Winter Sports in Japan

Japan is a country blessed with mountains and a climate very conducive for snowboarding and skiing. As a matter of fact, a lot of Japanese people engage in the said activities. Various ski areas are not too far from the country's capital, Tokyo. However, these locations have less snow and have more ice. If you want to have a good snow sport experience, the Northern regions of Japan are ideal for it. Honshu island's northern part and the entire Hokkaido island is rich in amazing mountain areas for all types of snow sports.

The Winter Olympics of 1998 was held in Japan, in the Nagano Prefecture of Honshu island. The Nagano Prefecture is sometimes called as "The Roof of Japan" and has three mountain ranges (Japan Alps). With mountains that are towering from 2,000 to 3,00 meters, it is divided into the Northern Alps, the Southern Alps and the Central Alps.

During winter, the island of Hokkaido is converted into a real winter wonderland. It contains active volcanoes, huge lakes, and wide virgin forests. Sapporo city offers an excellent vacation place for skiers and snowboarders. Visitors and locals can experience taking runs on the actual courses used during the 1972 Olympics and the Asian Winter Games. It has a lot of ski sites than can easily be accessed via public transportation within two hours.

The deep powder snow piled during arctic storms in the island of Hokkaido makes skiing and snow boarding a wonderful site. The elevations of mountains in Hokkaido are relatively lower as compared to the larger ranges in the Americas or in Europe. By this, the lower elevation offers an advantage of making it a bit easier for some people to enjoy the sometimes vigorous activities of alpine sports.