Originally Posted by
cam_wmh
re: Japan. I've been a few times to the North Island; Hokkaido -- snows much more, that the main island.
The real expense for when you visit, will be accommodations. Lift tickets, are cheaper and can be bought at many resorts hourly.
For Niseko, it is the most tourist-centric region on the island. Tons of whiteys. Most expensive accommodations of the island, and busiest resorts. Get Niseko reservations in, >4 months in advance. Busy isn't like Louise or Sunshine, on a Saturday though. No crazy lines.
My recommendation for a few weeks; Rent a car.
Do a week or so, around Niseko. Moiwa Lodge is pretty dope. Shred Moiwa/AnnaPuri/Hanazono .. go get aussie Banff'd in Hirafu.
Stay in the cities of Asahikawa & Otaru. Hotels are super cheap. $60/night, for a reasonable room. Their parkades are wild, they are generally $10-$20 for the night. Sometimes free.
Otaru; Kiroro. It's a newer resort, that gets nuked on, and have modern amenities.
Asahiwaka; From here, you can reach alot of resorts to the east of town. Asahidake (resort with a single string huge gondola). Don't suck, you'll get stuck. Furano, Kurodake Ropeway.. etc;
Is this a price-play? I can't see any reason why you'd choose the Atlas over the Cartels.
I've also been all over Japan on 4 ski trips. Depends what you want and how good you are. The Honshu resorts are ok and can have some better terrain but less reliable snow. Nowazowa Onsen has pretty boring terrain tbh. Places like Happo-One have better terrain and good ski touring opportunities.
I keep going back and really its Niseko. It has decent terrain, really good OOB and really good reliable snow. North america and Europe has better terrain than almost anywhere in Japan (unless you're ski touring in the Japan alps) but Niseko has that mix of acceptable terrain with really good snow. I would also recommend Rusutsu. Asahi-dake is far away from everything and has very little vertical and poor terrain.
Furano is good but you need to go OOB and there are signs everywhere telling you its illegal and you must not do it, etc. But everyone does so you'll need to be comfortable 'breaking the rules'. Otherwise its a super groomer paradise... Tomamu is neat but again the terrain isn't worth it imo. We were there on a 20cm day and were pretty bored by the end of the day and you have to register for their extreme zone (which isn't extreme at all). Kiroro is decent as mentioned but I wouldn't give up a day at Niseko to ski at Kiroro. YMMV but as said, book your accommodations early. We'll be booking in July this year for Feb 2022. Stay in Grand Hirafu if you can, everywhere else other than Furano and Nagano is pretty sleepy. I would rent a car on Hokkaido but not on Honshu but there are new rules and you need to 'book' a luggage spot for your ski bag now on the trains. That said, its just faster and easier to take the train on Honshu.
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