Where is Okuna Kayama Kogen?

Okunakayama Kogen is located on the eastern flank of Nishidake in the Iwate Prefecture. The Okunakayama Kogen Ski Resort is 97km south of the Misawa Air Base, about 52km north of Morioka, and within easy driving distance of Appi and the Hachimantai ski resorts. 

Driving to Okuna Kayama Kogen

If you’re not on a multi-resort guided tour where your guide does all the driving for you, you’ll want to have a car to get to Okunakayama Kogen because it’s not really a destination ski resort, but rather one to include on a road trip. It’s an easy drive to Okunakayama Kogen and there are no steep pitches or winding mountain passes. The telephone number for GPS navigation is 0195-35-3131.

If coming from the south, the ski resort is about 50 minutes north on National Route 4 from the Takizawa Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway. If driving to Okunakayama from the north, it’s approximately 40 minutes south on National Route 4 from the Ichinohe Interchange on the Hachinohe Expressway.

Parking at the base of the ski hill is free.

Train & Shuttle to Okunakayama Kogen

The ski resort provides shuttles from the local train station at Okunakayama Kogen, which is about 10 minutes away by bus from the ski resort. See Japan Travel Navitime for routes and timetables. For many routes you’ll need to get onto the local train line from shinkansen stations such as Morioka or Iwate Numakunai. 

Other Ski Resorts Nearby

The Hachimantai Tayama Ski Resort is 35km northwest of Okunakayama Kogen. It’s a little peewee of a ski resort with 2 courses and 2 lifts, and it doesn’t get a lot of snow and it’s not high elevation, but it’s north facing and has a pretty steep pitch. Keep your eye on this ski-jo for some storm skiing when a dump comes in, because it’s likely that competition for fresh lines would be minimal – even less than Okunakayama Kogen if that’s possible.

Sonei Kunohe is 47km northeast. This is another tiny ski resort, and it’s mellow and at low elevation.

Appi Kogen is 39km to the southwest. This ski resort should need no introduction.

Hachimantai Panorama is 42km to the southwest whilst Hachimantai Shimokura is 43km southwest, with the latter being the pick of the two for powder hounds.