Becoming a Ski Bum in Japan: Ja-Pow Adventures in Hakuba and Tsugaike, Nagano
Powder-filled days and onsen nights
It was early December 2020. My contract as an English teacher at a Japanese university was near its end, and the new contract wasn’t scheduled to start until April. I couldn’t leave Japan because the borders were closed at the time due to a global pandemic. So, that left me with four months of time to fill.
A friend of mine, another teacher at the university, had previously been a ski instructor in Hakuba, Nagano prefecture. He shared stories about his life on the slopes — care-free moments cascading down hills, surrounded by powdery snow. It occurred to me that perhaps I too could spend the entire winter at a ski lodge in a picturesque Japanese winter town.
Facebook has a group dedicated to travellers seeking accommodation, seasonal employment, shred gear, parties, and anything Hakuba related. Upon joining the group, I was quickly connected with the owner of a ski lodge who offered me lodging for the entire winter season.
In 2020, many business owners in Hakuba anticipated a significant decrease in the number of visitors. Consequently, this created opportunities for affordable or even free lodging.
Staying at the lodge was a dream come true — a spacious, wooden house infused with traditional Japanese charm, featuring tatami mat flooring and shoji doors. The lodge, owned by Australian, hosted a diverse group of guests from the UK, USA, Romania, Australia, and of course, Japan.
Each guest at the lodge had a season’s pass for Tsugaike Kogen Ski Resort. In Nagano’s Northern Alps, there are 10 ski resorts worth visiting: Happo-One, Goryu, Hakuba 47, Iwatake, Tsugaike, Cortina, Norikura, Kashimayari, Sanosaka, and Jigatake.
Our lodge was a short walk away from the gondola at Tsugaike. I visited a couple of the other ski resorts by bus, but because Tsugaike has such a wide range of terrain, breathtaking views of the scenic alpine landscape, and a range of facilities, I was perfectly content to spend nearly every day exploring everything Tsugaike has to offer.
I acquired my ski and snowboarding equipment at a great deal from Book-Off Super Bazaar, a massive secondhand store in Japan that seems to stock everything. Along with purchasing a ski jacket, snow pants, boots, a set of skis, hats, gloves, and a neck warmer — I also scored a brand-new surfboard still wrapped in plastic for the half price the original price.
After one month of skiing, my knees took a toll from the strain of frequent turns and jumps on the diverse mountain terrains. Fortunately, the lodge had a snowboard and extra pair of boots in my size for me to borrow. I then embarked on my second month, January, transitioning to a new adventure as a snowboarder.
Learning to snowboard came quickly — given the abundance of powder, an uncrowded mountain, and no lines at the gondolas. I was feeling confident that snowboarding in Japan was the perfect escape during a pandemic, especially since we rarely met people outside of our lodge bubble.
Despite having a small social group, we threw the best parties at the lodge. The spacious kitchen and living room areas served as the perfect chill-out spot for drink after a full day on the slopes, and the pool table provided hours of fun.
My absolute favourite thing to do after a day of navigating through the snow was strolling to the local onsen in Tsugaike for a soothing bath. Onsens in Japan are natural hot spring bathhouses known for their tranquil and therapeutic ambiance.
It’s true that entering the bath requires being fully unclothed. This was not awkward, but it brought a genuine sense of freedom and connection to nature.
That winter, in Tsugaike, the bath was often blissfully empty. The bathhouse featured an indoor pool and an outdoor pool. The most remarkable feeling was in the outside pool, where I was surrounded by scenic landscapes — steam rising from the hot water, a cascading hot waterfall maintaining a gentle motion, snowflakes gracefully descending into the tub, and the snow-covered trees overhead occasionally showering heaps of snow into the water.
As the winter months unfolded in Tsugaike, each fresh snow-laden day became a new chapter in an exhilarating journey. Traversing the powdery slopes with only a small social group prompted me to become more comfortable with solitude. There were moments when no companions joined me in learning to snowboard, leading me to fully immerse myself in nature and face the elements alone.
In the quiet moments after each day’s adventure, I found a unique sanctuary in the soothing embrace of the onsen’s waters.
What started as a response to unforeseen circumstances during a pandemic transformed into a journey as a ski bum, evolving into a delicate balance between tranquility and exploration.
