This was the 2nd time we’d visited Nekoma as part of a multi-day tour of Tohoku, and we enjoyed the ski area even more than the last time. A couple of the steep groomers were a bit of fun, and we got to explore off-piste a bit more and experience many more options for tree lines. We also did a couple of short hikes to get slightly steeper and longer lines (the runs still mellow out rather quickly).

It hadn’t snowed in a few days and we got to experience one of Nekoma’s advantages over ski resorts such as Inawashiro; the northerly aspect and the resultant superior snow quality.

Nekoma is definitely worth a visit for a day or two whilst you’re exploring the Mt Bandai area.
See our video here

We visited Nekoma for one day as part of a Powder Odyssey Tour and had plenty of fun in the trees where there were soooo many fresh lines of powder, some that were accessed with a quick traverse, and others required a very short hike. We visited on a weekday and we had the place to ourselves, which was absolute bliss. It’s seems so rare to be able to experience such serenity at a Japanese ski resort these days.

One day was probably enough to explore Nekoma as it’s not very big and it was made smaller by the patrollers closing some of the black runs due to cracks. In typical Japanese fashion, this is the way they control avalanche risk rather than actually actively managing it.

The ski resort was delightfully simple which is just the way we like it, sans flashiness. We stayed at the Urabandai Royal Hotel just down the road, and we loved the traditional Japanese experience, the soaks in the great onsen, and the Japanese buffet meals.
See our video here