About Hakuba, Japan

Overview

The ski village of Hakuba is located in Nagano prefecture, Japan, and lies next to the North Japan Alps. It is named after a shape that resembles a white horse which appears in the mountains in the springtime after snow-melt. (Hakuba means "white horse" in Japanese") It is 4-5 hours by train or bus from Tokyo and sits at an altitude of about 800 metres. It is rather spread out-there are many rice paddies which in winter become fields of white as they get buried by the snow. Lying next to the Northern Alps, and being in close proximity to the Sea of Japan, it receives a lot of snow. It averages over 11 metres of snow a year, most of it falling between December and the end of March. It was the site for 5 events during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics including the Ski Jump, and many downhill events (all held at Happo Ski Resort). There are currently 11 ski resorts in Hakuba, and most of them are accessible by free shuttle buses. Hakuba is a small village-only 9,000 people in the summer, so facilities are somewhat limited. Having said that the basics are catered for-there are 3 supermarkets, 2 banks, 1 post office, plenty of restaurants and cafes, lots of convenience shops and a number of outdoor shops.

Banks and ATMs

There are 2 banks in Hakuba, Hachijuni Bank and Nagano Bank, both close to the train station. You can get money changed there, but if you just need to withdraw cash from an ATM then you need to go to either the post office, the Happo information centre or the 7/11 convenience shops. The latter is at the bottom end of Echoland, and is open 24 hours making it really handy.

Supermarkets and convenience shops

There are 3 supermarkets in Hakuba, “Big” (about a 20 min walk downhill from Echoland, A Coop (about a 5 minute walk uphill from the station), and Appleland (about a 10 minute walk north from the station ). Big is the most popular and is open until 11 pm at night. Some of the accommodation such as Mt Hakuba Backpackers and Snowdrift Lodge run a shuttle there. There is also a clothing section as well as a 100 yen shop. There are many convenience shops in Hakuba, including a handy one on the main road of Echoland .

Post Office

There is only 1 post office in Hakuba, it is a 5 minute walk from the train station (walk right when you leave the station). If you just need stamps you can get them from convenience shops.

Outdoor shops

For general sports gear Yamatoya Sports next to the train station is the best bet. They have a good range of outdoor gear including snow boots, goggles, and skis. Not much in the way of boarding gear however. For boarding gear, there is a specialist boarding shop near the post office (The Boarding Co). For serious mountain gear go straight to Rapie which is a 100 m south of of Jusco supermarket on the main road. It has all the necessary equipment for mountaineering and backcountry ski/boarding such as avalanche beacons, helmets and so on.

Chemists

There are 3 main pharmacies in town, the American drug store (near Rapie Mountain shop), Oota Chemist (diagnally opposite the station), and the one below A Coop supermarket just up from the station. You will have fun miming your medical condition to the staff if you do not speak Japanese!