Japan’s Snow Country

More than a Locale for Winter Sports

Welcome back to another installment of Japan area guides. As always, we’ll be going deep so that you, the reader, can experience a region of rural Japan without worry. In today’s post, we’ll be examining a slice of Japan that goes by the moniker of Snow Country. Spread across a wide swath of mountainous terrain that spans Niigata, Nagano, and Gunma Prefectures, this area of Japan sees a shocking amount of snow every year. In fact, snow plays such a critical role to this part of Japan that activities of the remainder of the year all center around preparing for winter.

Now, if you turn to Google to learn more about Snow Country, you’re bound to get a bit confused. You see, even the ever-reliable Wikipedia is plagued by what can only be described as an extremely vague entry. Indeed, after looking over the literature, I still cannot make out what exactly constitutes Snow Country as it seems like there are competing definitions. For the purposes of my article, I’ll opt to go with the Snow Country Tourist Association’s definition which includes the six towns of Uonuma, Minami Uonuma, Yuzawa, Tokamachi, Tsunan, Minakami, and Sakae.

When it comes to the slopes of Yuzawa, Snow Country is well known internationally as a renowned getaway for skiers and snowboarders. In fact, the region’s famous GALA Yuzawa…