Japow Jan 14 – 23rd 2025
Part One || Part Two with Photos and Maps.
Ski trip to Japan with Lance and Jim. Georg also joined us for a couple of days.
With our dwindling winters and increased costs of skiing in Canada and the US Japan has become a viable option! It’s not called Japow for nothing. When conditions are right the Siberian Express comes in from Russia and drowns Hokkaido and Northern Honshu in POW!
We chose to go the last two weeks of January, since January into February tend to have the most snow. This was true this year except we had more blue skies then pow. This was ok since we were touring so could find pow but if you were in the resorts you would be cruising. We were also blessed with good visibility to see the actual mountains.
We flew JAL into Narita, took a one hour bus to ride to Haneda where we caught another flight to Chitose. This was pretty easy. There are flights that go into Haneda which would be a nice option. We left Vancouver at 12:00 Wednesday, arrived in Japan at 16:00 on Friday. You lose a day going, gain it back coming home. Next time we’ll leave on a Thursday to lose a Friday. We were picked up by friends and spent the night in Zenibako near Sapporo. The next day Lance and Jim picked us up in the rented van and we went to our hotel Otaru Furkawa in Otaru. My Aikido Sensie, Ishiyama Sensei, helped us book this traditional hotel since you needed to speak Japanese to book. Once in Japan communication was a breeze with Google Translate. We were in room 505 with a private Onsen.
We left our gear in the hotel and skid for the afternoon at AsarigawaOnsen. We bought a half day ticket for about $25CDN.
We then checked into our rooms and walked around Otaru that evening. We ate at Otaru Nijonbashi Sushi restaurant.
Day 2, Saturday, skiing we went touring at Kiroro west of the resort. We ate dinner at Furukawa Hotel. Amazing set meal.
Day 3, Sunday, we had a short day of skiing at the local hill – Otaru Tenguyama – which we could see from our hotel room! Then we had a tour of Nikke Distillery and Dinner at Rakuten with Dan and Emi.
Day 3, Monday, Georg joined us. We skiied at Kokusai. Took the Gondola up and headed off to the west for a couple of laps and exited a route reminiscent of Singing Pass trail. Dinner was at Maka Sushi
Day 4, Tuesday, we checked out SapporoTeine which hosted the Sapporo Olympic games in 1972. Skiing was ok. We ate in Sapporo.
Day 5, Wednesday we skied Kiroro again. This time in area North of the lifts, and off the Gondola towards Yoichi Dake. As visibility was poor we only sampled this area. Dinner was at Kyoto Bird Otaru Yakitori Tavern on Miyakadori St.
Day 6, Thursday, we checked out of Furkawa Hotel and drove to Shirogane Onsen Beie where we stayed the next 5 nights. Make sure you book a JAPANESE ROOM!
Day 7, Friday we skied Mt Furano then went to Fukiage Onsen in Daisetsuzan National Park. We ate dinner at a really good place in Syogetsu in the small town of Kamifurano
Day 8, Saturday we toured Tokachi Dake
Day 9, Sunday, we toured in the backcountry area near our hotel – Beie Fuji, then we went into Beie and had dinner at Ajimasu – OG Solo Cook/Server!
Day 10, Monday we met Charlie and skied Asahidake. I bailed as it was windy and the snow was wind affected. The others did ski.
Day 11, Tuesday we drove to Sapporo to check out the Sapporo Brewery and walk around. The last night was at Hotel Nidom near Chitose. Rooms we super cosy and they had a shuttle to the airport.
Notes for future trips.
- Book Japanese hotels with large room, preferably Japanese style, with Western Breakfast.
- Try to fly directly into Haneda to avoid the bus trip from Narita. The bus wasn’t bad, but it adds about 2 hours to your day.
- Leave on a Thursday so you lose a Friday and your first day is a Saturday which is usually a write off. Then when you come home you still get a weekend.