Snow Country Region in Japan as a geographical area, covering towns in Gunma, Niigata and Nagano.
An overview of the area and what it has to offer, focusing mainly on winter sports,
the abundance of onsen and the high quality of local cuisine.
Spring is just around the corner and it is a great time to visit the mountains, especially if you have kids. Whether they ski or not, there is always plenty to do to keep them occupied. The warmer weather in March makes it a great time to come and have some fun in the snow, and that is the driving force behind the 7th Yairo Forest Park Children's Snow Festival on Sunday March 10th.
Yairo has one of the best parks in the area for most of the year but most people don't head there in the winter. All that will change for the Snow Festival. There are loads of fun, free activities to play around with. Banana boating on the snow, igloos, snowshoeing, tubing, bamboo skis, mini games, snow sculptures and plenty more. It is always loads of fun, and the little ones will love it. There will be plenty of food as well to keep them full of energy.
Another one for the diary - the Naked Man Festival in Urasa is on March 3rd and is definitely one you don't want to miss if you like unique winter festivals.
Giant candles, men clad in loincloths in a heaving, steaming mass trying to push their way into a temple - all the things you want from a winter celebration. The location itself is a beautiful temple and there is plenty going on in and around it. The streets leading up the temple from Urasa station are lined with food stalls hawking tasty treats so there is plenty to do once you have had your fill of the main event.
If you get a bit cold standing around in the winter snow then get yourself a nice warm cup of sake....complete with dried fish for flavor!
Another poster from the good folks at JR. This time it is pushing Niigata prefecture as a destination and both the images they have chosen come from within Snow Country.
Head to Yairo just north of Urasa and you will find yourself driving through field after field of watermelons ripening in the warm summer sun. Shops and supermarkets are full of these famous watermelon at the moment and chilled watermelon is a summer staple in Japan. Yairo watermelon are famous throughout Japan.
Over the hill in Tsunan they have a summer sunflower park with acres of giant sunflowers as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately it has finished for the 2012 season (it closed August 21 this year) but it is a stunning sight and well worth heading over to see.
Okutadami Maruyama is a resort we mentioned before as one of the early openers in Snow Country. It has a bit of a peculiar season, opening early and then shutting for most of mid-winter before re-opening again in spring. The drive up there is an experience and the views from the resort are spectacular.
Their spring season kicks off this weekend and one of the best things about the resort is the killer park they set up with masses of features and a half pipe.
They will also host the Dragon Mystery Tour on April 7th.
The season goes well into May so plenty of "winter" left yet.
Occasionally Japan throws up those moments that are completely out there and the Naked Man Festival is certainly one of those.
Walking up from the station you would be forgiven for thinking that this is just another town winter matsuri, with food stalls lining the roads. But the closer you get to the Bishamon Temple, the stranger things get. The chanting gets louder, there are processions of men wearing little more than loincloths ( there is snow on the ground!) being escorted by similarly dressed men with giant candles and everyone seems to be drunk.
The loincloth-clad celebrants jump into a pool of icy water for purification, then dash into the main hall of the temple to join the throng of other half naked men to try to force their way into a small opening in the inner temple to obtain a blessing. The mob in the main hall are a steaming pile of bodies and it is quite a sight.
It is pretty out there as a festival and is a great night out. There is a real festival atmosphere and there is lots going on in and around the temple. Even if you don't fully know what is going on, you can't help but be blown away by this celebration that has an incredibly long history. The temple itself is a pretty amazing building and definitely worth a visit at another time.
Yukigassen is the Japanese word for an organised snowball fight and there is a giant one in Koide every year. This is the 24th International Snowball Competition in Koide and with all the snow this year it promises to be a good one.
These snowball fights happen all over the country with most towns in snowy parts having their own association. It is a "capture the flag" type battle with teams of 5. The court is marked out and has barriers to hide behind as you try to snipe off the opposition, with judges calling the hits. The snowballs are made in giant presses and left in strategic places on the court. There are some English rules here.
It's great fun to play and frenetic & fast-paced to watch so promises to be a great weekend. It takes place in the impressively named Snow Coliseum.
The schedule dates for the resort in Uonuma. If you are looking for other resorts in the area you can try the posts for the Minami Uonuma area or the Yuzawa town area. All dates are the planned opening and will depend on there being enough snow for the resort to open. If the conditions aren't right they will push this date back a bit.
Okutadami Maruyama - as soon as there is enough snow
Yakushi - 17 December
Suhara - 23 December
Ohara - 23 December
Koide - 23 December
Oyu Onsen - 23 December
As we have already mentioned, winter season is officially underway in Snow Country, though the current warm weather is anything but wintery. The next resort to open up is like to be Okutadami Maruyama.
It's an interesting resort just outside of Koide in Niigata prefecture. It usually opens early in the season, closes mid-winter as keeping the access clear is too difficult, and opens again in spring. It usually has one of the best parks in the region so is a bit hit with the local freestyle community. It is an impressive drive up there, along a road that is more tunnel than anything, and the resort itself backs on to a huge lake that stretches all the way to Oze. At other times of year the pleasure cruise on the lake is the big attraction, drawing thousands who come to admire the fantastic scenery, especially in autumn.
Another resort that tries to open early is Tenjindaira on Mount Tanigawa which is just awaiting one more snowfall before opening their slopes for the winter.
We know it is still autumn and there is plenty of time to go before the winter season starts, but with the first snow falling up high the other day, the drop in the temperature and the appearance of some winter adverts around the place, it is hard not to start to get a little bit excited.
If you are like us, it has been far too long since you strapped on your skis or board and you are counting the days until you get back on the snow. To help your countdown, here are the first places that open up each winter around Snow Country. These are the planned opening dates so are subject to weather conditions (but we are putting our money on a big snow year with an early start this year.)
Yairo is famous for its watermelons but it also produces plenty of other foods that are equally tasty and on October 9th they have a festival celebrating the autumn harvest.
The festival itself is held at Yairo No Mori Park, which is worth a visit at any time (and is just around the corner from the Echigo Winery and the amazing Yummy Ice Cream Shop.) This park is a fantastic place for children with lots of climbing apparatus, giant bouncy balls and loads of space for the kids to charge about. The adults can supervise from the relative peace of the public BBQ areas.
The Festival is free to attend and like many autumn festivals, the food is the star with local specialities and freshly harvested produce in abundance. There are also games for the children, entertainment on the large stage, dancing and other activities for the whole family such as hot-air ballooning. These festivals are a great way to get close to small town Japan, make new friends and interact with the local population.
Snow Country is famous for its sake but everywhere you go you will also see plenty of local wine and probably the most common is Echigo Wine. It is brewed up in Urasa in a really pretty facility surrounded by vineyards and is not what you expect to find in the Japanese countryside.
You are welcome to look around the premises which would not be out of place in any famous wine growing region in the world. The winter snow is used for refrigeration and the vineyard, surrounded by the mountains and nearby Hakkaisan takes advantage of the same rich soil that produces such tasty koshihikari. There are several different varieties of grapes grown here and you can taste the different wines produced as well as purchase your favorites.
Probably the best part though is the restaurant. The menu has a great range with several different styles of cuisine and accompanying wines to complement your food. There are usually a couple of great value sets that let you try several different of the wines with some great matches.
Snow Country produces many great seasonal products and one of the most refreshing tastes of summer are the watermelons from Yairo. Snowcountry is well know for its top quality rice but the watermelon are also up there. This small town in the north of Snow Country has watermelon fields all over and you can see the fruit by the side of the road ripening.
Ice cold watermelon on a hot day is an absolute treat and a real taste of summer.
