Nozawa Holidays

Train Nozawa. Trains, more trains and no automobiles to Nozawa The train system in Japan is so good it is almost hard to think of using any other form of transport. But for sure they all have their advantages and disadvantages. Nozawa is pretty small and we get so much snow a car is not really necessary and a hassle to park and dig out! Today we are talking trains and the JR or Japan Rail System. Japan is a relatively compact country with a dense population particularly in the large cities so it makes it beneficial to set up rail networks. However they have some major obstacles, mountains being a big one with 73% of Japan being mountainous. As […]

Last minute deals Nozawa With the winter ski season quickly approaching you may be getting excited and wished you had booked a winter snow escape already to Nozawa. Peak times are getting busy from December 29th to January 25th is the most popular time by far. Especially around the 15th of January with the famous Fire Festival and over the New Years with the big Japanese National Holidays. We still have some availability though here are there in the village and some good ones even for peak times. Here are a couple of great lodgings both self contained and lodge style with some terrific last minute deals Nozawa. Accommodation; Kamoshika Lodge One of the prime positions in the village, being […]

New Hikage Ski Lift Nozawa Onsen almost ready to roll! Just a quick update on the improvements to the Hikage lifts. As can see for the pics it is pretty much finished and ready to go when the snow hits. There is a team from the French Lift Company in town at the moment helping with the finishing touches of the installation. As can see the access to on load is going to be much better without that little hill you used to have to side step up. So can come down the home trail jump on that lift Hikage 2nd currently M on the map and then ski across the other lift Hikage L on the map and down […]

Being Vego in Japan. Vegetarian Food Japan With increasing concern about our health and the environment we live in, more and more people are ditching the meat in favour of a vegetarian diet. Many countries are pretty used to catering for all the increased dietary requests. Japan is also starting to feed the needs of our vego friends. Over the years many have at times surprisingly struggled a little bit. It is not hard to avoid Dairy and Meat but fish is such a major part of the Japanese diet it can be a challenge to totally restrict that from the menu. Vegetarian food as such is a relatively new concept in Japan where most locals will eat anything but […]

First Ski Resorts Open Japan for the season Kurodake Ski Resort up in the very North of Japan has opened last Friday for the season it was the second resort to open in Japan this season. Narrowly missing out to Nakayama Touge Ski Resort also in Hokkaido by just one day! Shame for all the guests as they were going to make the first day free if they were the first to open in Japan. Anyway is looking pretty good with an impressive 190cm base and a chilly -9 degrees. Winter is well and truly in control there now. They are expecting some more good falls thru the week and temps dropping down to – 14 degrees. So as with […]

Lost Property Nozawa rarely lost in Translation One of the most impressive facets of Japan for some overseas guests is the safety and honesty of the country and the Japanese people. Sadly these days there are not too many places in the world where you can leave your wallet or mobile phone in a park or a train and be confident you will see it again. In Japan it would be pretty rare that you didn’t. In Japan  there is a huge amount of lost property that overseas guests leave behind and most get reunited with their valuable possessions. Nozawa Onsen being a small Japanese country town is even safer and we often have guests losing things on the journey […]

Lost Property Nozawa rarely lost in Translation One of the most impressive facets of Japan for some overseas guests is the safety and honesty of the country and the Japanese people. Sadly these days there are not too many places in the world where you can leave your wallet or mobile phone in a park or a train and be confident you will see it again. In Japan it would be pretty rare that you didn’t. In Japan  there is a huge amount of lost property that overseas guests leave behind and most get reunited with their valuable possessions. Nozawa Onsen being a small Japanese country town is even safer and we often have guests losing things on the journey […]

November Snow Nozawa day a nice distraction! Well the sun still rose this morning and we have snow on the ground in Nozawa! It snowed most of the day yesterday, which was a little more exciting to watch than the election! Some great photos from Buna restaurant up on the slopes at Uenotaira yesterday afternoon. Nothing official on the depth but guessing we got about 10cm of fresh snow. Won’t be long until those steps at the front door disappear! Normally during the season the whole ground floor of the restaurant is under about 4 meters of snow so you walk straight in off the snow into the entry level of the restaurant. Many people didn’t even know they had […]

Snow flakes lofting for the sky in the Village of Nozawa! As predicted temps have dropped and we are getting snow flakes falling from the sky all the way down to town! The first snow in the village this season so great to see! Temps are a little over 0 degrees in town. So it is a bit wet and probably wont last long but up top is looking nice and white all over. Wonder if anyone will go up and try for a turn? Great shot from the team at Compass House. Taken from Kandahar Course looking down to the Village with a nice coat of white building up and it should continue to fall today. Looking ahead don’t […]

Snow on the charts for tonight in Nozawa! Snow forecast Nozawa Onsen looking good! Looking like will be a nice little fall too, with temps expected to plummet into this evening and a Northerly wind change bringing in a cold system from the North. They are forecasting 10cm tonight and then for it to continue lightly tomorrow. The wind is going to be pretty strong and expected to have a wind chill factor down to -18 degrees. As you can see from the chart the freezing level is dropping almost 2000m to just above 500m so we may see snow all the way down to near the village this time! The sun comes out again on Thursday and temps are […]