The encyclopedia of skiing in Japan

Niseko is the resort that put Japanese powder on the map. Sitting on the flank of Mount Annupuri in western Hokkaido, it catches moisture-laden storms rolling off the Sea of Japan and turns them into some of the driest, deepest, most reliable snow on earth — an average of around 15 metres a season.

Hakuba is Japan's big-mountain valley. Where Hokkaido is all deep, mellow tree runs, Hakuba delivers genuine alpine scale — steep faces, high ridgelines and long descents beneath the jagged 3,000-metre peaks of the Northern Japanese Alps. It hosted the alpine and jumping events of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

Nozawa Onsen is the postcard version of a Japanese ski town: a single, surprisingly big mountain rising straight out of a thousand-year-old hot-spring village of narrow lanes, wooden inns and thirteen free public bathhouses. It is tradition and powder in one place.

Furano sits in the geographic centre of Hokkaido, far enough inland to escape the coastal wind and the international crowds. The reward is some of the driest, coldest, squeakiest powder in Japan and — remarkably for a resort this good — short lift lines and an authentic, working Japanese town at its base.

Rusutsu is Niseko's quieter neighbour, an hour to the east, and one of Japan's finest tree-skiing resorts. Three interconnected mountains — West, East and Mount Isola — deliver widely spaced birch glades, playful pillow lines and the same feather-light Hokkaido powder, usually with far shorter lift lines.

Kiroro records some of the highest snow totals in Japan and one of the longest seasons — often skiing well into May. Tucked in the mountains between Sapporo and Niseko, it stays quiet, with two peaks of mellow-to-steep terrain and reliable, deep powder.

Myoko Kogen is one of Honshu's snowiest and most historic ski areas, a cluster of resorts on the flanks of Mount Myoko in Niigata. It gets hammered by Japan Sea storms — annual totals rival Hokkaido — yet retains a nostalgic, unpolished charm and a strong onsen tradition.

Zao Onsen, in Yamagata, is one of Japan's most singular ski experiences. Freezing winds coat the mountain's fir trees in thick rime ice, creating the surreal 'juhyo' — snow monsters — that glow eerily under floodlights during Zao's famous night skiing.