You Don't Have to Sleep on a Tatami Mat to Ski in Japan

You Don't Have to Sleep on a Tatami Mat to Ski in Japan

Japan ski resorts have an incredibly wide choice of accommodation options from traditional pensions to fancy 5-star hotels. If you have never stayed in a traditional pension then you have probably missed out on a big part of Japanese culture. Tatami mats on the floor, a roll-out futon to sleep on and a pot for making green tea is pretty much all you get in your traditional Japanese room. Many pensions only have shared bathroom facilities and most have an onsen (a traditional Japanese bathhouse) separated into men's and women's (sorry fellas!).

Some of the older traditional pensions (and older hotels for that matter) have moved updated to accommodate the influx of western visitors. Rooms are generally very tight and cosy because they weren't designed for full-sized beds and definitely weren't designed to have an ensuite incorporated in the room.

The great news is that a lot of the traditional accommodation is extremely inexpensive. Nightly rates usually include a cooked breakfast (and some with evening meals as well). Just check that they breakfast is western as well as Japanese because I don't know about you but I just can't stomach dried fish and seaweed with my coffee in the morning.

Most modern Japanese accommodation combines the quintessence of Japanese architecture with western style comforts such as big comfy king size beds and rooms with private bathrooms or ensuites however these do generally come with a higher price tag.

Niseko possibly offers the widest choice of accommodation in Japanese ski resorts with several hundred properties. Only around 10 years ago (in the late 90's), Niseko was a reasonably sleepy and conservative village with a couple of larger onsen hotels and a number of traditional Japanese pensions. Trying to find western style accommodation was difficult. Most Niseko accommodation only offered Japanese style bedding and facilities.

Today you can find virtually every conceivable type of accommodation including boutique luxury hotels, luxury lodges, bed & breakfasts, back packers, slick new apartments, large ritzy hotels and yes you can still find the odd traditional Japanese Pension.

Furano is currently what Niseko was like 10 years ago. There are a couple of Furano hotels and a good selection of Japanese Pensions. Furano accommodation options are starting to evolve as the number of western visitors to the area grows.

Many Japanese ski resorts are multi-seasonal. During summer they cater to golfers and their families and convert into a ski resort during winter. Resorts such as Rusutsu and Tomamu are purpose built and are serviced by multi-story hotels. In Tomamu there are 4 towers rising over 30 stories high at the base of the lifts. Both Rusutsu and Tomamu have indoor wave pools and a plethora of resort-style facilities to entertain the kids, big and small!

There are many other resorts such as Nozawa Onsen (on the island of Honshu)that have evolved as a result of the natural hot springs in the area (although in just about every Japanese ski resort you will find multiple onsens (Japanese hot springs).

Hakuba is a major ski area also located on Honshu and was host to many events for the 1998 Nagano winter Olympics. The variety of Hakuba accommodation is similar to that of Niseko however on a slightly smaller scale with a little less new developments occurring.

If you are on a budget, you can't go past a traditional Japanese Pension but maybe look for one that has been slightly westernised; sleeping on the floor on a ski holiday is hard work!

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