Post: #1

Hello gentlemen...
I'm picturing a couple of weeks in Japan this coming January for some R&R - some powder and some debauchery. Solo.
Anyone got some knowledge?
Cheers.

Post: #2

Tree riding is supposed to be sick, lots of pro videos come out of there. Have a buddy there that takes his kid for lessons. Big ride culture, a lot of it is poseur(think Big Bear scene), one of the biggest SB scenes in the world. Definitely worth checking out.

Post: #3

For powder, Hokkaido is probably best. Resorts like Furano and Niseko are famous for it. I believe they also have some back country tours you can sign up for that take you up in a snowcat. These resorts are crawling with Australians, not that there's anything wrong with that.

If you want to snowboard in powder and be completely surrounded by Japanese people, then Tohoku resorts are your best bet. I learned how to snowboard in Aomori and Iwate Prefectures, back in 1994-1996.

Post: #4

Lodging costs per night ?

Post: #5

If you stay in a hotel right on the slopes or next to the lodge, then you're probably looking at $150 a night or so, although better deals can be found if you get a package tour. If you stay out in the local village, then you can find for as low as $50 a night with free breakfast and lift tickets included.

I didn't notice that Tailgunner also wanted to do some carousing. If that's the case, then the bigger ski resorts are probably best. Places like Naeba, Hakuba, and Shiga. One thing to keep in mind is that most Japanese who go up to a ski resort and stay the night are doing so in a group tour with their friends, family, co-workers, or classmates. So, in the evening they will usually have a private party at their small hotel just with their own group. They won't go out and hit the bars in the town. My friends and I had some success hitting on the girls working at the resort or in the restaurants or rental shops around the resort. Most of the girls we talked to out on the slopes were there with a group and therefore, not available to hang out at night.

Post: #6

Carlos - Good tips mate. I'm probably going to Hokkaido...and I'll try and find a village close to one of the big mountains. Then I guess a bus up in the morning?

Post: #7

(08-30-2014 08:12 PM)Tailgunner Wrote:  Carlos - Good tips mate. I'm probably going to Hokkaido...and I'll try and find a village close to one of the big mountains. Then I guess a bus up in the morning?

Many of the smaller hotels (called pensions or ryokan in Japanese) in the ski villages will have their own van to drive their guests to the resort in the morning and pick them up in the evening. I suggest emailing the hotels you're interested in and asking them about transportation to the resort.

Post: #8

If I had one choice of anywhere to snowboard that I've never been id choose japan. I hear good things. I hear they get tons of snow and it's light. I live in the Rockies and the only place I hear people say that snow compares is Japan.

I saw someone said that lodging is $150 a night slope side. Holy crap that's cheap! I work at a ski resort, and the hotel is around $1000 a night on average in the winter. Grant it, it is one of the nicest resorts out here, but still, even a dump is probably around $300 or so.

Post: #9

(08-31-2014 02:45 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  If I had one choice of anywhere to snowboard that I've never been id choose japan. I hear good things. I hear they get tons of snow and it's light. I live in the Rockies and the only place I hear people say that snow compares is Japan.

I saw someone said that lodging is $150 a night slope side. Holy crap that's cheap! I work at a ski resort, and the hotel is around $1000 a night on average in the winter. Grant it, it is one of the nicest resorts out here, but still, even a dump is probably around $300 or so.

Well, to make sure I knew what I was talking about, I checked January 2015 prices with the Shiga Prince Hotel booking site, which is probably representative of slope-side hotels around Japan. The weeknight price was $130. The weekend price, however, was $280.

Post: #10

Does anyone have any perspective on whether it's easier to pull at Niseko, which sounds mostly Australian, or the Tohohuku resorts, such as Hakuba? I'm thinking about heading to Japan in a couple of weeks to take advantage of the weakness of the Yen and would like to have some fun on and off the slopes. I'm rolling solo, which typically hasn't been an issue on previous, non-ski trips there.

Post: #11

OP, you're gonna have a great time. I hear that the snow in Japan is magical, super light and fluffy.

Anyone in and or around Denver? I wanna hit one of the resorts out there and wanna put together a crew.
I'd be coming from the lost city of Atlanta and wanna put in a week on the slopes.

PM me if interested. If we can get a few people together we can book a cabin or sweet room and make it affordable.

Post: #12

(01-02-2015 11:31 PM)enfuego Wrote:  Does anyone have any perspective on whether it's easier to pull at Niseko, which sounds mostly Australian, or the Tohohuku resorts, such as Hakuba? I'm thinking about heading to Japan in a couple of weeks to take advantage of the weakness of the Yen and would like to have some fun on and off the slopes. I'm rolling solo, which typically hasn't been an issue on previous, non-ski trips there.

I haven't been to any of the Hokkaido resorts, but I have been to plenty of the Tohoku and central Honshu (Nagano, Niigata, etc) resorts. The central Honshu large resorts are probably better for looking for girls. Most of the large ski areas like Hakuba, Shiga, and Naeba have college students working the pro shops, rental shops, ticket booths, ski patrols, and restaurants. Based on my experience, you need to approach those girls early and often and be persistent. They are staying in bare dorms in the ski town and are bored out of their minds. The girls on the slopes, as I explained earlier in this thread, are usually locked-in with their social or ski-tour groups and not as available.

Make yourself known to the girls in the shops in the morning before you hit the slopes. Hit them up again at lunch. Between the rush times take a break and go talk to them when they aren't as busy. Be friendly and a little pushy. Let them know that you're staying in the ski town and need their help on finding something to do après-ski.

Post: #13

Are there any cheap options in Japan? $130 per night is not too much but it is not cheap. How much are lift passes/food/drinks?

Post: #14

(01-02-2015 11:31 PM)enfuego Wrote:  Does anyone have any perspective on whether it's easier to pull at Niseko, which sounds mostly Australian, or the Tohohuku resorts, such as Hakuba?

Hakuba was full of Australians too last time I went, albeit not to the same extent. It is, after all, closer to the Tokyo airports.

I have never tried to pick up at the slopes, nothing about it seems conducive to picking up. If you have more time, you could try hanging out in another non-skiing city for a bit too (probably after), and try your luck there.

(01-03-2015 02:06 AM)jayyrod1 Wrote:  I hear that the snow in Japan is magical, super light and fluffy.

Yeah it's pretty good.

Post: #15

(01-04-2015 01:12 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  

(01-02-2015 11:31 PM)enfuego Wrote:  Does anyone have any perspective on whether it's easier to pull at Niseko, which sounds mostly Australian, or the Tohohuku resorts, such as Hakuba?

Hakuba was full of Australians too last time I went, albeit not to the same extent. It is, after all, closer to the Tokyo airports.

I have never tried to pick up at the slopes, nothing about it seems conducive to picking up. If you have more time, you could try hanging out in another non-skiing city for a bit too (probably after), and try your luck there.

Fifteen years ago, Hakuba was the main snowboarding place my friends and I went. Goryu Toomi, one of the Hakuba resorts, had this special in which you could sleep on a cot in a big room in their attic for 2000 yen a night (about $20). The catch was that they wouldn't open the room until midnight (I don't know why). I don't know if they still offer this deal. Anyway, during the day we would talk to the young girls working in the lodge and tell them our situation, and then ask if they would hang with us after their work until we could go into the room at midnight. It worked and we hung out with them at a nearby izakaya until midnight and they went back to their dorm and we went to our cots. We didn't bother pursuing it any further than that for various reasons, but mainly because we were dead tired.

Later on, I got caught snowboarding through the trees and the ski patrol detained me and took me to the patrol office where they confiscated my pass and chewed me out. They also pulled in my two friends. I offered to write a letter of apology. As I was doing that, my friends started a friendly discussion with the ski patrol dudes and the cute female interpreter. One ski patrol dude, whose wife also worked on the patrol, invited us to stay at his house in the nearby area the next time we came up to snowboard. We ended up staying there twice. My one friend almost got with the interpreter. I almost got a girl who was working the ticket window at another, nearby resort to come over to their house and join the party one night, but the logistics didn't work out.

Another time three friends and I went to a different Hakuba resort (I think it was Tsugaike). Two of my friends discovered that they hadn't brought enough money to buy ski passes. So, we took turns using two ski passes. After lunch, when two of us went to the lodge cafeteria to give them their turn, they were sitting there talking to two girls from Osaka who were on a snowboarding vacation. We got their numbers and emails. One of them later moved to Tokyo to work and she came to visit my house and I banged her.

I'm just relating these stories to illustrate that there are ways to score at the slopes, you just need to be a little creative, persistent, and friendly about it. The influx of more foreign visitors into the Hakuba area in recent years, however, may have changed the culture there somewhat. Nevertheless, I still think the larger resorts are the way to go, because the girls working at the smaller hills may have more of a village mentality and I think most of the college students are employed at the large hills.

Post: #16

Last season, I was on a chairlift in Tahoe with two Australians that told me that Japan was the best place for powder skiing. Waist-deep in some places.

Niseko is considered to be the best resort with regards to nightlife. More bars and restaurants. Very popular with the Aussies and more of an international crowd.

Likewise, I was told lift ticket prices are considerably cheaper than those at U.S. resorts. Lodging not so much.

Post: #17

Niseko is supposed to get the most powder in the world. I snowboarded a few times in Japan...in Hiroshima prefecture, lol. I'd love to go back and do Hokkaido some day.

Post: #18

It's getting back to the season for snow boarding in Japan.

If you go you will be knee deep in snow & waist deep in Aussies.

Post: #19

To snowboard in Japan has always been a dream of mine. I have seen a consistent amount of videos come out of Japan that are all just stupid deep powder. I guess it pretty much snows everyday in January.

If you go, please put up a trip report. Would love to hear about it.

Watch this video to question your life path. Can you say neck deep?

Post: #20

Niseko is looking insanely expensive for accommodation. It seems the hotels are fairly full - good for game, but bad for the slopes and lift lines. I'm probably going to finalize my ticket tonight and find housing in Hakuba. The bases and recent snowfall are pretty similar so I'm not that annoyed to be missing out on the famous Hokkaido powder.

Post: #21

If you want the deep powder snow of Hokkaido but want to avoid the crowds of Niseko, you might try some of the smaller places that are further out in the boondocks, like Asahidake, Kurodake, Sahoro, or Tomamu. I haven't been to Hokkaido, so I can't say by experience what those places are like.

Post: #22

I went boarding in Niigata, though it's been a decade. I remember that the snowboard parks were extremely well-created, especially relative to what you find in Tahoe/the Northeast US. Thus I highly recommend Japan for snowboarding... No idea what it would be to try to pickup at ski resorts/how easy it would be to find J-girls...

An interesting general question would be, worldwide, what are the best ski resorts to pick up at (if any)? One of my Russian FBs just went skiing in Austria -- said she was surrounded by men 24/7 hitting on her, and she also said she was surprised at how ugly the Austrian girls were... Based on that report we may want to scratch Austria off the "Snow-pussy paradise" list. Best thing to do generally is to somehow get on a college ski trip.

Post: #23

Interesting. Austria, particularly St Anton, has a reputation for awesome apes ski.

I had success many years ago at Val Thoren in France - picked up an El Al stewardess. Nightlife was sick but I only scored with one girl.

Post: #24

Here's the trip report. To describe the trip in a word: awesome.

Arriving in Tokyo on a Saturday night, I met up with an American girl from OKCupid. She was one of several that looked me up on OKC asking for advice on where to go in Tokyo and I chose her because she had the biggest cans (by a lot - random girls in bars would touch her chest in awe). Easy, fun smash. I had a decent pipeline of other girls coming to Tokyo and in the future, would start pipelining further in advance.

I took a train to Hakuba and stayed at a ryokan there for the next 5 nights in central Happo for about $60/night for a private room with breakfast. Skiing was amazing. Lots and lots of snow, zero lift lines (except at Cortina), alternating snow and sun, and the ability to ski a different mountain every day. It's also cheap relative to skiing in the states - ~$40 for lift ticket and lunch! Lifts are primitively slow but compensated for by zero lines.

Nightlife was a mixed bag for me but fruitful. The combo of jet lag and skiing meant that three nights of my five I was waking up at 4:30am and in bed by 9:00. I did go out two nights at a couple of the small bars in town. The crowd there is best characterized as a combo of Australian tourists and internationals working the lifts. I should have mentioned that the whole area was almost exclusively Australian. Staff is mostly Japanese but not as youthful or attractive as one would have hoped/expected. The cutest girls were bar tenders and impossible to pull. Anyway, I got lit up to the point of being useless one of my nights out and the other pulled an attractive Canadian/Chinese mix with the line "do you want to see my onsen?". Banged her there and again on my futon - very Japanese experience IMHO. Best game would be to either penetrate the social circle of a large, mixed aussie group or to play up being the non-Aussie, more genteel type.

The rest of the trip was comprised of going to see the snow monkeys (must do) and two nights in Tokyo. I made out with a few girls at Feria who wouldn't abandon their friends on Friday night and Saturday night bombed at Womb. In spite of comments made on other threads that Roppongi is dead, I think it's still the best place to pull for a SNL.

I would return to Hakuba in heartbeat.

Post: #25

About to fly up to Niseko today for 7 day snowboarding trip before returning to Tokyo for a week. So I will report back here on my findings on both the snow and the chicks.