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The snowiest country on Earth didn’t get its reputation by accident. Year after year, January and February produce unreal snow totals in Japan, but alongside that fame are crowds and higher costs. Lift lines in Niseko and Hakuba can stretch into the distance, and even smaller places like Nozawa Onsen are so full of Australian tourists that it can be nearly impossible to find a hotel room.
Watch: Japan’s Snow Country Resorts Serve Up Powder With Few Crowds
But don’t worry, your ramen-fueled powder-dreams are not out of reach. In fact, some of the deepest, least-crowded snow you’ll ever experience is hiding in plain sight, just a couple hours from Tokyo by train, and it’s a whole lot cheaper, too. Welcome to Japan’s “Snow Country.”
Snow Country got its name from a book by the same title by Nobel Prize winning author Yasunari Kawabata, who wrote about a businessman who falls in love with a geisha in Yuzawa, but the term has been expanded to encompass a larger area that includes nearby Minakami. I traveled to Yuzawa and Minakami for two weeks in February 2025, just in time for a series of rather glorious storms, and it ended up being the trip of a lifetime. The region encompasses more than 20 ski resorts—some large, some small, some beginner-friendly, and some with very wild side-country—but they are in a prime location for collecting snow, the lift tickets average about $40 a day, and I don’t know if I ever saw a line that lasted more than three minutes.
There are 20-plus ski areas in the Yuzawa region, and most rarely have any lift lines. (Photo: Brent Rose)
First, a bit of housekeeping. While I am generally against blowing up secret spots, I can tell you that these resorts do not wish to be secret anymore. Some regulars may gripe that an article like this will bring more people, but those folks need to understand that their favorite resort may not be there much longer unless more people come. Japan is experiencing population decline, and combined with climate-change related uncertainties, its snow industry is hurting. Some resorts have even had to resort (no pun intended) to crowdfunding. At the same time, the U.S. dollar is extremely strong against the Japanese yen right now, which means a trip like this is more affordable than ever. So go, travel respectfully, put some money in these amazing local economies, and don’t yell at me. K? K.
This guide is intended to be used by anybody, regardless of budget, so you can DIY it if you want to. That said, my trip was arranged by Kodo Travel and Canyons Guides. Not only do they have more than 30 years of experience operating in the area, but there are some other advantages to working with an operation like Canyons, including early ups and access to some exclusive side-country. But more on that in a minute.
My trip started in the beautiful town of Minakami. From Tokyo, you can get there via Shinkansen (i.e. bullet train) in under two hours. This is an excellent base of operations. There are a ton of hotel rooms to fit every budget in town. I lucked into staying at a luxurious ryokan (Japanese-style hotel) called Senjuan. Each room has its own private onsen (hot spring) on a balcony overlooking a river, there is a menu of mattresses to choose from, and the breakfasts and dinners are traditional and delicious. The whole operation is top-notch.
Soaking in traditional onsens are major parts of the Yuzawa ski experience. (Photo: Brent Rose)
But let’s get to the skiing. We got up early on a Thursday for first tracks at Mt. T (the new, informal name of Mount Tenjin, or Tangawadake Tenjindaira). This is a program available exclusively for those with Canyons guides, and it is very worth it. We got to take the gondola up about a half-hour before everybody else on a powder day. From there we hopped on a short lift and got in about seven hot laps of thigh deep powder turns before everybody else got up. Even then, it never felt crowded, and it was possible to find fresh lines all over, but instead our guide took us into the side-country, where we traversed along a ridge and dropped into a series of beautifully gladed chutes with even deeper powder before we ended up back at the bottom of the gondy.
It’s worth noting that you will absolutely need avalanche gear (beacon, shovel, probe at minimum) and a buddy if you’re going to go off-piste in Japan when it’s dumping. An airbag backpack wouldn’t hurt, either. There are unique hazards there, including holes that just sort of appear underneath you and act like tree-wells without a tree in them. On my first day of side-country at Mt. T I got caught in a small slide that was about 18-inches deep and 90 feet across, but I was fortunate that it was a short pitch without hazards below me and I was able to stay on top of it. Please take these risks seriously.
After two days at Mt. T, we moved over to Hodaigi, a smaller mountain near Minakami, but we arrived after it had dumped more than a foot overnight. Even without early ups we were able to score lap after lap of fresh powder on every run, even well into the afternoon. Off-piste there are some extremely fun pitches, if you don’t mind some semi-tight trees (by Japan standards). Because of high winds they couldn’t open some of the upper lifts the day we were there, but there were fresh turns to be had regardless, and nary a lift-line.
The powder did not disappoint during the author’s February 2025 trip. (Photo: Brent Rose)
Our last day in Minakami we went to Okutone, another wild and wooly one. Again, we were without the uppermost lifts for access to some of the best backcountry, but we wouldn’t have known that if we hadn’t been told. Here again the Canyons guides led us into some incredible terrain where powder was waist-deep in places. There were mellow pillows, well-spaced trees, and more white-rooms than I could count. Again, it really pays to have a guide or a local who knows the routes here because some gullies lead to paradise while others lead to cliffs, avalanches, or creeks it could take hours to hike out of.
Part of what makes Minakami special, though, is there are some sensational restaurants in town. Kadoya is a soba restaurant where they’ve been hand-making these buckwheat cold noodles for more than 250 years, and you’ll want to slurp down a whole tray of them (and yes, slurping is polite. Tanto Kuwassai is a truly special restaurant, where Chef Tatsuya Abe makes delicious preparations of local meats and mountain vegetables that he hunts and forages himself. The venison and boar were both incredible, and the bear wasn’t bad either.
There are also some really gorgeous public onsens if your accommodation doesn’t have one of its own. One of the most stunning is Takaragawa Onsen, a little ways out of town, but it’s massive and has a majestic river running through the middle of multiple naturally heated rock pools. If you’re staying in town and don’t have a car (snow tires are a must), there are buses that go to all of the local resorts. You’ll just have to mind the schedule because some don’t come super frequently.
Tsukemen is a type of ramen that you dip into the broth yourself. (Photo: Brent Rose)
On our way to Yuzawa we stopped at the craft village of Takuminosato. Historically this was an important area for silk-making and trading. Today artisans still use traditional indigo dyes, weave, make pottery, and do stunning metal work. The next couple of nights we stayed at the Kaikake Onsen, a hotel with gorgeous, hot waterfalls flowing into the outdoor rock pools, and quite possibly the best meals we had on the whole trip. The tasting dinner featured perfectly fresh sashimi, sumptuous stews, and A wagyu beef which we cooked ourselves on a banana leaf over a burner in the middle of our table.
The next day we got ourselves to the Hakkaisan Ski Resort (aka Muikamachi Hakkaisan). I’d been looking forward to it because this mountain seemed to be a perfect catcher’s glove for these storms, and it was piling on more inches than anywhere else in the country while we were there. It did not disappoint. We took a few warmup laps, and then were led to an exclusive gate that you are only allowed through if you’re with Canyons or the resort’s own guides. We were shown around by uber-local Takumi Nagai, who not only owns the resort’s backcountry operation, but also Voltage MFG custom ski and snowboards, and he’s an elected city councilor working on bringing more people to the area. He led us to lap after lap of waist-deep, untracked runs through open faces and perfectly-spaced trees until our legs turned to jelly. We replenished those burned calories at the nearby and delicious Hakkaisan Soba restaurant, just down the road.
Staying at a traditional ryokan, with their on-site onsen and multi-course restaurants, elevate the Yuzawa ski vacation. (Photo: Brent Rose)
The next day was storming so hard that all of the resorts were closed, so we took a tour of the Yuzawa Museum of History and Folklore. This brought us deep into Snow Country’s past, with some beautiful display artifacts across the ages and tableaus of what life used to be like in the area. For lunch, we had one of my favorite meals at Ishin, where for about $7 you get a massive bowl of tsukemen, which is like ramen except you dip the noodles in the broth yourself. The noodles are handmade right there, and I honestly could have eaten there every day.
For our last three nights we stayed at the incredible Ryogon ryokan, right in the heart of Yuzawa. There were tons of local “snack bars” (many with karaoke) within a quick walk, but the hotel is hard to pry yourself away from with its large rooms with private onsens, and a phenomenal restaurant on the premises. Dinner is served in the traditional Japanese style, with multiple courses arriving one by one, but breakfast is buffet style, featuring a wide array of Japanese and western fare.
We hit two more mountains in the Yuzawa area before our time was up. Kagura Snow Resort, features a wide range of terrain, including some very cruisy groomers for the beginners in your group, but also some fun trees for those who want a little more adventure. Then, most uniquely, there’s Gala, which is literally on top of the Yuzawa train station. You can literally buy lift tickets and train tickets in the same room. Gala is mostly long, wide-open groomers with stunning views of the region. What’s wild about it is you could hop on an early morning bullet train from Tokyo and be there in two hours, rent everything you need, ski all day, and make it back to your Tokyo for dinner. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Of course, a trip to Japan wouldn’t be complete without a bit of sake. Well, more accurately, nihonshu, which is what we westerners think of as sake. Snow Country is a prolific rice growing region, making some of the highest quality grains that are used for sake, and there are some incredible distilleries in town. The Kakurei brewery in town is absolutely worth checking out, but if you have the time, get yourself over to the Hakkaisan brewery. Their aged sake sits in barrels for three years in a giant warehouse that is filled with snow every winter to keep things cold year-round, and there’s a restaurant there with a killer tasting menu with sake pairings you don’t want to miss. It’s also well-worth hitting one of the local, casual izakayas (think Japanese pubs) for some fried-chicken karaage and beer. We really liked Asahi Shokudo for great, cheap food, and a very chill vibe.
Ultimately, I’ve never scored harder on a trip than I did on this one. The snow was unbelievable throughout, never crowded, with a wide range of terrain and options for at least some fresh turns on nearly every run, if not powder from top to bottom. Combining that with the unbelievably good food, the beautiful culture, the onsens, and the fact that resorts are so affordable, I’m already scheming on a way to get myself back there next year. So if Japan has been on your bucket list but the long lift-lines you’ve seen on Instagram have given you pause, look to Snow Country, and you might end up making it an annual pilgrimage, too.
AloJapan.com