 November, thanks to the lowest base elevation on this list (around 950m) and Japan’s most aggressive snowmaking system. Cold air drainage off Mt Asama lets them blow snow when it would melt at higher resorts. The trade is that the natural snowfall is the lightest on this list. Day pass ¥5,800. The base is right at Karuizawa Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen: 65 minutes from Tokyo door-to-door. This is the option for first-day-of-season skiing, families with very young kids, and a half-day taster on a Tokyo-Karuizawa-Tokyo overnight trip. Town-side detail in the Karuizawa travel guide.

Senjojiki Sky Resort, the alpine cirque ski

This is the Alps’s strangest ski resort. The Komagatake Ropeway lifts you 950m of vertical in 7 minutes to 2,612m, where a single piste runs in the Senjojiki Cirque on Mt Kiso-Komagatake. Open April to early May only, when the lower ski areas are closed and the snow corridor is at its deepest. There is no chairlift on the snow, so you ride the ropeway up and ski back down to it. Sounds gimmicky; isn’t. The setting is extraordinary. The Cirque is a glacially-carved bowl ringed by 2,800m peaks. Full alpine context in the Senjojiki and Mt Kiso-Komagatake guide.

Spring skiing on the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route

The Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route opens in mid-April and the Tateyama side becomes a free-access spring ski touring zone above 2,000m. Take the cable car and bus to Murodo (2,450m), walk a few hundred metres off the road, and you have the Tateyama backcountry. No lift, no piste, no patrol, no avalanche bulletin in English. Skinning, ski mountaineering, and the end-of-season corn-snow descent down to Tateyama Onsen at 2,300m. People die here every spring. If you don’t have a friend who already does this, hire a Tateyama-licensed guide via the Murodo lodges.

When to come, the season month-by-month

Early season: late November to mid-December

Karuizawa opens in early November (snowmaking). Higher Hakuba resorts (Tsugaike, Goryu upper, Cortina) open early-mid December on natural snow. Most resorts not fully open until 20 December. Snow is variable. Pricing is the lowest of the year and you will share the lift with locals only. Risk: a low-snow December can leave the lower runs thin until Christmas.

Christmas and New Year: 25 December to 5 January

Peak crowds, peak prices, often peak snow. Resorts run at 2-3x normal density. Hotel rates 40-80% above the shoulder weeks. International ski lessons book out 9-12 months ahead. If you must come during this window, be done with bookings by April.

Mid-January: the sweet spot

Crowds drop sharply after 6 January when Japanese New Year ends. Snow is at peak depth and quality. Prices are off the holiday peak but not yet at the early-March bargain rates. Lift queues are moderate. This is the best balance week of the year. My personal pick is the second week of January. Lock it in by November.

February

Still deep snow, slightly warmer. First two weeks excellent value. Watch for Lunar New Year (date varies: late January to mid-February in most years), which brings a Chinese-tourist wave on specific dates. Check the lunar calendar before booking.

March

Spring conditions. Plenty of snow above 1,500m, slushy below by midday. 30-40% cheaper than peak. First two weeks of March are the best value in the whole season: same snow as late February at materially lower prices. Pack sunscreen and a lighter jacket.

April and May

Most resorts close 5-15 April. Happo-one and Tsugaike usually go latest, sometimes to early May. Late-season Hakuba snow can be excellent on a cold cycle but icy on the off-piste once the surface re-freezes overnight. Spring skiing on the Tateyama-Kurobe route opens mid-April. Senjojiki opens April. Norikura’s summer snow patches above 2,500m persist into June-July. By mid-May the resort game is over and you are in alpine touring territory.

Lift passes, what actually saves you money

The Hakuba Valley pass

¥7,500 day pass, ¥14,000 for 2 days, ¥19,500 for 3 days, ¥24,500 for 4 days, ¥29,500 for 5 days, ¥34,500 for 6 days, ¥39,500 for 7 days. Covers all 10 valley resorts, plus shuttle bus access between them. The 5+ day passes break even against single-day tickets after about day 3. If you are skiing more than 2 days in the valley, buy the multi-day.

Epic Pass coverage

Hakuba Valley joined Epic Pass in 2018. A full Epic Pass covers 5 days at the Hakuba Valley resorts; the Epic Local Pass covers 5 days. If you live in North America or Europe and are an Epic holder going to Japan once, the maths often works in your favour against buying separate Hakuba day tickets, although prices are tight enough that you should run them. Niseko is also on Epic for similar terms.

The other regional passes

• Shiga Kogen All-Mountain Pass ¥6,500 day, ¥26,000 for 4 days. Covers all 18 Shiga resorts.
• Myoko All-Mountain Pass ¥5,500 day. Covers Akakura Onsen, Akakura Kanko, Ikenotaira, Suginohara.
• Nozawa Onsen single resort, ¥7,500 day, multi-day discounts up to 12% off.
• Norikura Kogen ¥4,600 day. No multi-day pass; the resort is too small to need one.
• Karuizawa Prince ¥5,800 day. Half-day ¥4,800 from 12:00. This is genuinely the right ticket for a Tokyo day-trip.

Senior, junior, and night-only tickets

Most resorts have unmarketed half-day and night-only tickets that can change your maths. Hakuba Valley night ticket from 17:00 is ¥3,000 at most resorts. Senior pricing kicks in at 60+ at most resorts, 65+ at Karuizawa and Norikura. Children under 12 are usually 50% off; under 6 free everywhere I have skied. The kids’ rule is consistent enough that you can plan a family trip on it.

Who should pick what, by traveller type

Powder hounds

Hakuba Cortina and Tsugaike for in-resort powder, Hakuba 47 sidecountry, Myoko for off-piste depth, Tateyama spring for backcountry. Avoid Karuizawa (snowmade) and the lower Norikura runs (slushy quickly). If powder is the only thing you care about, book a 7-day minimum: flat days come in clusters and three-day trips are a gamble. The full hut-based backcountry brief is in the mountain-hut booking guide.

Families with kids

Karuizawa for the Tokyo day-trip option and the heated everything. Tsugaike Kogen for the genuine beginner terrain and the kids’ ski school. Hakuba Iwatake for the family resort feel plus the bakery lunches. Avoid Cortina (too steep), Happo-one (too crowded for groups with small children), and Senjojiki (objectively dangerous for under-12s).

Onsen-and-ski combo

Nozawa Onsen is the pure onsen-ski combo: the village pre-dates the ski resort by a millennium, and 13 free public bathhouses sit five minutes’ walk from any village ryokan. Hakuba’s Wadano area has scattered onsen ryokan; Cortina’s base hotel has a rotenburo. Shiga Kogen has limited onsen at the resort itself but is a 30-minute drive from Yudanaka and Shibu Onsen, the nine-bath ryokan circuit village. Full hot-spring brief in the Onsen in the Japan Alps hub.

Splitboarders and backcountry skiers

Otari for Cortina-area backcountry, Hakuba for the gated sidecountry zones at Happo (Skyline Gate) and 47, Tsugaike for heli-ski operations, and the Tateyama Alpine Route in spring. Myoko allows backcountry without a guide and gets the heaviest snow in the country. Pack a beacon, probe, and shovel; the Hakuba Avalanche Network posts daily English bulletins through the season.

International first-time-Japan skiers

Hakuba Valley. Specifically, base in Wadano or Echoland, ski Happo on day 1, Goryu-47 on day 2, Cortina on day 3 if a storm has come through (otherwise Tsugaike), and Iwatake on a half-day plus the bakery for lunch. This is the standard 3-4 day pattern that 80% of overseas visitors end up doing. If you want to add Nozawa for the cultural contrast, the 7-day pattern is 4 days Hakuba + 2 days Nozawa with one onsen-village rest day in between.

Gear, rentals, and clothing

What to rent and what to bring

Bring nothing if you are coming for less than 8 days. Full skis-boots-poles rental at any resort base is ¥5,000-8,000 a day, ¥20,000-30,000 for 5 days. Quality has improved dramatically: rental boards at Happo-one Central Sports or Spicy Hakuba are in the same performance tier as what you would rent in Verbier. Bring your helmet, goggles, gloves, base layers, and ski jacket. The weight saving and bag-fee saving on skis alone justifies it.

Backcountry kit

Hakuba has rental shops doing full backcountry sets: beacon, probe, shovel, ABS airbag pack, touring skins, splitboards, for ¥3,000-5,000 a day. Spicy Hakuba and Evergreen Outdoor Centre are the two that consistently have stock in peak season. Most international ski insurance requires you to be carrying and trained on this equipment off-piste; check your policy fine print on avalanche terrain and altitude limits.

Clothing for the actual conditions

January Hakuba day temperatures are -5 to -10C with deep humidity. You will be wetter than you expect from snow falling on you. A genuinely waterproof shell (not just water-resistant), proper waterproof gloves with leashes, and a neck gaiter you can pull up. If you sweat heavily, a vapour-barrier base layer makes the lift rides much warmer. Hand and toe warmers (Hokkairo, available everywhere) are the cheap solution everyone arrives without and immediately buys.

Getting to the resorts

Cross-reference our full Japan Alps access guide for the regional transport picture. Resort-by-resort breakdown:

• Tokyo to Hakuba: Hokuriku Shinkansen Tokyo to Nagano (1h 20m), then Alpico Bus Nagano to Hakuba (1h 20m). Total 3h 30m, ¥10,500. Or via Matsumoto on the Azusa Limited Express (2h 40m) plus the Oito Line (1h 30m) to Hakuba, total 4h 15m, ¥8,800. Shinkansen faster, Azusa cheaper.
• Tokyo to Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen: Hokuriku Shinkansen to Nagano (1h 20m), then dedicated ski shuttle (60-75 min). Total 3 hours, ¥10,500.
• Tokyo to Norikura Kogen: Azusa to Matsumoto (2h 40m), Alpico Bus to Norikura Kogen (1h 20m). Total 4 hours, ¥9,000.
• Tokyo to Karuizawa: Hokuriku Shinkansen direct, 65 minutes, ¥5,500. The fastest ski-resort access from Tokyo on this list.
• Tokyo to Senjojiki: Chuo Line Limited Express to Komagane (3h 20m), Bus to Komagatake Ropeway (45 min), Ropeway to Senjojiki (7 min). Total around 5 hours, ¥9,500.
• Tokyo to Murodo (Tateyama spring): Hokuriku Shinkansen to Toyama (2h 10m), then the route’s tunnel-bus chain via Tateyama Station. See the Alpine Route guide for the full chain.
• From the airports: Direct Narita-Hakuba and Haneda-Hakuba ski shuttle services run 20 December to early March (¥10,000 one-way, 5 hours). Off-season, Narita Express to Tokyo Station, then Hokuriku Shinkansen.

Luggage forwarding

Yamato Transport (Takkyubin) is the standard move: ship your ski bag from Tokyo to your Hakuba hotel the morning of arrival, ¥2,500-3,000 per bag, next-day delivery, carry only a daypack on the Shinkansen. Saves an enormous amount of pain at platform changes and lift-station transitions. Hotels handle the return shipment. There are forms in English at every major hotel and konbini.

Renting a car

Almost never necessary in the Alps. The exception is if you want to ski multiple Hakuba resorts plus Cortina without using shuttle buses, or if you are basing in Hakuba and day-tripping to Nozawa or Norikura. Snow tyres are mandatory on most prefectural roads December to March. Toll roads and Shinkansen-bus combos are usually faster door-to-door than self-driving once you account for parking.

Food on the mountain, what is actually good

Iwatake summit

The City Bakery New York licensed branch sits at 1,289m on the Iwatake summit. Pretzel croissant and a coffee ¥1,200, sandwich and coffee ¥1,500, lunch with a 270-degree view of the Northern Alps. There is no comparable lunch on a Japanese ski-summit, certainly not at this price point. Worth the trip even if you ski Iwatake on a half-day.

Happo-one Usagidaira

The mid-mountain restaurant complex at Usagidaira gondola top has soba, katsudon, kake-udon, beer at predictable prices (¥1,200-2,000). Nothing outstanding but reliably good and the queues move fast. The view from the outdoor terrace seating onto the Hakuba Valley is the second-best lift-base view after the Iwatake summit.

Cortina base lodge

European-style hotel restaurant at the base, more expensive than the typical mountain lunch (¥2,500-3,500 for a sit-down meal), good kalbi-don and a decent burger. The bar at the base is genuinely the warmest place to wait out a heavy snowfall.

Nozawa village restaurants

Nozawa village is the best ski-base food on this list, full stop. Stay below the lifts at one of the ramen shops on the main street: Yatte Miryan, Nozawa Soba, or Tomi for the rest of the eating. The fire festival snacks (Yakimochi, soba dumplings) appear from 10 January and run until the festival on 15 January. Don’t fight a Saturday night dinner reservation, book ahead.

Hakuba village apres

Hakuba’s apres scene clusters in Echoland (centre) and Wadano (west). Hakuba Brewing Company in Echoland has eight house beers and the most predictable wait time on a Saturday night (under 30 minutes). The Pub at Wadano is the long-standing standard, has been there since the 1990s, the staff have heard your snow story before. Avoid the chain izakayas in central Hakuba; the independent ones are better.

Backcountry and avalanche reality

The boundary blur

At Happo-one a 300m traverse from the top of the Riesen Quad puts you outside the resort boundary. There are no ropes between gondola-accessible terrain and full backcountry. Regular skiers occasionally end up deep in Karamatsu bear territory with no idea they have left the ski area. Check the resort map at the lift station; when in doubt, look for the blue resort-boundary stakes and stay within them.

Avalanche bulletin

The Hakuba Avalanche Network posts English bulletins daily in season for the Northern Alps backcountry. The Niigata-side resorts use a different network. Read the bulletin every morning if you are leaving the gates. Wind-loading on the lee side of the Hakuba ridge is the most common avalanche trigger; the bulletin lists the wind direction and the expected loaded aspects.

Rescue costs

Ski patrol on-mountain is included in your lift pass. Helicopter rescue from backcountry isn’t. It costs ¥500,000-700,000 per incident, billed to the victim. Travel insurance typically covers it but read the fine print on off-piste activity, avalanche terrain, and altitude limits. The general altitude rule for Japan trip insurance is the trigger zone for cover often kicks in above 3,000m, which doesn’t affect resort skiing in the Alps but does affect Tateyama touring. The altitude sickness guide covers the broader Japan Alps rescue rules.

Avalanche kit

Beacon, probe, shovel, ABS airbag pack. Hakuba rental shops do the full set for ¥3,000-5,000 a day. International ski insurance commonly requires you to carry and be trained on this equipment off-piste. If you don’t know what you don’t know about avalanche terrain, hire a guide for the first day; Evergreen Outdoor Centre and Hakuba Alpine Guides both run intro days for around ¥15,000.

Three sample itineraries

4 days, pure ski focus

Tokyo to Hakuba on the Shinkansen-bus combo. 4 days skiing on the 5-day Hakuba Valley pass (the 5-day price beats four day-tickets). Day 1 Happo-one for the warm-up. Day 2 Hakuba 47 plus Goryu for the terrain park and the upper bowls. Day 3 Cortina if a storm has rolled through, otherwise Tsugaike for the heli-ski option. Day 4 Iwatake half-day plus the bakery, then back to Tokyo. Total budget excluding flights: ¥75,000-95,000 per person on a Western-style hotel, ¥55,000-70,000 in a Japanese ryokan.

7 days, ski plus culture

3 days Hakuba (Happo, Goryu/47, Cortina), Shinkansen south to Matsumoto for a castle day, train to Kyoto for 3 days of temples and gardens, Shinkansen back to Tokyo. The mainstream ski-and-culture combination. Or substitute 3 days Nozawa for the Kyoto loop if you want all winter in the Shinetsu and a deeper dive into onsen culture.

10 days, the Japan Alps ski loop

2 days Tokyo for arrival recovery and the food. 4 days Hakuba (Happo, Goryu/47, Cortina, Iwatake or Tsugaike). 1 day Matsumoto for the castle and Nakamachi. 1 day Takayama for the morning markets and Hida beef. 1 day Toyama for the Sea-of-Japan sushi and the Glass Art Museum. Shinkansen from Toyama back to Tokyo. Covers the whole Alps loop plus a strong ski week. My personal favourite for first-time Japan-ski visitors with time.

International vs domestic, what is different