Being there for a little while, and having an interest in Snowboarding, I had to search up a way to go and hit the slopes. The best place would be to go to Hokkaido for the winter and ski/snowboard with the snow monsters, but unfortunately it is a bit far from Tokyo. And I didn’t have the funds to go so far.

Next on the list is to Hakuba, Nagano. Over towards that location is decent snow, far better then the Poconos could offer [and I went during the beginning of the season when there wasn’t so much snow yet].

I went to Hakuba 47 and Goryu. It is two mountain terrains for one ticket price. There are trails for all classes and even a snow park. The snow park changes slightly every year, sadly I didn’t have a chance to check out this park – they were closed and not open for another three or so weeks. There just wasn’t enough snow yet in mid-January. I do hope that I get the chance to go back there and ride.

If you can read Japanese all the better, you can buy package deals from one day trips to as many days as you want. And you can buy these deals from just about any travel agency. It is best to shop around, but I just used the nearest agency to me – Tobu Travels. If you can’t read Japanese you can have someone help you in English. Though some places have pretty poor english they do try to help you to the best of their abilities. The problem might be, if you go alone, that when you get to the bus depot…you might not understand what they say to you. All you do is point and they will do the same, making sure that you get on the right bus.

Once you are on the bus, you check in either by finding your name on the sheet posted in front of the bus as you enter, or simply talk to the driver. Then you get yourself seated and settled. After a moment or so they will distribute the tickets, with your name on it, and off you go towards the mountain. Just make sure you are getting off at the correct spot, apparently some have one or several stops before you reach the mountain.

Over all a not so bad one day trip, but I do suggest going for two or more days. If you decide to rent gear and clothing, “wear”, it would take a good one or two hours to adjust and find and fix any problems with board, boots, gloves, or clothing. I left at about 730AM and arrived 1130AM…At about 2PM or so I was finally done adjusting my gear. I had to go back several times to adjust my boots and bindings. Sadly it was a quick go around and I was done at about 430PM. I do love boarding, but that was a bit too quick for me.

If you do decide to do more than a day’s trip. There are packages that include hotel, and most have osen’s, which are delightful after a day of boarding, or skiing.

A day of skiing costs anywhere from $60-$120, depending on mountain, date, and if you include rentals or not.
Two days would cost about $200, with hotel, rentals, dinner, breakfast…onsen use may or may not have an additional $10 charge. The longer you stay and the more people you have would change the price to your advantage.

If you decide to go to Hokkaido, and are there sometime during the first week or two, there is a festival called the Sapporo Snow Festival. It is a festival of giant ice sculptures and sculptures made of snow. It is “snow” sculture to an epic proportion. Definitely something one should go see if one gets the chance to.

If you have any questions about the festival, or about anything that I might have left out about snowboarding in Japan…please comment below. Thanks a bunch for reading, hope you stay tuned for later as I get into Japan Day @ Central Park on Mother’s day, May 13th 2012.