100 things to know before you travel in Japan

If you are traveling in winter around Tokyo area and want to try one-day skiing, the easist way is to go to Gala Yuzawa (http://www.gala.co.jp/). You can get there in 80-90 minutes by Shinkansen, then you can get on the ski gondola from the train station! Of course there is a locker room in the train station so that you can change your cloths to ski wear. Also, there is a rental ski, wear, and snowboard shop there too. The convinience is amazing. You just go there early morning without carrying anything, and enjoy one-day skiing, then get on a train back to Tokyo in the evening.

If you want to go skiing for more than a day, still the best way to go is by Shinkansen. The trick is that find the ski place which is close from a Shinkansen train station. It's because Shinkansen is very fast to get there but some ski resorts are like 2 hours from there by bus or local train. These bus or local train could be running every 2 hours, or sometimes not running due to weather or something. So, make sure where you are going is close from any Shinkansen station, such as Karuizawa or Echigoyuzawa.

http://www.skijapanguide.com/