THOUGHTS FROM A JAPANESE FAMILY LIVING IN AUSTRALIA
Nagano Prefecture is home to many popular ski resorts, but there’s a major one that overseas visitors have yet to find out about—the new snow resort alliance “8 Peaks.” It opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, but I was unable to visit from Sydney due to lockdowns in Australia, despite my curiosity surrounding it. Now that the borders are open, I finally got to visit in January 2024. As it’s known for being highly family-friendly, I decided to visit for five days with my own family. So, without further ado, here’s a quick report with a few photos to sum up my thoughts about the trip.
In mid-January 2024, I visited “8 Peaks Resorts” with my wife, son (three-and -a-half years old), and daughter (21 months old). I spent almost ten years visiting many ski resorts across Japan to write for magazines, such as this one, but I’d always done so alone with a camera in one hand. This was my first time taking my whole family to a ski resort. The resort was kind enough to suggest that I bring my family to experience the slopes for myself, and I happily accepted the offer.
A GUIDE SYSTEM WITH EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN
My family and I took a short 80-minute trip on the shinkansen from Tokyo and arrived at Sakudaira, one of the entryways to 8 Peaks. Take, the CFO of 8 Peaks, was there waiting for us at the station. Starting next season, 8 Peaks is introducing a customisable guide system to suit the needs of its guests, and we were chosen to be the first group with the honour of testing it out. The resort can be reached via public transport from the station, but with the options available in this system, we decided to customise our plan to include a driver to take us there.
After 50 minutes of cruising in the car, we reached the Shirakaba Resort Ikenotaira Hotel—one of the most famous hotels in the area and our home for the trip. It sits adjacent to Lake Shirakaba and is a long-standing hotel resort known amongst many people in Japan. The main building here was completely rebuilt in 2023. My children and wife were absolutely thrilled by the beautiful lobby area we were met with.
Our guide, Take, took care of check-in and all of the other formalities on this trip, so we were in our rooms in no time. It was a lifesaver to have his attentive support across all the bits and pieces, especially with two young children in tow. We were greeted with drinks for the kids and soup as we entered the room. The wonderful hospitality was a particular hit with my wife. We then set off to have a look at the facilities on the premises and discovered that many of them were family-friendly. My family and I were excited to discover that there were so many places where we could have fun together, such as a bowling alley, table tennis area, arcade, and even a pool with a waterslide.
“Would you like to have a moment to rest, first? Please let me know if you would like to go to the ski fields and I will show you there.”
Take gave us two options to choose from, but since my son would be skiing for the first time ever the next day, we decided to sort out his gear rental and the like as we relaxed at the hotel for our first day there.
Dinner was a buffet featuring sushi, Chinese cuisine, Indian cuisine, noodles, meats, and desserts. Each of the booths had the appearance of a specialty restaurant and there were all sorts of quirks to keep meals interesting for those on long-term stays here. We were particularly pleased to find a buffet corner just for the kids as well. The corner was kid-sized and filled with food that children love. It was great to see such consideration for families with young children. I was relieved that Ikenotaira Hotel lived up to its reputation as a family friendly hotel.
The buffet had more than enough choices to keep us coming back for more, even on a long trip, but Take would always ask us what meals or cuisines we liked at every lunch and dinner. He then offered to take us to a local izakaya specialising in seafood a little away from the hotel one night, and we graciously accepted. It’s not often that you’d find such service that evolves to suit your tastes and requests.
To be continued
Web: 8peaks-resort.com/
