The ski and snowboard services and facilities at Lotte Arai are very well developed and of high quality. Expect to pay a little extra for most things. And for overnight guests, the amenities in the two hotel buildings of the Lotte Arai Resort Hotel are impressive and include a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, an onsen complex, a day spa, and a few shops.

Arai Ski and Snowboard Rental

The Salomon Station rental shop in the Village Station gondola building has a good range of modern ski and snowboard gear from, you guessed it, Salomon. The rental shop also has a decent range of fat skis that you're likely to need if you want to head into the heavenly deep powder at Lotte Arai. Waxing and equipment repairs are also available, although the likelihood of doing a core shot on a 5 metre snow base are pretty slim!

Lotte Arai Ski School and Snowboard School

Lotte Arai has an international ski school, Myoko Snowsports. Myoko Snowsports offer kids group lessons for ages 3 to 14 for skiing and ages 7 to 14 for snowboarding. Half day ski programs for ages 3 to 6 are available, whilst for 7 to 14 year olds, only full day programs are provided. The lessons are rather expensive but at least there is only a maximum of 4 per group.

For adults and older teens, only private ski and snowboard lessons are offered for which you’ll need to pay a premium. Beyond your standard lessons, options include a fresh tracks program and a freeride powder program that can include photography.

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Facilities for Children

Child care is available for 2 - 6 year olds at the Arai Resort Hotel. The babysitting is available for morning or afternoon sessions or both, but there's a 1.5 hour gap over lunch time. Spaces are limited so you would probably want to pre-book the child care.

Eating On Mountain

You certainly won't go hungry considering the large number of dining options on offer at Lotte Arai, and the food is amazing!

Sky Restaurant Zen is located at Zendana Station at the top of the Arai Gondola. It offers lovely views, but the chances of actually seeing anything but snow and clouds are not that high!

Down in the Village Station at the base of the gondola is a food court restaurant, offering lots of different ski resort cafeteria style dishes. The menu is the same at both cafeterias and expect to pay a little more compared to most other Japanese ski resorts, but the quality is also much better. Unfortunately the cafeterias only accept cash and they also have these really loud annoying buzzers to tell you when your food is ready, so having lunch on-mountain isn’t a particularly peaceful experience.

The base gondola building also houses a bakery café which does decent coffee.

In addition to the on-mountain eateries, you can ski-in to either of the hotel buildings where most of the restaurants are open for lunch or a mid-morning snack. The Arai Bakery has an abundance of temptingly naughty baked goods, or you can head to the lounge for coffee and something to eat (although the coffee isn't so good). Or there are more formal dining options including the western restaurant and an upscale Japanese restaurant.

Banking Facilities

Cash is hard to come by at Lotte Arai, but you won't need much because they accept credit card for most purchases except lunch at the on-mountain cafeterias.