Niseko, Japan - In January I spent three days skiing in Japan’s Hakuba Valley, site of the 1998 Olympic alpine events, and eight more days on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which over the past decade has attracted a growing number of powder skiers from all over the globe thanks to the world’s greatest “lake effect” snowfall.
Hakuba is easily accessible from Tokyo by Japan Rail, so it’s easy to fit in a few days of skiing on a general tourism trip to Japan. Most destination ski visitors to Japan fly to Sapporo and stay in Niseko, where I skied for six of my eight days on Hokkaido. I was hosted in Niseko by Black Diamond Tours and stayed in their lodge near the Niseko Village base.