2012 Cherry Blossom Season Coming Soon!

According to the current forecasts, the cherry blossoms are expected to open according to their average schedule or slightly delayed in 2012. The blossoms are forecast to start opening across wide areas of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu in late March and reach full bloom in early April.

Hanami is an important Japanese custom and is held all over Japan in spring. Hanami literally means viewing flowers, but it generally indicates cherry blossom viewing. It’s said that the origin of hanami dates back to more than one thousand years ago when aristocrats enjoyed looking at beautiful cherry blossoms and wrote poems.

Nowadays, people in Japan have fun viewing cherry blossoms, drinking and eating. It is like a picnic under the trees. People bring home-cooked meals, do BBQ, or buy take-out food for hanami.

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*For more information on Cherry Blossom Tours, please contact us.

Kusatsu onsen (Gunma-Prefecture)

If you visit Kusatsu onsen (Hot Springs) in Gunma Prefecture; which is one of the most famous hot spring resorts in Japan; our recommendation is to do all your sightseeing and skiing first, as once you soak yourself in the Kusatsu famous steaming hot spring, you will not have enough energy to do anything else but relax and sleep…

2012 Sapporo Snow Festival

The world famous Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo Japan starts Feb. 6th to Feb 12th. About two million people come to Sapporo every year to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which line Odori Park,the grounds at Community Dome Tsudome, and the main street in Susukino.

Japan may be the Skiing World’s best-kept Secret!

With some of the most reliable snow any-where, Japan may be the Skiing World’s best-kept secret – the perfect place to combine some world-class skiing with an exotic vacation. Japan offers stunning mountains vistas, kilometres of perfectly groomed runs at all levels of difficulty, along with gnarly mogul runs, snowboard parks, friendly locals and great food. There also great off-piste skiing, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and let’s not forgot Japan’s incredible variety of hot springs baths (onsen) for that all-important apres-ski soak.

Japan’s best ski resorts are found in the Japan Alps regions of Central Honshu (Nagano & Niigata Prefecture) and on the northern island of Hokkaido. The former lays claim to the highest mountains, while the latter has the deepest and most regular snow. Both regions offer first-class skiing. If you’re interested in doing some sightseeing in cities, like Kyoto, Nara and Tokyo in addition to your skiing, you might consider hitting the resorts in the Japan Alps. If skiing is your main goal, then Hokkaido might be the best way to go.

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The 2011-2012 Ski Season is here, and we are pleased to offer various 1-3 days Ski Packages from Tokyo, both Bullet Train (Shinkansen) or Flight Packages are available.

• Hokkaido (Rusutsu) 3 Days Ski Packages (Including round trip Flights to Hokkaido) 
• Mt. Fuji (Snow Town Yeti) 1 Day Ski Packages (Including Return Bullet Train Tickets) 
• Niigata (Gala Yuzawa / Joetsu Kokusai) 1 ~ 2 Day Ski Packages (Including Return Bullet Train Tickets) 

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Please contact us for more information.

Japan Snow Resorts

This Japan Snow Report video shows some of Japan’s most famous Ski Resorts including: (Hakuba-Nagano), (Naeba-Niigata) (Niseko-Hokkaido)

Japanese Oshogatsu, or New Years Holiday

Oshogatsu, or New Years Holiday (Dec 30th to Jan 4th), in Japan is always one of the most important holiday events, where families get together, clean their house from top to bottom, inside and outside, send New Year post cards, eat Oshogatsu food and visit their local temple to celebrate the new year by ringing the bell.

Correction – Bluefin fetches record $736,000 in Tokyo Fish Auction!

A bluefin tuna has netted $736,000 in Tokyo’s ceremonial first fish auction of 2012. The president of a Japanese sushi restaurant chain paid out the record sum. (Jan. 5) http://goo.gl/4oeU3

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