Akakura is made up of two interconnected ski areas: Akakura Onsen Ski Resort to the lookers’ right; and Akakura Kanko ski resort aka Akakan to the lookers’ left. The combined Akakura Ski Resort is considered by many to be the resort of Myoko Kogen because it sits above the main village (Akakura Onsen) where most people stay, it is the largest of the Myoko ski areas, and it has the most well developed ski resort facilities and services. 

Pros and Cons of Akakura

Pros

• Myoko Akakura (the combined Akakura Onsen Ski Resort and Akakura Kanko) is the largest ski area of the Myoko Kogen ski resorts.
• There aren’t that many Japanese ski resorts with a proper village and Akakura Onsen is the largest and the only “real” village of Myoko Kogen. The Akakura Onsen village also has the most restaurants and bars of the Myoko Kogen villages.
• The Akakura Ski Resort is readily accessible from the Akakura Onsen village.
• The lift infrastructure at Akakan is good.
• Like the other main Myoko ski areas, it generally receives abundant snow.
• Akakura is very well suited to beginners and intermediate riders.
• Akakura Kanko offers some very good slackcountry and backcountry access.
• A reputable English speaking ski school and child care facility is based here.

Cons

• As is common with most Japanese ski resorts, there is very little in the way of challenging piste terrain and much of the off-piste is not particularly steep (although it’s pitchier than Ikenotaira).
• Ski patrol are becoming progressively antsy about off-piste skiing (particularly if it involves crossing a lift line).

Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective

• Akakura caters very well to gaijin with group ski lessons and child care with English speaking staff, many of the restaurants have English menus, and many of the lodgings have various staff that speak English. Akakura is still a cute little village with plenty of Japanese vibe, but associated with the Anglophone benefits comes a small loss of the traditional Japanese-ness of the place. Similarly Akakura is becoming progressively more popular, so freshies are harder to come by.

Myoko Akakura Ski Areas

“Myoko Akakura” refers to the two adjacent ski areas of Akakura Onsen and Akakura Kanko. There are large signs in English that make the demarcation between the two areas very obvious. You can purchase a lift ticket for one or the other resort, or for a few more yen, you can purchase the Akakura Kanko/Onsen combined pass. This is particularly handy if your Myoko accommodation is much closer to one of the areas but you want to ride the other.

See the Akakura skiing page for more information.

Akakura Snow

Like the rest of Myoko Kogen, Akakura has a reputation for scoring lots of pow. For the 2018-19 season Myoko received a whopping 17 metres (671”) of snow for the season! With respect to quality, the Akakura snow is generally very good to excellent rather than being phenomenal (like Central Hokkaido).

Where is Akakura?

Akakura is really the hub of the Myoko Kogen area for visitors. The Akakura Kanko base area is 4.3km from the Myokokogen train station and town, whilst the Akakura Onsen Ski Resort base area is another 0.9km up the road.

The two ski resorts sit on the eastern flank of the dominating Mt Myoko (Akakura Onsen ski area sits on Maruyama, a foot hill).

Ikenotaira Ski Resort sits 3.5km south of Akakura whilst Seki Onsen is directly to the north, although it’s about a 30 minute drive to get there.

Myoko Kogen is located in the Niigata Prefecture close to the Nagano Prefecture, and the city of Nagano is only 31km to the south. See the travel to Myoko Kogen page for more information on the location of Myoko and options to get there.

Akakura Accommodation

Most visitors to Myoko Kogen stay in the Akakura villages, in either the lower village of Akakura Kanko (Shin Akakura) or Akakura Onsen (slightly further up the hill). There’s no obvious delineation between the two village areas, which are interconnected via the cute main street.

Akakura Onsen Accommodation - Upper Village Listings

Akakura Kanko Accommodation - Lower Village Listings