Why Northwest skiers flock to Japan each winter

HAKUBA VALLEY, Japan — Snow crab legs protruded from a steaming bowl of miso soup accompanied by a golden-brown portion of takoyaki, a battered ball stuffed with grilled octopus. What did this slopeside lunch set me back at Goryu, one of several ski areas lining Japan’s Hakuba Valley? Some 1,150 yen, or about $8.

You can barely buy a coffee for that price at Seattle-area ski lodges, a value underscoring why a ski trip to Japan is such a delight. Last February marked my third cold-weather vacation to the Land of the Rising Sun, a country whose boom-bust experience with winter sports has left a mix of charmingly dated resorts matched with an infusion of newfound interest from foreign visitors.

In the inverse of the Washington scenario, in which demand outstrips supply, Japanese ski resorts are vastly overbuilt for their domestic market. There are one-sixth as many Japanese skiers and snowboarders today compared with 30 years ago. Japan’s ski operators are increasingly catering to foreign visitors to revive an industry that peaked in the early 1990s at the height of the country’s economic bubble.

Northwest skiers are happy to oblige. There are three daily flights making the eight-hour hop to Tokyo from Seattle-Tacoma International, the closest mainland U.S. airport to Japan. For Seattle-area skiers planning an overseas ski trip, traveling to Japan is quicker and more convenient than heading to the Alps.

Want to experience Japan’s world-class train infrastructure, inimitable hospitality and legendary powder snow for yourself? Read on for a deep dive into the Hakuba Valley.

Getting there and getting around

Japanese tourism conjures images of springtime Sakura (cherry blossoms) and ancient temples, but the mountainous regions are longtime winter destinations beloved for their abundant snow.

Japan’s capital is your port of entry coming from Seattle. Both Delta and All Nippon Airways fly once daily to Haneda Airport. While Haneda is closer to the Tokyo city center, Narita is served daily from Seattle by Japan Airlines, an Alaska Airlines partner. I used frequent flyer miles for my family’s trip last winter.

Like lift tickets, airfare fluctuates with demand-based dynamic pricing. As of press time, nonstop round-trip airfare ranged from $1,200 to $2,300 for a Saturday-to-Saturday trip in February. Japan sees peak snowfall in January and February, and most ski areas close up shop by the end of March.

As for mountain towns, consult Winter Olympic history: Nagano hosted in 1998, while Sapporo did the honors for the 1972 Games, where Seattleite Susan Corrock took bronze in alpine skiing, the second-ever American medal in that discipline.

While Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido prefecture, gets some of the world’s most consistent powder dumps, nicknamed “Japow,” the slopes often aren’t adequately steep. When slowed to a dead stop in thigh-deep powder, I wished I could tilt the island another 10 degrees.

Nagano is your gateway to the Japanese Alps, the country’s steepest mountains, and conveniently located on Honshu, the main island. The Shinkansen bullet train ride is 80-100 minutes from Tokyo Station and runs about 8,000 yen ($56). From there, you can transfer to a bus for Hakuba.

From the Nagano train station, transfer to the Alpico bus for the 75-minute ride to Hakuba Happo Bus Terminal (16 times daily, 2,800 yen, or $19.69). The bus terminal is walking distance from Happo-One, the valley’s largest ski resort, and a number of lodging options. Hakuba also has a train station on the edge of town if coming from somewhere other than Tokyo.

Get familiar with the bus terminal — if you decide to bounce around the valley’s ski areas, you’ll be a repeat visitor. Car rentals are available but scarce, which means relying on the extensive Hakuba Valley shuttle (600 yen, $4.22 per ride, or free with same-day lift ticket). In addition, most ski areas operate their own shuttles that serve the main hotels and bus stations.

While deciphering the various bus timetables looks intimidating, once you crack the code, getting around the valley is remarkably easy.

Finally, Japan is eminently navigable for visitors who don’t speak or read Japanese — though learning key phrases is always good travel etiquette. But if you find the logistics too daunting, Seattle-based evo runs multiple turnkey trips every winter starting at $3,250. Visit evo.com/en-ca/adventure-travel/asia/japan.

In the valley

I settled on the Hakuba Valley for my most recent Japan ski trip for one reason: Vail’s Epic Pass. Since 2018, nine of the valley’s ski areas are included on the season pass, which is popular with Western Washington skiers who day trip to Stevens Pass and overnight at Whistler Blackcomb.

As an Epic pass holder last winter, I redeemed my pass for a five-day lift ticket. But even if you’re not wielding a U.S.-based multi-resort megapass, skiing in Japan remains a bargain. While each of Hakuba’s ski areas operates independently, lift tickets rarely top $50 per day. In a throwback, some ski areas even let you pay by the ride, a few bucks per chairlift bump.

Hakuba felt like an amalgam of different mountain towns. Train service and jagged peaks reminded me of Chamonix, France, where village streets are lined with a global clientele in ski boots — though here tilting West Coast, Australian and Southeast Asian. The shabbiness of faded glory was reminiscent of Bariloche, Argentina. And our quiet corner of hotels and chalets, the tree-lined Echoland neighborhood, felt like a Japanese version of Girdwood, Alaska. What Hakuba did not resemble: Whistler. With disconnected neighborhoods, it is not designed for maximum pedestrian ease.

We rented a brand-new, free-standing cabin with its own bathroom, kitchen and laundry for about $400 per night at Hotel Oak Forest. Self-catering options are less common than hotel rooms (both Western and Japanese style, meaning a futon-style mattress atop a tatami mat). Most important, the hotel had an onsen, or hot spring bath. Geothermally heated pools abound in Japan, and soaking after a ski day is one of the supreme pleasures of a trip here.

Our daily culinary highlight was lunch, where resort cafeterias churned out top-notch, affordable Japanese food. From ramen to curries to rice bowls with fresh fish, you’d be hard-pressed to spend more than 2,000 yen ($14). On busy days, adorable food trucks pulled up to the slopes. At après-ski time, keep your eyes peeled for bars serving Hakuba Brewing Co.

The Epic Pass five-day deal is an ideal sampler pack to check out the valley’s offerings, then go back to your favorite if you stay longer.

Happo-One, which hosted the 1998 Olympic alpine events, sets the standard with highest vertical relief (3,500 feet) and steeper terrain. It also boasts a rare backcountry gate off the summit. Japan’s safety-conscious culture has made resorts hesitant to allow patrons off marked trails, although that reluctance is slowly changing.

Goryu/Hakuba 47, two interconnected resorts, are the second-largest offering after Happo-One and provide a quieter alternative to the Happo scene while still close to town. Both Happo and Goryu have impressive facilities for kids — from indoor play structures made from locally sourced wood to outdoor snow play areas with magic carpets, sleds and snowball makers — that exceed affordable family-friendly offerings at any ski resort I’ve ever visited. Fees varied but typically topped out at 1,000 yen ($7).

Further afield, Cortina and Norikura are favored, if busy, destinations on powder days. Tsugaike caters to beginners, while Iawatake is known for its halfpipe and terrain park.

As every skier knows, winter weather is fickle. It rained one day — the curse of Pacific proximity, something Seattle skiers know too well — and we tried in vain to visit HakuBounce, an indoor trampoline park. Everyone had the same idea — the town could use more attractions on down days from skiing. It does boast one truly unique day trip: a chance to observe wild snow monkeys that bathe in hot springs (15,000 yen, or $105; includes lunch).

Changing fortunes

While 1980s and ’90s buildings abound — one reason that property is cheap by global ski town standards — a revival is clearly underway.

On the train ride into Hakuba, I spied a boarded-up nightclub, a ghost from Japan’s ski boom. A new nightlife era dawns in late February and early March, however, when international music festival Snow Machine lands in the valley.

Local families who weathered hard times are riding a fresh tourism wave with new upscale hotels like ski-in, ski-out Starry. Japanese outdoors brand Snow Peak inaugurated a landmark in 2020 with Land Station, a store, restaurant, lodge and campsite designed by top architect Kengo Kuma. (Japanese outdoors brand Montbell also operates a shop upstairs from the Happo Bus Terminal.)

On my trip, I crossed ski tracks with evo founder and CEO Bryce Phillips. It turns out he was scouting properties. In November, the company announced it had purchased a 21-room hotel that will soon get an evo makeover. That comes on the heels of evo’s 2022 acquisition of Rhythm Japan, a ski and board shop providing Hakuba’s best rentals.

All of which seems to be welcome news for Hakuba residents, who elected a young hospitality professional, Toshiro Maruyama, as mayor last year. As he told Hakuba Connect magazine, “After the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the economy collapsed and Hakuba took a sharp decline. It is unique that Hakuba can use tourism to solve many of the resort’s problems. When the tourism industry is strengthened, Hakuba as a whole benefits.”