I don't know about Shiga/Hakuba/Nozawa, but the cheese factory in Furano is pretty good... If not freezing...

Good read that thanks folks.

You are welcome.

just for the sake of it

I think that was a good write-up thanks for sharing.

Will be interesting to see how your Tohoku trip stacks up

Hello

Really interested to read about your trip. Did you organise it all yourself? How did it work out in terms of prices?

Thinking of doing a similar thing myself next year but its a bit daunting!

Jack

Hi sendittojack, thanks, glad you liked it.

We organised it totally ourselves 100%.

I can't quite remember the full cost but it wasn't too bad at all, I will have to go back over things for that but got to admit that we weren't penny pinching.

What I would say though - don't be daunted, don't be overwhelmed.
Look on it as an adventure and a fun one.

If you want to go to Japan and speak English all the time, thats fine.
But we totally didn't want to do that, what a waste of an experience.

Contact a load of accommodation places directly - good links on this site (see that big red button at the top).
We went for Japanese-style Japanese-run places because we weren't interested in the gaijin crowd and we wanted to have that something different and really feel like we were in Japan. (You probably got that from our write-up).
The ones listed even Japanese will get back to you in English, give it a try write fairly easy to understand stuff.

Good luck - don't be put off by things, make it a real adventure! You have found the right place, spend time reading up reading reviews, etc. You've got lots of time, sit back and enjoy finding out.

Would you be able to give a quick idea of your itinerary? If you could that would be great, just to give me some kind of launching pad!

Thanks

Jack

OK will do early next week jack-san

Sorry for the delay a bit of a busy week.

Here's basically what we did.

Contact hotels directly in simple English.

Get that all planned.

Nagano City > Hakuba = bus, easy enough.
Hakuba > Nagano City = bus, easy enough.
Nagano City > Shiga Kogen = bus.
Shiga Kogen > Snow Monkeys = accommodation bus.
Snow Monkeys > Nozawa Onsen = accommodation bus.
Nozawa Onsen > Nagano City = bus.

All quite simple really. You will probably find that good accommodatiuon will be very flexible and helpful with travel advice and actually taking you places (see Snow Monkeys bit)

Tokyo <> Nagano City is easy because it is the shinkansen bullet train.

That's the basics of it!

Thank you very much for the information.

Jack

Yes, very good info....thank you

I've just come across this thread, i'm planning a 2/3 trip to Japan this Jan 09 on my tod, hoping to hit a few resorts and have an adventure.

I'll have to get back to the beginning and read it through when i've got more time.

Anyone else planning on a trip this coming season ?

Bring it on !!

What dates will you be in Japan and will you be in Niseko? I will be there for the first week of February 2009.

I arrive into Tokyo 14th January spend 4 nights there then go to Hakuba for a month, i will go to Niseko but i don't have any definate plans when i will go.

Are you just there for the week ?

Have you booked anything yet ?

Can anyone throw some light on the many rail passes that i seem to be finding? Im in japan for 2 months from jan and i need a pass to cover me for most of that time. ive been told that when you buy it befor you get into the country its a third of the price???

yeah the JR Rail Pas is only available to foreign tourists who buy it before they come to Japan, if you are gonna ride the train a lot, including the shinkansen, then its well worth getting it!

or wallas, you should go to niesko first and then Hakuba, that's what i'll be doing anyway

I should but i cannae, i'm all booked up :(

10 weeks till i leave for Thailand

12 weeks till i arrive in Japan

Are you all booked up ?

It's all too far away !!!

28th Dec i leave London

15th Jan i arrive Tokyo