Naeba Shopping

Naeba ski resort has various shopping opportunities, with several shops located within the Prince Hotel precinct. The nearby town of Naeba (Mikuni) also has a couple of shops, but you’re not likely to break the piggy bank in Naeba.

Naeba Ski Shops

The Prince Hotel has a few small ski and snowboard shops. They have mostly pretty daggy gear and an emphasis on accessories such as gloves, helmets, neck warmers and beanies. They have a little bit of inner layers and outer wear, and very little hardwear for sale. Instead, you might want to head to a good shop over at Kagura near the Mitsumata ropeway. The Powder Station has snowboard rental, a range of retail skis including powder skis, outerwear, and lots of backcountry accessories.

The ski and snowboard shops in the town of Naeba have mainly rental gear, and the quality of some of the equipment is dubious.

Souvenir Shopping & General Shopping Naeba

Inside the Prince Hotel are a few souvenir shops that sell pretty typical Japanese kitsch souvenirs, as well as a gift shop that specialises in sake. The Japanese also love food gifts to take to their work colleagues, so of course there are lots of food stuffs and gift confectionary for sale.

The Prince Hotel has a couple of convenience stores that sell snacks and beverages. There is also a pharmacy that has a reasonably comprehensive range of medications and other chemist goods. It is pretty expensive though, even if you just want to buy something simple like aspirin.

In the town of Naeba there are no brand name convenience stores like 7-Eleven or Lawson, but you can head to Souvenir Princess on the main street. It sells basic food such as noodles and snacks, alcohol and some souvenirs.

Sake Base Naeba (tel:0257881271) is also a good pitstop for alcohol including local sake, bread, pastries, other snacks and light meals.

Echigo-Yuzawa Shopping

If you’ve got some spare time when you go through the Echigo-Yuzawa train station, stop for a shop. Unlike a lot of souvenir shops in Japan, they actually have a large range of tasteful Japanese souvenirs and gorgeous decorations which are the complete antitheses of Hello Kitty paraphernalia. The train station has a market place where you can buy and taste Japanese snacks galore and then wash them down with some sake. Lots of different stalls sell sake, which naturally you have to try before you buy (!!), or there is a specific sake tasting area where you pay for the privilege.