International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) 2023 Tohoku - Japan Trip Report

[Mattadvproject]

On to the next trip! Now we start with 12 days in Tohoku on the main island of Japan....

 

[Mattadvproject]

31st Jan - Hakodate to Aomori

We transitioned from Hakodate to Aomori, taking the Shinkansen bullet train under the ocean. We opted for Green Class tickets (2nd class) and paid about 9,000 JPY. It was worth it, there was plenty of room with the comfortable 2 x 2 configuration, reclining chairs. We got onto the train early so we could stash all our bags behind the seats and in the overhead luggage racks. That would have been a tight squeeze but the cabin was only 1/3 full. Caroline, Dave and Chris were with me in my group and then we were meeting Mike in Aomori.

It only took an hour to cross under the ocean and arrive on Honshu. Then we headed to the car hire company to pick up our two vans and then headed to our hotel (Daiwa Roynet Aomori). Aomoria had been absolutely inundated with snow and it was hired to find a carpark that either wasn't full or had too much snow in it. We found one and then headed back to the hotel. We had a quick rest stop and then headed out for the evening.

We started at the amazing Nebuta float museum (Wa Rasse Museum) which I've been to several times before, but it's a must-see in Aomori and well worth the 600 JPY to get in. Next, we went to this awesome steakhouse for steaks and then hit the karaoke place for 2.5 hours of singing which was Chris and Mike's first go at Japanese-style karaoke (you rent a private room where it is just you singing). I think they enjoyed that a lot.

Here's some pics of the bullet train and the Nebuta floats.....



- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

1st Feb - Hirosaki and some powder skiing!

These posts are going to have to be a bit shorter unfortunately, I just don't have much free time in the evenings to write in much detail. I will have to do a copy and paste from my Facebook posts....

We transitioned from Aomori to Hirosaki and had a great ski on the way. Inbounds in the trees was ok, but a 45-minute skin got us somewhere very nice with deep, untouched powder in open forest. We got shut down by a thunder and lightning storm, so we had to get out of there fast, but we'd had a great first day. I think we'll head back there tomorrow.....



- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

2nd Feb - Skiing the same place and it's getting deep!

More powder was plundered down in Tohoku today..... day 2 of skiing and it was very stormy and getting really deep. Skied some lovely warmup laps from the chairlift and then did a nice skin up high to my favorite trees in Japan. Another solid day in the office.....



- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Feb 3rd - Rolling the dice on a completely new place!

After seeing a high percentage of Westerners at the last place we skied (no doubt in part to the Indy Pass affiliation), I wanted to take the group to somewhere new and totally off the beaten path.

I found a new ski area I had never heard of before that met the requirement of 300m + vertical and the group was up for rolling the dice. We had a very adventurous drive (sat nav is on adventure driving setting apparently) and found ourselves at a small ski area in the middle of nowhere. They only had 3 chairs but decent vertical.

There was boot top deep fresh and we were the only foreigners there. We had all the trees to ourselves and amazing value at only $24 for a day pass! We had a ton of great chair laps and then even got in a nice hour long skin. The people were very friendly and welcoming and no one minded us skiing in the trees.

It was an amazing day and a roll of the dice that paid off. We explored an amazing shrine in the forest and then even saw some snow monkeys in the trees on the drive back. I didn't know the monkeys were this far north. Awesome way to finish the day!


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Time to move onto the next zone tomorrow.....

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Feb 4th - Ski touring to an abandoned ski area

We went for a little ski tour to an abandoned ski area. Started in a resort, walked up a road, skinned up a golf course and then up a forest track until we reached the top of a defunct chairlift and gondola.

Then we had a fun ski down the overgrown lift line onto an open run. Then a decent traverse and 1 skin ski push (put 1 ski into tour mode with skin on and the other into regular ski mode and use the ski with the skin on to push and propel forward on).

It was a fun and diverse day.... we definitely earned dinner as we worked really hard.



- Matt

 

[kitchener]

Great pictures -- loved the shrines in those snowy climes. Speaking of Westerners, could one who doesn't speak or read a word of Japanese pull off this trip?

 

[Mattadvproject]

Great pictures -- loved the shrines in those snowy climes. Speaking of Westerners, could one who doesn't speak or read a word of Japanese pull off this trip?

Thank you, glad you are enjoying the story so far. It will be a challenge if you have not been to Japan before and don't speak the language (I only know a few words myself), but once you have figured things out, then it's pretty easy. There's less English spoken in Tohoku than Hokkaido, but you can certainly get by using Google Translate and the camera translate function. Most Japanese people are very friendly and patient, so it's fun to try and interact as much as possible. We've had some lovely interactions and our lack of Japanese hasn't hindered us. Don't let that stop you, it's a fun adventure and very rewarding!

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

5th Feb - Exploring another new resort!

We went exploring again and found another hidden gem..... It was a Sunday and there had been no major snowfalls so it was time to get creative again.
I found a little ski area about 1 hour away from our hotel that had a lot of north-facing trees. I had not been there before so it was a roll of the dice, but thankfully, my group is up for an adventure.

We paid about $20 for a 5 hour ticket and explored the 420m vertical area with 2 high-speed detachable double chairs and a single chairlift. We were the only foreigners there.
We started with a quick recon of the groomed runs to map the main area and then explored the trees. We found an amazing steep zone with open faces and then open trees. It was a big zone and we had it all to ourselves.

Once our traverse out was put in it was a relatively quick and easy exit. We had several amazing laps and had a fun and inspiring time. Love these little resorts that haven't been discovered yet.....


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Who knows where we'll be tomorrow! We need some more snow again..... then it's real easy and we don't have to keep rolling the dice. At least we are finding new areas for future trips..... so far we are batting 100%, let's hope it stays that way.

- Matt

 

[Jenny]

Was anyone on the ski jumps? I’d like to see that in person sometime.

 

[Mattadvproject]

Was anyone on the ski jumps? I’d like to see that in person sometime.

No, not that day unfortunately. I would definitely have stopped to watch. I was looking for a bathroom in the morning and we went upstairs in the main lodge and there were hotel rooms up there and it was for athletes. This is some kind of training center for skiers, jumpers and XC skiing. I saw some jump skis and suits in the common area. I did ask the guys in my group if they wanted to go send the jumps at the end of the day, but no one was up for it.......

 

[Mattadvproject]

Feb 6th - Suns out, bye bye pow....

It was a beautiful day but unfortunately the elevated temps had a negative effect on the glorious pow we had been enjoying, turning it quite heavy by midday. The views were lovely and we made the most of it. We'll need some more snow for the skiing to get good again. Fingers crossed we can get a reset.....



Off to our final zone in the morning, for 5 nights.....

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Feb 7th - First day in our final zone

We are in our final zone in Tohoku and unfortunately the weather gods just aren't cooperating with us at the moment. It was another unseasonably warm day and that has really affected the snow, sadly.

Thankfully, there are some really nice trees in the sidecountry that are perfectly north-facing and the snow is staying much colder there so today the skiing was quite good with some decent powder still to be found.

We finished the day at a great Yakiniku restaurant where you grill your own meats on a small BBQ. The Wagyu beef was awesome!



- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Feb 8th - More fun in the sun!

The sun is still shining and temps are unseasonably warm here in Tohoku, Japan, so we had to go on an adventure to find longer, more northern aspects where the snow was cold.
We put the skins on and headed up high on a ridgeline, past an abandoned gondola to a big open bowl with some sparse upper trees on it.

We had nice turns with several long pitches before a long traverse with a few sidesteps to get to our traverse out from the previous day. We worked hard but found the best snow we could hope for.... a fun and type 2 adventure day!


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Somebody please do a snow dance for us!

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

9th Feb - Lake Tazawa

We hit the road chasing pow and drove 1 hour to Lake Tazawa and the ski resort there. They had about 6 inches of fresh which was deeper in spots. We skied there for a couple of hours and then went for a skin up to the top of the abandoned ski area of Tazawako Kogen ASSL.

The runs are still relatively open but the lifts are long gone. It took an hour to reach the top but the slopes were too flat to get up much speed with the headwind, so skiing was a bit of a bust but we got a good workout in.

Next we explored Lake Tazawa and visited the Gozanoishi Shrine and Statue of Tatsuko who was the girl who drank the water from the lake and turned into a dragon! We finished off with some lovely Soba noodles at a farmers market and discovered a Wagyu beef vending machine! Amazing!



- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

11th Feb - Last day skiing

Our last day skiing in Tohoku was pretty spectacular! We had lovely bluebird skies and about 9 inches of fresh snow. We worked the inbounds trees for a few laps before they warmed up too much and then headed into the sidecountry for the north-facing goodness.

Now we are in Tokyo for a couple of days rest and siteseeing before heading off to Myoko to explore a whole new area..... should be fun!



- Matt

 

[severou]

No updates on Myoko? I am thinking about staying at Suginohara for a few days next year, never skied in Myoko before

These are awesome, I lived in Japan for a few years and skied mostly in Nagano area(Hakuba, Nozawa, Shiga etc). Those lift ticket prices.. that is cheap even for Japan, which is dirt cheap to begin with.

 

[Mattadvproject]

No updates on Myoko? I am thinking about staying at Suginohara for a few days next year, never skied in Myoko before

These are awesome, I lived in Japan for a few years and skied mostly in Nagano area(Hakuba, Nozawa, Shiga etc). Those lift ticket prices.. that is cheap even for Japan, which is dirt cheap to begin with.

I decided to take some time off from blogging, so didn't write a report on the Myoko experience, but was posting regular updates on my IG/Facebook channels. We stayed in Akakura Onsen, for 9 nights at the Akakura Hotel and Spa in the Annex section. The location of the hotel was very convenient for the Akakura Onsen ski area, but it was a very old property and badly in need of a renovation.

Akakura Onsen was a convenient place to stay as it was quite central and there are quite a few restaurants on two streets anywhere from a 2 minute walk to a 10 minute walk. There's a ton of Westerners staying in the area and it was too Westernized for our tastes. Restaurants in AO fill up quickly and need to be booked in advance, especially if you have a larger group (we were 7 people).

The skiing is great, with 10 plus ski areas (with more than a 400m vertical) within a 1 hour radius of Akakura. Most are within 30 minutes. If you have your own transportation, then you can easily get to most of these resorts. Lift ticket prices are just a little higher than Tohoku, same as for restaurant prices.

Personally, I wouldn't go back to Myoko as there are other places that I want to explore in Japan and around the world. As good as the skiing was or can be (we had a warming trend for 3 days with heavy rain which hindered our plans), there was just too many Westerners for our liking and the hotels are either in dire need of rennovation (or if they have been renovated, then high in price), to go back.

So ultimately, it depends on what you are looking for in a trip. Happy to answer any questions you have.

- Matt

 

[severou]

I decided to take some time off from blogging, so didn't write a report on the Myoko experience, but was posting regular updates on my IG/Facebook channels. We stayed in Akakura Onsen, for 9 nights at the Akakura Hotel and Spa in the Annex section. The location of the hotel was very convenient for the Akakura Onsen ski area, but it was a very old property and badly in need of a renovation.

Akakura Onsen was a convenient place to stay as it was quite central and there are quite a few restaurants on two streets anywhere from a 2 minute walk to a 10 minute walk. There's a ton of Westerners staying in the area and it was too Westernized for our tastes. Restaurants in AO fill up quickly and need to be booked in advance, especially if you have a larger group (we were 7 people).

The skiing is great, with 10 plus ski areas (with more than a 400m vertical) within a 1 hour radius of Akakura. Most are within 30 minutes. If you have your own transportation, then you can easily get to most of these resorts. Lift ticket prices are just a little higher than Tohoku, same as for restaurant prices.

Personally, I wouldn't go back to Myoko as there are other places that I want to explore in Japan and around the world. As good as the skiing was or can be (we had a warming trend for 3 days with heavy rain which hindered our plans), there was just too many Westerners for our liking and the hotels are either in dire need of rennovation (or if they have been renovated, then high in price), to go back.

So ultimately, it depends on what you are looking for in a trip. Happy to answer any questions you have.

- Matt

Thank you

You are guiding people so I understand desire to find unknown ski resorts and areas. If I stay on the snow type place I usually ski the resort there, do not feel like driving usually, can ski with kids easier etc. different priorities. Suginohara because it has the most vertical and it being a Prince resort kids under 12 get free lift tickets (I have 2). Did you guys go there, any feedback on that particular resort?

Neat place you might know about or not. Mt Norikura Gifu/Nagano border. Cool thing about it is that there is a 3k peak above it and people skin from top lift to climb it and then ski down. Chatted with a few Japanese who did it, I think the normal time to go for it is Spring, I am guessing conditions in winter are a bit too much for most people(Avalanche danger, wind etc). People even ski there in summer part of the snowfield lasts through whole summer, near top of the peak, you can see the dedicated/crazy hike up ski/repeat in July. I used to ski there a lot, I lived near Matsumoto and with my local driver license the lift ticket was 2700 yen

 

[Mattadvproject]

Thank you

You are guiding people so I understand desire to find unknown ski resorts and areas. If I stay on the snow type place I usually ski the resort there, do not feel like driving usually, can ski with kids easier etc. different priorities. Suginohara because it has the most vertical and it being a Prince resort kids under 12 get free lift tickets (I have 2). Did you guys go there, any feedback on that particular resort?

Neat place you might know about or not. Mt Norikura Gifu/Nagano border. Cool thing about it is that there is a 3k peak above it and people skin from top lift to climb it and then ski down. Chatted with a few Japanese who did it, I think the normal time to go for it is Spring, I am guessing conditions in winter are a bit too much for most people(Avalanche danger, wind etc). People even ski there in summer part of the snowfield lasts through whole summer, near top of the peak, you can see the dedicated/crazy hike up ski/repeat in July. I used to ski there a lot, I lived near Matsumoto and with my local driver license the lift ticket was 2700 yen

We skied Suginohara for about half a day during the middle of the trip. We were specifically looking to ski powder. The day we went was the start of the big storm that lasted several days. We were hoping that the heavy rain was less impactful there with the higher altitude. When we got there, they had lost about 30cm's of snow at their official base depth reading and up high, there was only about 3 inches of fresh. It was pretty firm underneath and the new snow was not deep enough to provide for fun skiing in the trees. I think the winds had actually blown away some of the new snow and Akakura Onsen seemed like they had more snow down lower where it was more protected. Consequently, we only did a couple of runs.

The mountain seemed decent though, with the top part having some nice steeps and the bottom half some nice wide cruisers. It was pretty quiet there. We skied (what they called) Japan's longest ski run at over 8.5km's in length just to tick it off and that was mostly an easy blue turning into green lower down. I'm not aware of any large hotels in Suginohara, it seems to be mostly lodges and guest houses. I'd check to see what the eating options are also. Here's a quick guide to some of the accommodation in Suginohara - https://myokotourism.com/hotels/.

There seems to be quite a few ski areas that are built on the lower slopes of big mountains in Japan and often you can find multiple resorts on the side of one big mountain. We found that a lot in the Tohoku region and Myoko region. Avalanche danger is definitely a concern early season as well as visibility. A lot of it is above treeline and if you can't see, wouldn't be a lot of fun or safe to ski. I think the spring touring season at these bigger mountains would be awesome, when you can have more reliable visibility and stability is better. For me, that's the time I'm in Eurasia, so not really an option for me but I'm sure it's an awesome time to be there.

- Matt