Naeba Ski Resort

Naeba is the great survivor of Japan's 1980s ski boom: a single enormous hotel at the foot of Mt. Takenoko, slopes lit for night skiing, and a scale of lifts and runs that once drew a million visitors a winter from Tokyo. The mountain still offers wide, long groomed trails and a steep upper section, and the Dragondola — one of the longest gondolas in the world — swings across a forested valley to link Naeba with the neighbouring Kagura resort for a vast combined area with reliable high-altitude snow. In summer the same slopes host the Fuji Rock Festival. Direct buses from the shinkansen at Echigo-Yuzawa make it one of the quickest big-mountain escapes from Tokyo, and the all-in-one base suits families and first-timers.