Features

For most skiers and snowboarders that flock to northwestern Hokkaido, the luxury and modern infrastructure of Niseko, Kiroro and Rusutsu are the big draw. Backcountry enthusiasts come here for a …
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Years before Hakuba earned its place on the global skiing map, Dave Enright was carving lines into its hidden terrain and laying the groundwork for modern backcountry guiding in Japan. …
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Less than two years after my first-ever day on snow in New Zealand at the age of 23, I found myself in a dreamlike blur: working as a snowboard photographer …
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What’s it like to carve turns down Mount Fuji, Japan’s most iconic and sacred peak? For Kenichi, one of the country’s most sought-after ski guides, the experience is far more …
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When Lindsay Colbert first arrived in Japan as an English teacher in Niigata Prefecture, she had no idea that her almost daily ski trips would spark the beginnings of a …
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A recent trip to Hokkaido gave my partner and me the chance to return to Otaru – a town we remembered as a quaint, seaside escape popular with domestic tourists, …
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Last season I posed a question to our Ski & Snowboard Japan Facebook group on what people considered the best ski town in Japan. The responses trickled in: Nozawa Onsen, …
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Furano may not have the global name recognition of Niseko or Hakuba, but that’s precisely what drew Leon Flint – former executive-turned-hospitality entrepreneur – to this unassuming Hokkaido town more …
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My name’s JJ Thomas. I’m from Golden, Colorado, and now live in California. I’m a professional snowboarder who has been riding for 30 years. I competed on the US halfpipe …
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Earlier this year, we wrote about the ambitious plan to develop a ski-in-ski-out resort town at the base of Kamui Ski Links, one of Central Hokkaido’s powder skiing hotspots.

It’s …
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