The below from an Aussie that has lived in Japan for a couple of decades -
If you're interested in central Honshu and want low key & very quiet mid week, then you need to avoid places that have been "discovered" by foreign tourists. "Central Honshu" to me means Nagano, Niigata, Gunma & Gifu Prefectures.
The following areas I would describe as "heavily discovered" : Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen, Myoko (I would include Lotte Arai in the Myoko area as a powder destination, which was largely undiscovered before COVID, but those days are gone now)
"Partly discovered" IMO are Yuzawa, Shiga Kogen, Madarao/Tangram.
- The Yuzawa area has a collection of around 15 mountains within a 20 km radius. Yuzawa town itself has quite a lot of Chinese speaking and Malaysian people in some of those mountains, but less westerners looking for powder. It means that some of the lower, easiest slopes close to town have quite a lot of people on them. But if you have a car and go further out, there are almost deserted gems. One point about Yuzawa, some of the mountains close to town are quite low at the base, so you need to take that into account. Naeba/Kagura is part of the Yuzawa area, service by a huge Prince Hotel and a few smaller places in the village nearby. The hotel itself is generally overrun by Chinese speakers, but they don't tend to ski powder even close to the hotel. The two mountains together have about 40 lifts. Kagura is generally quiet midweek and has virtually no ropes so you can skip powder anywhere, although there is a gated area where you are required to have avi gear.
- Shiga Kogen. This mountain is a collection of small areas mostly linked together, called "resorts" but I wouldn't call them that. It's big it has about 40 lifts. It's also the highest resort area in Japan so there's no quality is really good. I call it "partly discovered" because people know about it, but many Western and Chinese tourists don't go there because of the lack of western style facilities. It has only one ATM in the whole place and that's at the post office. There's one convenience store which pales in comparison to regular convenience stores and it's not open seven days a week!! Ski rental can be quite poor with a lot of places providing old equipment and almost no powder skis. Nightlife I would describe as rudimentary. It's a volcanic plateau so every place has an onsen or a sento. Pretty much every place there is ski in ski out but I'd suggest staying at the Ichinose area.
- Madarao/Tangram. It's a busier than it used to be midweek. I'd call the two of them together small to medium-sized. It's in the good location for good powder. The tree skiing there has become quite popular with western tourists but if you know your way around you can usually find powder into late morning.
Still undiscovered.
- Gunma and Gifu Prefectures.
Minakami area of Gunma you are struggling to see more than 30 or 40 people mid week. Almost no foreigners there.
- Various mountains across Nagano and Niigata Prefectures. Here's some to access by car:
Charmant Hiuchi, Itoigawa Seaside, both near the coast and can have lots and lots of powder on a WNW wind, when other places hardly have any at all.
If staying in or near Nakano, iiyama or Yudanaka, there is access to Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen, but I'd be looking at skiing Ryuo, Kijimadaira, Togakushi, X-Jam, (Madarao/Tangram) and a few other undiscovered places.
If you're interested in central Honshu and want low key & very quiet mid week, then you need to avoid places that have been "discovered" by foreign tourists. "Central Honshu" to me means Nagano, Niigata, Gunma & Gifu Prefectures.
The following areas I would describe as "heavily discovered" : Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen, Myoko (I would include Lotte Arai in the Myoko area as a powder destination, which was largely undiscovered before COVID, but those days are gone now)
"Partly discovered" IMO are Yuzawa, Shiga Kogen, Madarao/Tangram.
- The Yuzawa area has a collection of around 15 mountains within a 20 km radius. Yuzawa town itself has quite a lot of Chinese speaking and Malaysian people in some of those mountains, but less westerners looking for powder. It means that some of the lower, easiest slopes close to town have quite a lot of people on them. But if you have a car and go further out, there are almost deserted gems. One point about Yuzawa, some of the mountains close to town are quite low at the base, so you need to take that into account. Naeba/Kagura is part of the Yuzawa area, service by a huge Prince Hotel and a few smaller places in the village nearby. The hotel itself is generally overrun by Chinese speakers, but they don't tend to ski powder even close to the hotel. The two mountains together have about 40 lifts. Kagura is generally quiet midweek and has virtually no ropes so you can skip powder anywhere, although there is a gated area where you are required to have avi gear.
- Shiga Kogen. This mountain is a collection of small areas mostly linked together, called "resorts" but I wouldn't call them that. It's big it has about 40 lifts. It's also the highest resort area in Japan so there's no quality is really good. I call it "partly discovered" because people know about it, but many Western and Chinese tourists don't go there because of the lack of western style facilities. It has only one ATM in the whole place and that's at the post office. There's one convenience store which pales in comparison to regular convenience stores and it's not open seven days a week!! Ski rental can be quite poor with a lot of places providing old equipment and almost no powder skis. Nightlife I would describe as rudimentary. It's a volcanic plateau so every place has an onsen or a sento. Pretty much every place there is ski in ski out but I'd suggest staying at the Ichinose area.
- Madarao/Tangram. It's a busier than it used to be midweek. I'd call the two of them together small to medium-sized. It's in the good location for good powder. The tree skiing there has become quite popular with western tourists but if you know your way around you can usually find powder into late morning.
Still undiscovered.
- Gunma and Gifu Prefectures.
Minakami area of Gunma you are struggling to see more than 30 or 40 people mid week. Almost no foreigners there.
- Various mountains across Nagano and Niigata Prefectures. Here's some to access by car:
Charmant Hiuchi, Itoigawa Seaside, both near the coast and can have lots and lots of powder on a WNW wind, when other places hardly have any at all.
If staying in or near Nakano, iiyama or Yudanaka, there is access to Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen, but I'd be looking at skiing Ryuo, Kijimadaira, Togakushi, X-Jam, (Madarao/Tangram) and a few other undiscovered places.
