Just this last weekend (April 1-3), Jonathan and I went skiing (and snowboarding, woo hoo!) in Naeba in Niigata. It's pretty far north of where we live. We went with the Tokyo Outdoor Club. We took a bus overnight from Tokyo to Naeba and arrived in Naeba very cramped and sleepy at about 6:30am. We hit the slopes at 8am and skiied until evening. It was so beautiful! The weather was really warm. It made the snow a bit slushy, but still pretty good conditions. We stayed in a hostel-esque lodge area near the mountain.