We planned our trip, booked frequent flyer tickets to Tokyo and booked additional tickets on SKYMARK airlines from Tokyo to Hokkaido and back again (Nagano would be a 5 hour shuttle from Tokyo). The accomodations and lift tickets seems reasonably priced, especially compared to the US, which would have the same sort of up-charges for bookings during the holidays. Actually, the lift tickets were a good deal--about 50 USD a day for an all-access mountain pass. We mentioned to our classmates that we are planning for a Japan snowboarding holiday and Verena (my classmate) and her (BMW employed) boyfriend Patrick decided to book tickets to join us on the Hokkaido leg of our journey. At the last minute, another classmate, Oscar (from Venezuela) decided to stay in Hoikkaido for 4 of the 5 days we planned to stay. So, in all, our trip took us from 23 Dec-4 Jan.
On the 23rd, Cliff and I tore out of our Corporate Finance Final, like bats out of hell, cabbed home, threw all of our belongings in our bags and hi-tailed it to the airport for a 6pm flight. After check-in and an hour in the United B-class lounge, we boarded a half-empty flight and took off on our vacation. We spent a night in Tokyo and took a shuttle to Tokyo's domestic airport, Haneda. After landing in Sapporo, we met up with Verena and Patrick and took a three hour bus to Niseko...the ride was quite beautiful as most of it skirted mountain lined area on the Sea of Japan. After a late arrival in Niseko, we found our lodgings, Ronde Lodge. The accomodations were relatively cheap, even after the holiday prices (I think we paid around 500 USD for the five nights we were staying) and included a kitchen. The hitch was that the upstairs was one large room with 4 twin beds and the place only had 1 bathroom for th 5 of us (since Oscar was a late joiner, we was going to sleep on the living room couch.). Below is our beloved temporary digs. There were three apartments in this one building, but we were pretty pleased with it.
As you can see, it is snowing. It did not stop snowing for the 6 days we were there. Occassionally we heard a crashing sound and would look outside and see a bare roof of a pile of killer icicles on the ground. When were arrived, we were given a pamplet that said that the vast majority of foreigner injuries in Niseko were caused by slips on the snow or ice. They advised us to walk slow and with our arms extended in order to help our balance. Didn't fall while in Niseko, but our friend Verena always seemed to run into trouble on the slopes. Ronde Lodge seemed close to everything--we must have had a couple of dozen bars and restaurants within a three block radius of our place. Also, we only had a 7-10 minute walk to the bottom of the nearest lift.So, we had a pretty regular schedule in Niseko. At 630am we all woke up and filtered thru the bathroom. We ate breakfast at home and aimed to be out the door by 8 to hit the slopes for the fresh powder that crowned the mountain every-frickin-day.
In our group, Cliff and Patrick were about the same level, but Cliff is more into jumps and Patrick is into free riding, but they could enjoy the same type of terrain. Verena and I are well-matched on a snowboard, although she might now be as adventurous as I am. Oscar hadn't skied in 4-5 years and was better staying with Verena and me, than Cliff and Patrick. The thing I really liked about Niseko is that the intermediate runs had heaps of tree areas that Cliff and Patrick could board thru in search of fresh powder. The trees would be pretty sparce, so it was very empowering for someone like me.
Every morning we headed up the lift to scenes like this: Fresh snow, clear air and snowflakes sprinkling the air. Our place was nearest to the short family lift, which fed directly onto the longest lift on the Hirafu Mountain. On the left hand side of the picture you can see some of the great off-piste areas that Hirafu had to offer. It was pretty steep with a couple feet of untouched snow dotted with trees. If you look really, really carefully, you can spot the dent and subsequent boot tracks created by yours truly.
This is the average morning in Hokkaido...you can see that the tracks show about a foot of new snow. The one guy within shouting distance was also pretty common. There were very, very few times we felt crowded, but that was because we tried to spend most of our time higher up in the mountain and away from the beginner trails. The snow situation was very, very good for me, as I was able to gain alot of confidence in my carving and jumps. I was even able to tackle some black runs and mogul-style terrain. I also did alot of off-piste riding. I think that every one of us spent at least 30 minutes digging out of a tough terrain spot. It was so much fun!!!
Most days you could only see a grey clouded sky and a lot of snowflakes, but on a couple brief moments we were blessed by a clear sky. This is the best view we had the entire time we were in Hakuba.
Our first day out on the slopes was Christmas day. We saw several Snowboarding Santas (one who was very drunk at the lodge later in the day), a couple of Pikachus (this is Japan after all), a couple of Stitchs (from lilo and stitch), a sumo wrestler (complete in stuffed suit) and this rudolph. I've never done anything but eat and open presents on xmas, so this was a strange, yet welcoming difference.
Cliff and I were definately having fun on xmas. Note the snowboar condoms we all had to use in the Gondolas...they were very big on protecting our boards (or the inside of the gondola).
After a long morning on the slopes, we stopped on a mid-hill lodge for xmas lunch. For the first time, we encountered the beauty of Japanese efficiency. We were given the option of three or four ramen noodle soups, curries and western style soups and sandwiches. The only difference was that it was ordered from a vending machine. All of the buttons had a picture of the dish, name of dish and price. After inserting the correct coins, the machine spit out a ticket, which was then given to the attendant.
Geared up and ready to do battle after a big bowl of fresh ramen noodle soup:
Many of the runs in Japan were capped with these bells. We found out that they were for people to ring for good luck. The bells were very busy during the holidays. In retrospect, I should have swung by the bells more often--I could use some luck in the new year.
As I said before, the snow was a blessing for my snowboard skills. I could look down a black diamond mogul-style run without fear. I also soon discovered that the moguls hills were primarily fluffy snow that I could drive right thru. Also, the deep powder limited the speed by which I terrorized the hill. Cliff even convinced me to take a 10 minute hike past the gondola to an off-piste run:
Unfortunately, sometimes I got in over my head. Below is after a particularly humiliating crash in front of a ski school class. nice.
As you all know, I'm a foodie and I can say that food in the lodges were pretty impressive. Below is a list of lunch food. They offered pizza, chopped steak with rice, Japanese egg curry and on the bottom left, King Crab spicy ramen soup. Although we didn’t eat here (it was only 1030 when we took this first break), it really looked yummy. The food was really filling and very tasty, but I cringed at the price...We usually spent around 8-9USD per person for lunch. Cliff and I usually have a couple courses at a local Chinese place for that kind of money. Maybe I'm becoming more 'localized'?
At this point, I have to say that the Japanese bathrooms in these lodges were the best, cleanest, most comfortable I’d ever experienced in a lodge. Although this one was pretty exceptional, most I had seen were very comparable. 
The toilet itself was very clean and like all Japanese toilet seats had a fun-box of controls and buttons. This particular toilet had a control panel off the side which gave you the option of a full flush, half flush, bidet, frontal area bidet (what the heck is this called???), music, freshening fan and a volume/power button for the latter two. The toilet seat was heated and the freshening fan, situated on the underside seat, started as soon as my cheeks touched. At the point when I photographed this bathroom, I had been in Japan for a couple days, and I admit, I had tried all of the controls, save the bidet/other options. It occurred to me that the reason I was failing on these buttons, is that I had to be seated for the sensor to work. Well, there must be little men with a laser site down there, as the aim of the bidet was dangerously accurate. I nearly stood up in alarm, which would have probably been the very worst thing I could have done.
Of course, after a hard day on the mountain, we had to hit some of the local hot spots. Conveniently located next to the Ronde Lodge was the Ice Bar. The structure is made of cut ice, the bar and seats are made of ice...even the glasses are made of ice. Below is a daytime view:
And this is the happy hour perspective:
Verena and I enjoying a good, cold drink or 4.
On our third day on the slopes we decided to take a day trip to another resort. We had heard good things about Rutsutsu Resort: lots of good snow and more freedom for off piste boarding. Actually, what we really heard is that if you went off piste, people were not coming for you until the resort closed. There were a lot of “no patrol/ungroomed area” signs. Just like we wanted. To get there we had to catch a 90 minute coach bus ride to Rutsutsu. Below is Oscar, Patrick and Verena on the bus.
The resort map doesn’t look so impressive, but basically all the tree areas on the left had side were off-piste options, so the resort had many more runs than we originally thought. The Rutsutsu area was headquartered at a hotel at the base of the smaller hill. It was a mix of Chalet and Wisconsin Dells chintz. There was a large, active, merry-go-round in the lobby, as well as a talking, singing mechanical tree that captivated the kiddies.
We had a great day in Rutsutsu, although, we didn’t have a lot of action shots—I think we were too busy hitting the slopes. Here is us after lunch gearing up for battle. I felt like I was back in Wisconsin—it took nearly 5 minutes to go from preparing to leave, to actually having our gloves, gator, hat, goggles, jacket lining, camelback, ipod and backpack on and ready to walk out the door. I can’t imagine having kids and taking twice or three times as long to get everything ready.
We spent a couple more great days at Niseko having time of our lives, but it was over too soon. On the 30th, we all went our separate ways. Patrick and Verena made their way to Tokyo to celebrate new years. Oscar flew back to Beijing only to find that his visa was denied. He had to hope red-eye to Hong Kong, and like a prisoner, he was escorted by guards to the Consulate to apply for a new rush visa. The one positive note is that the Chinese government put him up in the Park Hyatt overnight. It was a nightmare, but I guess one more experience from Crazy-China. Cliff and I flew back to Tokyo to catch a shuttle to Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. We didn't believe it could even hold a candle to Niseko, which was partially true.
The boarding was alright. Although they had snowfall on our first day, the slopes were alittle hard and not as forgiving at Hokkaido. Also, it was crowded. Nagano is the best resort area on Honshu, and as such, attracted many, many Tokyo residents for their New Year holiday. Below are all the ants on the hill. It was like boarding thru a minefield--potential danger at every turn.
Fortunately, this was only the case at the bottom of the hill or on the easy runs. Some of the hill was quite free of other riders...Cliff even got a chance to find some good terrain features:
While the snow conditions were less that perfect, the weather and view were beautiful.
After a couple days at Happo-One resort, we decided to take our first break-day of the vacation(finally) and do something cultural: see the famous onsen snow monkeys. It was a fairly complicated bit, which involved walking to a train station, catching a bus to Nagano and then one to Shiyubashi Onsen and then another 30 minute walk. We set out on our oddessy at 1130 am and after getting set up with our tickets, Cliff ran to the nearest McDs for our bus-lunch (seriously, he is like some special-program bloodhound. The guy can spot a golden arches from a mile out). He, of course, bought the most american meal he could find: The Mega Mac.
Since we've been out of the US for awhile, and maybe you have these? I've never seen them before...anyways, no man needs four psuedo beef patties and a large fries in a single sitting...expect maybe my husband.
Unsurprisingly, Cliff also managed to wrestle up some pretty ridiculous Japanese porn while at the Japanese grandfather of convenience bliss--7-11. Cartoon porn just cracks me up.
We arrived at the Monkey Park (or Monk-ee Park-o, if you are Japanese) at 4pm and it closes at 5, so we had to hustle up the 1.8 km uphill path. 
It was actually quite beautiful--it reminded me of a Robert Frost poem, exept this was the path more traveled, judging by the footsteps.
It was snowing, so it did make for a 'seasonal' walk.
As we turned the bend at the top of the hill, we were greeted by the park houses and support buildings. They were so picturesque beneath the blanket of fresh snow.
The monkeys were sssoooooo cute, but it was obvious that they could give a flying rat's a$$ whether we where there or not. As a matter of fact, I felt like alot of them turned their back on me when I was trying to take picture. rude.
The real attraction is catching in the monkeys in the Onsen...I really found them to be unintersting when in the hot spring, as they were always moving and never looking in the right direction. It didn't make for great pictures.
I did get one really good close up, steam and snow and furry goodness included.
The monkeys were a great experience and now we can cross them off of our National Geographic to do list. I wouldn't necessarily need to go again. On our last day, we decided to hit up Hakuba 47. We had heard great things about their park and that they might be less crowded. Luckily, we were also blessed with one more day of good weather...it was as if the stars had aligned for pictures. Below is us, right above the park getting ready for a first run.
There was some beautiful scenery behing some of the jumps and I had a hard time deciding on whether to focus on Cliff or the Snow covered mountain behind him.
We have two truly super-hero quality shots for the trip. Cliff found this great lip jump at the end of the smaller park. No one was using it, so as a result the landing was super soft. Cliff made a couple of practice jumps before sky-ing with this one:
I definately had the best documented jump of my young snowboard life at this spot. I had a chance to go for some mad-style points and went all out. Truthfully, the landing was not pretty, but the photo makes it all worth it.
All in all, Cliff and I love snowboarding in Japan. We hope to return next year at a cheaper, less crowded time. It was definately pricey, but not as outrageous as a holiday trip to any Colorado resort. The best part about it was the combination of great company, as well as some alone time that comprised our experience. Personally, I can say that I've found my new favorite resort in Niseko--better than Whistler, better than Vail, in my opinion. Cliff was more into Rutsutsu and Hakuba 47. Regardless, we highly recommend the Japanese Alps or the North Island as a must-go on your Snowboarder dream list.
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