Snowboarding/Skiing and Sightseeing around Hakuba, Japan

Christmas is over, the new year is about to begin, and the ground outside my bedroom window is covered with a thick and now unyielding blanket of snow. By the looks of it, I don't expect to see the grass or sunlight again for several weeks, if not months.

This is ok for one reason, and one reason only: that means it's snowboarding season. As I prepare to go on my long-awaited week-long trip to go try out the local mountains in my new temporary home for the year, I can't help but turn my thoughts to where I know the snow is deep and the atmosphere sweet right about now: Hakuba, Japan. 

Hakuba is in the area near Nagano, which hosted the 1998 winter Olympics, and is a nice place to spend some time snowboarding and also taking in the Japanese environment and culture. 

There are a number of other towns or villages you can base yourself in around the Hakuba area if you want to focus on one mountain, or else most of the places you'll probably want to check out are easily accessible by train. Hakuba 47/Goryu, Happo One (pronounced O-nay), Cortina are popular mountains, as well as Iwatake, Tsugaike, and Norikura. A little further afield, Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen provide more good options. There are also opportunities for backcountry days as well, which may be especially welcomed by powderhounds, as the tree riding and skiing is often rather frustratingly extremely limited and well-policed, leaving you to just look longingly at a lot of untouched, pristine powder from the ski lift. 

Nozawa would be a great place for a day and evening trip, especially if you're there at the right time to catch the very odd and very entertaining Nozawa Fire Festival. Other interesting cultural excursions from the area include a trip to nearby Matsumoto to see the Matsumoto Castle, which dates back to 1504, and going to see the Snow Monkeys, who very photogenically hang out and relax in their own hot springs in the middle of the snow. There are tours available that combine things such as the Snow Monkeys with a trip to see the museum of Hokusai, who created the famous "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" woodblock print (trust me, even if you think you haven't seen it, you have), sample Wasabi ice cream, see the temple of Zenkoji, lunch in a sake brewery, and more.

In the evenings, though there are some decent nightlife options and parties to be had in the area, for the most part you won't find thumping beats of nightclubs or stumbling drunk foreigners in this region. Hakuba is a good place to go and pop into one of the smaller, homier feeling venues for a bit of sake, a chat with friends or some of the friendly locals, maybe catch a cultural performance if there is one on somewhere - Bike Bar, one of the expat-run bars in Goryu has hosted an incredible Taiko drumming group for the past couple of years, for example, with your drink being the cost of admission - and enjoy being in this little slice of Japan while also getting to snowboard or ski in some fantastic snow.