Hakuba Earthquake 11/23/14

I'd love to ski in Japan, but don't see it happening until, well, I'm no longer working fulltime. The logistics are just too much from the NYC region: a 14.5-hour flight + how many hours getting from the Tokyo airport to the ski region (best-case scenario, two lost ski days on the way over) + jetlag + Japan is expensive, etc. Until then, I have dozens of places in the Alps I'd like to hit.
 
I'll remind James that from a West Coast perspective the accessibility of Europe and Japan are to some degree reversed. My 2011 Japan trip was cheaper per day than any of my Euro ski trips except the 2004 NASJA trip to Chamonix.

I agree that getting to a ski resort in Japan from Tokyo is more like getting to the Alps from say, Paris or Frankfurt than from Zurich or Geneva. Japan is no more expensive than the Eurozone and less than Switzerland.

I also always tell people that these distant destinations (New Zealand and South America also) work better for 2+ weeks rather than just one. Also when you're going that far it can worth allocating some time to non-ski tourism. I have done this on all of my Southern Hemisphere ski trips. Liz has never been to Japan and I know she wants a week of tourism time along with the skiing there.

I have not followed my own advice here for the Alps. 3 of my 4 trips have been one week, all skiing packages. West Coast to the Alps is tougher than from the East and will cost at least 2 and maybe 3 days in transit, but it's definitely easier than East Coast to Japan or going most places in the Southern Hemisphere.
 
Tony Crocker":39a1jtyy said:
West Coast to the Alps is tougher than from the East and will cost at least 2 and maybe 3 days in transit,

Why? I can jump on a flight to Frankfurt from DIA, connect to Geneva and be in the easiest to reach ski country of SUI or FR by mid-day. Flying home burns 1 day doing the reverse, but really should just be an extra 3-4 hours on the overnight flight and return. Not that MY time shifting brain necessarily wants to ski the first day, but still it shouldn't be all that much different especially if yo live near a major airport.

Interestingly with Japan on my list (wife even wants to go someday, though I suspect more for the tourism side of things) there is now a direct flight to Tokyo from DIA as well. Not for a few years at least though!
 
Last year's Zermatt trip was booked one month in advance and had to be timed to meet the ski club Saturday morning at Geneva airport. The only way we could do that was leaving LAX Friday morning, change at JFK for the overnight to Geneva. Ski club bus to Zermatt arrived mid-afternoon, so we were not skiing until Sunday.

For timing, price, whatever, I've never flown direct to Geneva or Zurich from here. You go through Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, London, it's going to take perfect timing and a close-in resort to have any chance of skiing that first day.
 
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