Neil Duckett

This weekend i headed up to Gala Yuzawa, about 1.5hrs North West of Tokyo on the Shinkansen. I must say, it certainly is the easiest way to get to the snow and the same as last week, pretty cheap too. This weeks trip was an up and back affair for 8700 yen, which includes the day on the mountain.

Gala Yuzawa is in Niigata Prefecture, check it out on this Map Of Japan, and the station is only operational during ski season where the lifts operate directly from it’s own station, how easy is that?! The station is actually on a side track which diverges from the main Joetsu Shinkansen track just after Echigo Yuzawa Station, being only 3 minutes further on. The main Joetsu Shinkansen line runs between Tokyo and Niigata City on the Sea of Japan, Northwestern coast of Japan.

Although you can go to Gala Yuzawa as a destination, there is very little parking, as it is really regarded as a day trippers mountain. The number of people at Gala Yuzawa is limited to some extent by how many people the Shinkansen can carry there. Even so, it does get crowded, but not as much as you might expect.

The Joetsu Shinkansen, you can just tell it goes fast by the look of it.

It was another great day and we were treated with perfect conditions - being blue skies, great snow and 12 degrees C.

I’ve been meaning to change my header image for quite some time now and you’ll see i have with the panoramic i took from one of the higher points on the mountain. 

Unfortunately, this weeks trip to visit all 29 stops on the Yamanote Line will be delayed until next week while i watch my AFL team, the Adelaide Crows, play at 1pm courtesy of the Australian Network on World On Demand.

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