The best ski resorts in Japan for beginners
Looking for a gentle first ski trip in Japan? Here are our top 6, chosen for wide, easy terrain and a resort built around first-timers rather than one that merely tolerates them, with the map and each resort's guide.
Karuizawa Prince Snow Resort
58% of the terrain is graded beginner, at a small resort built for exactly that, right at the Shinkansen station.
Read the Karuizawa Prince Snow Resort guide
Tsugaike Kogen
50% beginner terrain, the valley's clearest answer for beginners and families, reached by the 4.1km Eve Gondola.
Read the Tsugaike Kogen guide
Adatara Kogen
A small, groomed, easy-going Fukushima resort with one of the cheapest lift passes on this site, built for families and improving skiers rather than experts, plus a kids' park with a snow escalator.
Read the Adatara Kogen guide
Sapporo Teine
The lower Olympia zone is built around families and beginners: broad groomed trails, a kids' park and tubing.
Read the Sapporo Teine guide
Zao Onsen
40% of the terrain is graded beginner, on Tohoku's biggest resort.
Read the Zao Onsen guide
Yuzawa Kogen
Gentle terrain, mostly aimed at beginners and early intermediates, with nothing here to trouble a confident skier for long.
Read the Yuzawa Kogen guide