Japan Skiing for Beginner Families - The Resort You Should Know About
- Shelley Hasson
- May 17
- 8 min read
When I started looking at skiing in Japan for our family, the first question I needed to answer was logistics. We were based in Tokyo for part of the trip, and I wanted a resort we could reach by Shinkansen fairly easily.
That search kept bringing up Hakuba, Nagano. Within Hakuba, one resort kept rising to the top - across general searches, ski-specific forums, and conversations with specialist ski advisors. Happo One.
I watched the beginner run videos. That is where my family would be spending their time - my husband, my nine and twelve year old, and me, on only our second ever experience on snow.
What I saw didn't give me confidence. Even on the green runs - the runs marked for beginners - I was finding footage of skiers commenting on how steep and challenging they felt. What made it worse was the progression between runs - steep, narrow cat-tracks and crowded corridors connecting the beginner areas to everything else. First-timers were visibly finding the whole experience intimidating, not just individual runs. Happo One has a ski school and beginner areas, and I have no doubt families do manage there but watching those videos and picturing my kids on that terrain for only their second time on snow, I knew I needed to keep looking.
That is how I found Tsugaike Kogen.
Why More Families should be talking about Skiing in Tsugaike, Japan
Tsugaike Kogen sits at the northern end of the Hakuba Valley, about twenty minutes from the main resort hub. It is not the resort that rises to the top of Australian search results or gets the most airtime in travel round-ups.
"Tsugaike is home to one of the widest ski runs in the world". It was these words that piqued my interest.
Wide runs are everything when you have beginners learning to ski. Wide means room to fall. Room to get back up. Room to avoid people and for people to avoid you.
Tsugaike is a well-established resort with a full ski school, dining options, après ski and everything a family needs on the mountain. It just does not tend to be the first name that reaches Australian ears when we start researching Japan skiing. Once I found it, I understood why it should be.
Getting to Hakuba
The journey from Tokyo to Hakuba wasn't difficult. We caught the Shinkansen from Ueno Station - which was convenient as that is where we were staying - to Nagano. The trip takes around 80 minutes and runs frequently throughout the day.
We used our stop in Nagano to visit the snow monkeys at Jigokudani Monkey Park, which I would highly recommend building into the journey. The monkeys are completely unbothered by people - it is as though you are not even there. The walk in from the bus drop off point takes around an hour in the snowy conditions. In January it is very slippery and I would strongly recommend bringing your own crampons. We watched a lot of people fall and slip along the path some fell very hard.
From Nagano we caught the bus to Hakuba, which takes just over an hour.
Once in Hakuba we had a hire car, and I cannot recommend this enough. Public transport between the resorts and around the town is limited, and over our time there I saw far too many people trudging along the side of the road dragging their gear. Having a car made everything easier - getting to the mountain each day with your gear, moving around the valley, and just the general ease of having your family and all your ski equipment in one place.
What Tsugaike Is Like
Here is what we found when we arrived.
The runs
Wide. Generously wide. I am the worst skier in the family and I loved having that space around me. I was never worried about people skiing into me - although one speedy toddler did take me out at one point, which was humbling. The beginner/green runs are fairly flat and unhurried, exactly what you need when you are finding your feet. There are lots to choose from, so you don't feel like you're doing the same run over and over again.
For kids who pick it up quickly, there is room to grow without leaving the resort. My kids were skiing the forest run on their very first lesson - a trail on the side of the main run into the resort with trees to dodge and mounds to jump off. Meanwhile I stayed on the main wide run and was still right alongside the rest of the family. Something for everyone, all in the same place.
The atmosphere
The queues are manageable. The only time we had really long queues across our three days was when one of the lifts to the top was shut down, pushing everyone onto the lower runs at once.
The village at the base is small and compact with a beautiful hot spring, foot spa where you can rest your feet while a DJ plays and you watch everyone skiing back into the resort. Honestly some of the best people watching I have ever done. I may have spent quite a bit of time there while the rest of the family kept hitting the slopes - no regrets whatsoever. I met people from all over the world there, predominately from English speaking countries like the USA, UK and Australia.
I saw more people in cosplay at Tsugaike than I did in Harajuku. Skiers fully dressed up, hitting the runs in the most elaborate outfits. Very Japan, very wonderful, and completely unexpected.
Some great food choices, although in some cases seating was hard to find. If you can have an early or late lunch, you'll have better luck finding a seat.
The snow
My only ski comparison point is Coronet Peak in New Zealand, where the snow is more like ice - you fall and you feel it. Tsugaike was completely different. The snow is soft and forgiving. I took a few tumbles myself and each time I just slid to a stop. I think every one of us went down at least once over the three days with not even a bruise thankfully.
The groomed runs are consistently well-maintained which matters enormously when you have kids who are still learning and cannot adapt to icy or uneven terrain the way experienced skiers can. We had three days of excellent conditions.
Ski Lessons at Tsugaike - Here is What You Need to Know
We did three days of private lessons with Evergreen Ski School - just the four of us as a family group, which worked brilliantly. As beginners we wanted to learn together, and having an instructor focused entirely on our family meant the pace suited everyone. It's actually a really fantastic bonding experience to learn something new together too.
One thing I will say from experience - allow more time than you think you need on your first morning wherever you are skiing around the world. We were slightly late to our first lesson trying to sort out lockers for our gear and buy our lift passes. Walking in ski boots takes longer than you expect, queues happen, and when you are wrestling with unfamiliar equipment for the first time everything just takes a little longer. Build in extra time and you will thank yourself for it.
The instructors were patient, spoke English, and were great with the kids. They pushed our kids to progress and try new things while making sure I kept working on what I was finding difficult. They also helped us get familiar with the mountain and where to go - although we still managed to stuff that up on the last day, keep reading to find out how we ended up "butt skiing".
Evergreen Ski School operates across multiple mountains in the Hakuba Valley, Tsugaike being one of them. Book in advance - they are popular for good reason and you do not want to arrive without a reservation, particularly in January and February.
How We Ended Up Butt Skiing
My husband and the kids were ahead of me - as usual. I am always the last one down the mountain. I skied up to where they were waiting and joined the chairlift queue without thinking to check where we were actually heading.
When we got to the top my nine year old looked around and said "did you see the advanced skiers only sign?" Yup, we saw it, but only once we were committed to the chairlift!
To make matters worse, you cannot take the chairlift back down. We tried to ski the run, traversing sideways across the face of the slope, but even in full "pizza stop" the incline was too much for me to control my speed. So I took my skis off and started walking down sideways, which given the steepness meant shuffling along at an angle with my heart in my throat.
My husband and kids joined me when they realised walking was the safest option. We made slow progress and at the steeper sections walking was not really an option either, so we ended up on our backsides sliding down and dragging our gear with us. To be honest butt skiing was actually quite fun - maybe there is a market for it! It took about 35 to 40 minutes to get to the bottom that way.
I can only imagine what the skiers flying past us were thinking.
The kids laughed the entire way down. I had never been so happy to reach the bottom of a run in one piece - yes we made the best of it, but it was exhausting and pretty scary at times.
So Would We recommend Hakuba?
Without hesitation.
Tsugaike is an excellent resort for beginner families - wide runs, variety, great snow, and a mountain that is forgiving when you are still finding your feet. One thing worth knowing if you are travelling with younger children - you do need to be able to hold the ski lift bar down yourself as it goes up automatically. Something to keep in mind for very young kids.
The Hakuba area itself has everything you need - dining options, accommodation to suit all budgets, grocery stores, shops and food trucks. Multiple ski resorts to choose from if you want to explore beyond Tsugaike as your confidence grows.
Getting there from Tokyo is straightforward. There is a daily direct Limited Express Azusa train from Shinjuku Station straight through to Hakuba Station, taking around three hours and forty minutes - no transfers required. Alternatively the Shinkansen from Ueno or Tokyo to Nagano followed by the bus to Hakuba is a great option, particularly if you want to stop at the snow monkeys along the way as we did.
A hire car is a must once you are in Hakuba. Snow tyres make driving manageable and having your own vehicle makes the whole trip significantly easier. Public transport around the valley is limited and we saw too many people walking along the side of the road with their gear.
When it was time to leave we caught the Nagano Snow Shuttle directly from Hakuba to Narita Airport, which was excellent - easy, comfortable and took the stress out of the departure day completely.
The kids loved every part of being in Hakuba. Playing in the snow right outside the door, metres of it without even going near a mountain. Skiing the forest run. Butt skiing. The cosplay. The foot spa. All of it.
When I asked them what their favourite part of Japan was - the cities, the food, Tokyo Disneyland - they both said Hakuba without hesitating. They had been looking forward to Disney for months. That is how good it was.
About the Author
Shelley Hasson is a Perth-based family travel specialist and founder of The Family Travel Studio, specialising in bucket list holidays for Australian families. Certified specialist in Japan, Hawaii, USA, Cook Islands, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Disney Cruises and Princess Cruises.
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