A Comprehensive Ski Resort Guide to Myoko Kogen Ski Resort. A great ski resort near Tokyo.

A Comprehensive Ski Resort Guide to Myoko Kogen Ski Resort. A great ski resort near Tokyo.

We are in Milco Kogan. This is located in the Niagata Prefecture and it is the place that is known for its winter activities and of course we are here for skiing. This place is connected to many ski resorts just like Hakuba where you have uh various ski resorts located in the area and uh also similar to Nikico. We are in the town called Akakura on sanden and uh this is the biggest uh town area um that connects to the various ski resorts. From this place you can also gain access to uh some ski fields in Nago. In this video we’ll tell you how we got here about the various uh ski resorts in the Myoko ski area about the town Akakura Onsen where we are staying. of course the FnB options which is uh really important to us as well as the some tips and learnings uh from our experience here. We have been making a couple of ski videos and if you like this kind of content uh and would like to see more topics uh included in our future videos do drop us a comment and let us know so that we can create uh better content for you in the future. [Music] Let’s talk about how to get to Milco Hogan. From Tokyo, you take a Shinkansen to Nagago. The journey takes less than 2 hours and from Nagago station you change to a local train. The local train will take you to Milco Kogan station. The journey is about 45 minutes and is a local train which stops at uh various stops and um at Kogan station uh that’s where you have to find your way to Akura on sand. If you are staying in Akura Kura and Sanos uh make the arrangement with your hotels uh to get a transfer most hotels will provide the uh transfer from Yukogen station to the hotel. If they do not do that then uh you can call for a taxi service and um there are a number of taxis are actually in front of the station but of course uh we will advise you to pre-book that service. Uh other than this too you can also get the shutter bus. There is a very limited uh service shutter bus that uh uh departs Mukogen uh terminal uh to Aokura on sand. However, you have to uh read out and watch for the timing because it might not coincide with your time of arrival at the station. My recommendation is to look for hotels that offer the pickup service because uh at this point uh the services coming from Yoko Kogan station to Akura and Sen are not that developed. You would uh be best served if your hotel does provide this service. The distance from Milk Hogan to Akura Anzen is about 10 minutes 10 to 15 minutes. It is a pretty short ride. Placing yourself in Akura onen is pretty good idea. Um you have uh pretty good access to the various uh ski resorts in the Myoko ski area. Um there are I think essentially five bigger resorts that we would expect most people to go but I think in total there are like eight resorts. So the five major ones are like um Suginohara which is uh the one with I guess the longest ski run I think in Japan uh 8.5 km. Sugino was our favorite resort in the area. For one, it was a bluebird day when we visited, which always lifts our mood. The piece are long and wide, really good for practicing your turns. It has five lifts and 17 runs with the longest being 8.5 km long. Their slopes are 40% beginner, 40% intermediate, and 20% expert. [Music] If you’re staying in Akura onsen, getting to the ski lift is easy. Access to the ski slopes are just off the main street and a short walk from the nearest shuttle bus stop. Their slopes are 50% beginner, 40% intermediate, and 10% advanced. There are 14 lifts, 17 runs with the longest run being 1.5 km long. [Music] Akakura Kangko, also known as Akakan, is located just beside Akakura Onsen. It is possible to ski from Akakura Onsen to Akakan, and a joint lift ticket for both resorts are available. The runs are a bit longer on average than in Akakura Onsen, and intermediate to advanced skiers can get more challenging runs higher on the mountain. Their slopes are 40% beginner, 30% intermediate, and 30% advanced. They have 10 runs with the longest being 4.5 km long. [Music] Ekeno Tira was a surprise for us. We did not expect it to be as good as it was. Its central area has a long wide slope which was a delight to ski. Ikeno Taur is also supposed to have a great snow park, one of the best in Japan. It has six lifts, 10 runs, and the longest run being 4 km long. The slopes are 40% beginner, 45% intermediate, and 15% expert. So, a lot of the ski resorts that we’ve been to here are very, I guess, friendly for the beginner, intermediate skier. Uh, as intermediate skiers, we were able to ski most of the mountain. So, if you are at I guess a similar level, you have a lot of uh I guess options here. and a lot of opportunity to improve your skiing. Another big uh resort here is uh Lote Arai. Um that is actually slightly further away. I think about an hour shuttle bus ride from uh Akakura Onen village. Um from what we hear quite a lot of off-piece uh terrain there. So that’s more I guess for advanced if you want to uh you know go off piece uh or uh you know onto the black slopes. Um there are some uh intermediate and beginner slopes over here. It’s not not that many not that many. But uh um the resort is supposed to be the veil of Japan. Uh if you are into the pits and glamour and want to know how uh the veil of Japan looks like uh is a good thing to uh take a look at it. Yeah. So you can stay there of course but the accommodation there are is a lot more expensive. Um I think at this part of time is still uh uh not so heavily invested by foreigners but we hear that even some Singaporean consortium is starting to pour money into the area. So uh it might get a bit more of course developed but it might get a bit more pricey as well. Besides the ski resorts in Nihi Gaka that is uh nearby uh you can also get access to uh two Nago ski resorts uh Madaro Kogan and uh Tangram. Uh we’ve been to Madal before and we’ve done a a a video on Madaro. So watch that video here. And uh yeah and the other one is um Tangram which is very close by to Madora as well. Um I think there are just a a shuttle bus ride away. Yeah. So this place provides you the easy access uh to so many ski areas. Therefore we think that uh if you want to come to Milk Kogan to ski, you want to uh even ski in uh the two Nagano ski resorts, uh Akura on sand is definitely the place to base yourself in. You can get around Akokura on sand uh via a free shutter bus. There are all together four shutter bus stops in the town area. You will be able to find this bus uh coming around starting from 8:00 8:00 a.m. in the morning. Um the service is uh stops at 10:30 a.m. on a weekday. Um, and I think it continues what? In the afternoon, I think about 100 p.m. starts up again. Yeah. [Music] Where would you want to stay in when you are in this area? Uh, our recommendation will be to stay near to the shutter bus stops. That would allow you to be able to hop on and off the free shutter bus service. But if possible, do stay near the central bus uh bus station. Uh it is very conveniently located at the end of the street where all the restaurants and shops are. And of course uh if you’re near to the central bus uh station to get access to the buses to all the different uh ski resorts. [Music] Getting to Akakura Kenko is easy as the free shuttle bus that gets you around Akura onen also makes a stop at Akakura Kenko. If you want to venture out to the other skills which is the uh Sugino Har as well as EO Tra u there is a shuttle bus uh but it’s paid shuttle bus. It will uh depart from the bus terminal area uh just in front of the post office and um the service is uh 1,000 yen per way. It takes about like 15 to 25 minutes to get to these two uh uh ski resorts. It is uh pretty easy uh to to board these buses uh because you will be able to see signages in front of the bus to say where they are going and you just pay in cash to the driver. The driver will also give you change if you have a larger note. Well, there’s some FnB options here. Um we have uh tried this uh I guess a ery called Mr. Burger and they serve like a more traditional Japanese hamburger. Japanese style hamburger. So by Japanese style hamburger it is a well we can link it to maybe more like a moss burger. It is not so sinful. It’s more clean looking. Uh not so oily. Different different type of concept. Yes. And we we’ve also tried the uh Aussie version which is uh a burger restaurant called Calico. Um a lot more I guess uh modern than Mr. Burger uh which is a bit more homely. This one Calico is a bit more like almost like a P looking place. Yeah, the burgers were actually very good. Uh very decadent. Uh very nice. So if you’re interested in hamburgers, you can get to try both types in traditional Japanese as well as western. We also went to this place called uh Shibata. Would you consider that a isakaya? No, I think it is just a local restaurant. So Shibata serves uh a lot of uh local cuisine uh dishes such as kasudon, which is what we took. I think they also serve ramen if I’m not wrong. But they have uh yakiriku and uh um it was pretty good. The ambiance is nice and um cozy. I did enjoy the uh katsudon. I felt that it was really flavorful. Uh very nicely uh marinated. Yeah, I think restaurants are popping up as well. Uh new restaurants. Uh we went to one called Ichigo. Ichigoya. Chigoya which just happened to open like 4 days before the date we went there. Uh so when we were doing some research before we came here to look for dining options that wasn’t even in the list. So when you by the time you get here it could be more eeries uh open as well and we had some uh I guess Wagu Wagu beef. Y yeah it was uh also a very nice cozy place. It’s uh very new. So the the feeling of newness is definitely there. But I understand that they are expanding and uh by next season I’m sure it’ll be a different look and feel. Yeah. And I think the the owner is friendly. He came around to speak to every table. So uh I guess very nice and friendly uh hospitality there. The other place that we ate was uh Udon and uh that was a very nice traditional uh udon place that’s been in Akura on sanden for quite a number of years. It was very very traditional. It’s almost as if we were eating in someone’s uh dining room. Uh not a lot of seating. Uh but the udon was really really good. Um we had the uh I had a miso miso udon and the miso sauce was like really really nice. It’s a bit soup base, very rich and flavorful. Um, I had the traditional udon, I guess, noodle. Uh, well, she had a different version. Uh, I guess a regional specialtity. What was it called? Kishim. So, that is like uh more like a flat noodle. To me, it tastes more like uh the the texture is like to me like uhohan. But it’s quite nice. I liked it. Yeah. And um the other restaurants that we will be going to uh would be um one is isakaya and the isakaya is serving uh n cho nab. Changon nab which is a hot pot uh from Hokkaido area and uh they have also I think grilled grilled uh items yakiniku or something like that. Uh but we are going for the Chakunab and uh another restaurant um that we have already made a reservation is uh called Grill Grill E N. Yeah, they do serve burgers as well. I guess for food choices, uh there aren’t a lot, but um it’s sufficient. If you stay here for a week, uh you definitely be able to find uh one to try each day. However, advanced reservation is really needed. In case we have not stressed this enough, dining reservations is a must because uh you were to just walk in uh chances are you will not be able to find a seat for yourself. And uh what we did was to come here on the first day and make uh the reservations for the rest of the nights for our stay. And uh for some of the restaurants it can be so popular that it’s fully booked even for one week. Um do make the nighting reservation otherwise it will be very very difficult for you to find uh the restaurant of your choice. Yeah. So take a look uh take a walk down the the main street look at all of the restaurants see what catches your fancy and then make a reservation in advance. if you don’t have your own ski equipment. Um there’s also quite a few uh equipment rental shops here. I’m actually a bit surprised at the number of equipment rental shops. Uh I guess relative to the size of this small village. So not to worry if you don’t have your own skis or snowboards or even maybe uh winter gear. uh just uh random here in uh Akokura onen. There is one uh main convenience store which is uh Yamazaki and um this is not open 24 hours. It’s open until 9:00 p.m. Uh it is a pretty well stocked uh uh convenience store. Uh and I think you can get most of the things here. Yeah, I think you get a similar vibes from Boston and 7-Eleven. So, you got your usual convenience store items as well as ice cream and uh uh small bites as well. Uh okay. Uh besides that, they also have a bottle shop uh which sells I guess your usual alcoholic drinks. Thank you for watching this video. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. Ring the notification bell below so that you will be notified of our new videos and watch our other videos here. See you in the next video.

Myoko Kogen Ski Resort is a gem. Great snow and not too commercialized at this point. This video is a comprehensive ski resort guide to the resort and a must see for anyone planning their next ski trip to Japan.

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Video Chapters ⏱️
0:00 – Introduction
1:38 – How to get to Myoko Kogen
3:19 – Myoko Ski Resorts
7:06 – Nearby Ski Resorts
9:14 – Getting Around Akakura Onsen
9:54 – Where to Stay in Akakura Onsen
10:30 – Transport to Other Ski Resorts
11:37 – Dining Options in Akakura Onsen
16:44 – Ski Rentals
17:12 – Convenience Store