Japan is one of the most distinctive ski countries on earth, and Mr. Alps now covers around 500 Japanese destinations, from famous international resorts to tiny local hills. Here is a factual starting map for the big names, each linking to a live page with stats, maps and conditions.
Hokkaido
Niseko United is the flagship of the north island: about 60 km of pistes served by 29 lifts on the slopes of Mount Niseko-Annupuri, with the top lift at 1,176 m. Nearby sit Rusutsu (around 32 km, 18 lifts) and Kiroro (about 26 km). In central Hokkaido, Furano offers roughly 26 km of pistes, and Tomamu about 23 km.
Nagano
The Hakuba valley hosted Olympic events in 1998 and is really a chain of separate areas. Hakuba Happo One is the centrepiece with about 31 km of pistes and 22 lifts up to 1,829 m. Around it: Hakuba Goryu, Hakuba 47 and Hakuba Iwatake, each with its own page and character.
Elsewhere in Nagano, Nozawa Onsen pairs about 43 km of pistes with one of the country''s best-known hot-spring villages, and the vast Shiga Kogen plateau is covered on Mr. Alps as its individual linked ski areas.
Niigata and Yamagata
In Niigata, Naeba runs about 20 km of pistes with 14 lifts, and the Myoko area is anchored by Myoko Suginohara (top lift 1,857 m) and Akakura Kanko. In Yamagata, Zao Onsen combines roughly 40 km of pistes and 35 lifts with another historic onsen town.
The Japanese season is a northern-hemisphere winter season, so these pages come alive from roughly December onward. Meanwhile they already carry maps, stats and nearby activities, and Japan is exactly the kind of country where the Mr. Alps philosophy applies: hundreds of small local hills matter as much as the famous names. All of them are in the directory.