I visited Akakan during a series of snowstorms and the terrain was so appealing!! But I was quite disappointed at this resort because most of its terrain is roped-off. You can certainly go sidecountry, but as I did not have avy equipment and a ski buddy, I had to remain inbounds, with very limited off-piste options
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staying in the area and this was the closest resort.spent 2 days here - 1 groomer day which got a bit boring by lunchtime and 1 pow day which was awesome. lots of side piste and off piste stuff but beware the ski patrol will pull you if you venture somewhere they don't want you to go . we got stopped for crossing under lift (hotel quad#3) to access some trees and had our lift ticket clipped when we got back to the lift with the warning that if we get caught again we would lose our pass. we saw others getting pulled and some losing their pass. if the snow is good this is a great resort but abit meh if no fresh snow. no lift queues apart from the gondola at the bottom but all the bit bits are near the top of the hill so no need to frequent the gondola.
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This was the 3rd time over a 5 year period that we have visited the Akakura Onsen village and its associated ski resorts. The essence of Akakura Onsen was still pretty much the same (and the village didn’t look as run down as it used to), but there has been a significant influx of foreigners visiting the town and the ski areas.

Akakura still has plenty of strengths (see the overview page for our thoughts on the pros and cons), but it was much busier (especially on weekends) and fresh powder wasn’t quite as easy to score as it once was. Ski patrol were much stricter which lead to the con of potentially losing the lift pass (we saw this happen to a few people), but the pro of getting freshies if you can be super discrete. It was a bit tricky to figure out what ski patrol were cool with, but it seemed that heading outside the resort boundaries was OK – just not crossing under a lift.

On this visit, Akakura showed its true colours by providing us with a 50cm dump from a storm from the NW. The powder was very light and decidedly delicious, and whilst we had to fossick around a little bit, we scored plenty of freshies!
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Getting to the two ski resorts was incredibly easy from our little ryokan in the upper Akakura village. Not having to catch a shuttle bus to go skiing was the first bonus of this ski area.

Akakura is a great spot for powder hounds considering the abundant snowfall and lack of crowds. We visited over the New Year holidays, the busiest time of the season, and there were still very few punters fighting for the freshies.

Akakura has some nice mellow trees but it has a few terrain limitations for powder chasers. The only steep terrain doesn’t follow the fall line and quickly dips into gullies, and at Akakan the top lift is way too low. In some respects it’s a shame that some of the fantastic backcountry terrain isn’t lift serviced, but for those who want to hike (you’ll absolutely need snowshoes or skins), the rewards are sweet.

The lack of “resortification” of Akakura is a huge plus, as is the lack of gaijin. The little village still feels like the “real Japan” (albeit very run down in places), the locals are incredibly friendly, and the restaurants and izakaya vibe adds to the whole experience.
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