Thinking about coming to Japan to ski or snowboard?
Japan boasts some of the greatest amounts of snowfall in the world! Sapporo is ranked number one in the world out of cities with a population over a million people.
(I took this shot from the top of the Okurayama Ski Jump that was built for the winter olympics that took place in Sapporo.)
Personally, I learned how to snowboard in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado when I was in High School. I then attempted to enjoy snowboarding in Big Bear in California since I'm from Los Angeles, but didn't make it very far before nearly getting clotheslined by a plastic orange wall mid-run. (!!!)
But after moving to Sapporo a few years back, I've come to the conclusion that this is perhaps the best place in the world to come for snowboarding.
I've had numerous AirBNB guests stay at our house from all over the world, including Canada, Australia, the US and numerous other countries, pretty much exclusively so they can come and snowboard. And for the most part, towns like Niseko blossom into Australia-mini in the winter because there are so many coming here for the winter to snowboard.
(This shot was taken by JP Koch on one his extreme off-trail runs in the deep, fluffy snow!)
But it's not just Niseko that offers amazing snowboarding if you're not willing to go all the way up into the mountains. You can get away with some pretty jaw-dropping experiences just a few minutes outside of Sapporo in Teine Mountain, Olympia, Highlands, Bankei (Ban-K), and any number of other places!
Here's a guest post from JP Koch, an amazingly talented German snowboarder, who now resides in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.