Excitement building Nozawa Onsen Fire Festival mode really starts to build from today in the village with the Dosojin “Bad Luck Year” Men of the village dragging the logs down the resort and thru the streets of town. It is quite a spectacular day so be sure to try and catch them somewhere along the way. The bad luck years are 25 and 42 and they have a bit of a competition between themselves as to who can drag the logs down the quickest. Fuelled with camaraderie and lots of Sake it is a spectacle to watch. The dragging begins at the bottom of the Kandaha Race Course at about 1pm then past Hikage and Nagasaka Gondolas then down thru […]
winter
First Snow of the Season has Hit Japan
Temperatures have been dropping across Japan, bringing the season’s first snow. Nagano received its first snow of the season just the night before last nearby in Hakuba. The Karasawa Hutte sitting at just over 2300 m received a nice dusting. It is surrounded by 4 peaks that are all over 3000m and they were looking nice and white with a fresh cover of snow too. This is however not the first snow for Japan this season. In northern Japan, Hokkaido’s Daisetsuzan park received about 5cm of snow on the 18th of September this area in Kurodake is often the first place to see snow in Japan and was nice and early this year. The first snow also fell in […]
Nozawa Onsen Events Calendar 2019/20
Nozawa Onsen Events Calendar 2019/20 There are a growing number of events and activities in Nozawa Onsen. To keep track of everything, check out our new Nozawa Onsen Events Calendar. If there is anything you happen to stumble upon that we may have missed please let us know – there’s a good chance others will be interested too! Some of the dates for the coming winter season (October onward) are yet to be finalised. Also, as events come and go, we’ll look forward to the next year. That means we’ll be updating the calendar constantly. Enquiries may be directed to stay@nozawaholidays.com. 2019 April Echigo-Tsumari Art Field – 27th (until end of October) Yoga Retreat (with Mariko & Luke) – begins […]
3 Nozawa Onsen Winter Activities That Aren’t Skiing
3 Nozawa Onsen Winter Activities That Aren’t Skiing Most of us visiting during Nozawa Onsen winter do so to ski and board upon Mount Kenashi. The snow, traditional village and the locals who make it special, among the drawcards. That’s even before we’ve mentioned the food and the onsens themselves! But what many don’t realise is that there are a few extras to get a bit more out of your downtime. The Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort runs three unique tours that guests may not ordinarily get around to experiencing. Snowfield Sightseeing Tour The resort runs snow groomer tours for a large chunk of the season. It’s a pretty cool way to see the winter mountainscape from an angle you’re not […]
Nozawa Onsen Summer v Winter; a Comparison
Nozawa Onsen Summer v Winter There’s a really good chance most of us are here reading this post because we like seeing what our favourite little ski town looks like when it’s green. With that in mind, we don’t have to point out that Nozawa Onsen is among the best powder destinations you could ever hope to find. Nor do we really have to mention how unique it is to find a traditional Japanese town and free public onsens at the base of the mountain. Given that we already know about winter, how does the Green Season compare? Hitting the Slopes Of course, the slopes are still there but they tend to turn into one of two things; farming land […]