Ever had ski envy?
You’ve spent another season skiing on expensive, subpar, overcrowded, slushy snow. Your friends, however, return from trips with stories of unlimited powder on beautiful mountains. Ski envy!
Over the years, my envy has grown to the point I knew it was my turn for a long-awaited Japan ski trip!
My 2020 Japan trip was my first time traveling to Asia. I was worried I wouldn’t have the stamina to ski for multiple days in a row, and I was nervous about not speaking the local language.
Thankfully, my excitement for skiing in powder for days on end, eating yummy ramen, and finding unique candies in Japan outweighed my nerves!
My plan for this Japan ski trip was to hit Tokyo as a quick weekend stop on our way to Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island. Hokkaido has two must ski destinations: Sapporo and Niseko, and is also home to Otaru.
I like to hit major cities in a new country, but I also like to find places off the beaten path. I had a couple of days open on my trip between Tokyo and meeting a friend in Sapporo. So where to?
Do I visit Akita or Otaru?
(1) Akita
The birthplace of the samurai and also well known for onsens – natural hot springs, Akita is located in the northeastern part of the main island, accessible via a one hour flight from Tokyo.
(2) Otaru
An interesting port town in Hokkaido. Otaru hosts their annual Snow
Light Path Festival in February every year, and also has onsens! Otaru has lots of delicious, fresh seafood – not surprising given it is a port town on the Sea of Japan. Otaru is accessible via a one hour train from Sapporo, Japan.
Logistically it is more complex to get from Akita to Sapporo with my itinerary, so I chose option 2, Otaru.
Otaru is a great escape after spending a few nights in Tokyo. My boyfriend, Justin, picked the Dormy Inn Premium Natural Hot Spring for our hotel stay because it has a natural onsen and is located conveniently across from the train station.
Not that being located close to our hotel mattered too much once we discovered the joy of “hands free travel” in Japan.
Hands free travel means your hands are free from carrying your luggage. Japan airports and travel partners offer a luggage delivery service for a comparable price to checked baggage fees. When your luggage is collectively two large ski bags, two large suitcases, and one boot bag – and you have to navigate the subway, airport, buses, and hotel moves … huge bonus!
After getting lost on the efficient, but complicated Tokyo subway, my boyfriend and I found ourselves at the airport while transferring hotels. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a pick-up from a travel partner before our check-out time, our detour did wonders for our travel experience because we successfully dropped off our gear at the Tokyo airport. Our stuff was shipped to Sapporo, bypassing our stay in Otaru, for approximately the same cost as checking a bag.
The Snow Light Path Festival in Otaru was magical.
I was happy I could experience the Otaru festival because the Sapporo festival ended while we were in Tokyo. The sculptures reminded me of my childhood in Iowa and the fun we would have building forts and snow creatures.
the one disappointment about traveling to Otaru in the winter of 2020 was the abnormally warm weather. It was over 40°F/4.4°C, and a lot of the snow and snow sculptures were melting. This melting snow could be considered a bad sign just as we embark on an eight day ski vacation.
When booking this Japan trip, I did not expect the 2019-2020 season would be one of the worst (in terms of snowfall) in Hokkaido in 30 years!
While I planned this trip because of the snow envy built up over the years, I didn’t let it put a damper on the overall experience. This trip was a blast!
One of the best parts about choosing Otaru was its proximity to Nikka Distillery.
Nikka Distillery, where I truly felt we had stumbled off the beaten path in Japan to find a prized gem.
Time to book your own trip? Download my 2020 Japan Itinerary!
More videos of me enjoying the unlimited Japan-pow-pow to build your ski envy up!
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