Hakuba Ski Rental, Snowboard Hire

There are a very good number of Hakuba ski rental and snowboard hire shops located at the base of each of the ski resorts and in some of the Hakuba hotels and pensions, although in some cases with the latter, it looks like they’re renting out gear from the pre-Olympics era!

A great pick for a Hakuba ski rental /snowboard shop is Central Snowsports which has three locations across Hakuba: in the heart of Happo near the Happo-One gondola; opposite the Sakka lifts (and main beginner area) in Upper Wadano; and in Echoland. They also offer a guest shuttle whereby they pick you up and drop you off to your accommodation. Central Snowsports have standard snowboard and ski rentals and clothing (pants, jackets, helmets) as well as high performance equipment and fat skis. You can pre-book your gear here.

Spicy Rentals has a few Hakuba ski hire shops with prime locations: Upper Wadano near the Sakka Slope; Central Happo; and Iwatake next to the gondola. You can pre-book your gear here - standard or high performance ski and snowboard equipment and clothing.

If you’re looking to rent ski touring gear, a splitboard and other backcountry equipment, check out Rhythm in Lower Wadano.

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Hakuba Ski School, Snowboard Lessons

Evergreen Outdoor Center offers English speaking instructors for group ski or snowboard lessons at Happo for children (aged 3+) and adults in either a half day or full day format. Evergreen also provides powder clinics and on-mountain guiding. Evergreen also provides private snowsports lessons at Iwatake, Tsugaike and Cortina.

The Hakuba 47 Ski Academy International offers ski & snowboarding lessons at Hakuba 47, in both a private or group lesson format.

Hakuba Ski Concierge also operates out of Hakuba 47 and can offer private lessons at any of the Hakuba ski areas. Their bespoke services include door to door transport.

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Hakuba Services

Physio Services

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Childcare

Evergreen used to offer child care for ages 18 months to 6 years at the Kokusai base of Happo One, Iwatake and Tsugaike, but this didn’t operate for the 2022/23 season, possibly due to staffing issues.

There used to be childcare provided at Cortina at the Green Plaza Hotel, although this doesn’t operate anymore.

There are a couple of Hakuba babysitting and nanny services. You could try Hakuba Babysitting and Mommy Smile Babysitting.  

Banking Facilities

Whilst the acceptance of credit cards has increased at Hakuba, there are some businesses such as restaurants that only accept cash. You could cash up with yen at home using a postal service currency exchange, use an ATM at the Narita or Haneda Airport, or use one of the ATMs in Hakuba, although don’t expect these to be plentiful.

There’s an ATM at the post office in the town of Hakuba which is a significant inconvenience if that’s the only reason for travelling there (although it is worth popping into town to check it out). The ATM at the post office is open most nights until 7pm and it gives out big amounts of money (of course only if you have big amounts of money in your account!).

There is also an ATM at the 7-Eleven stores in the Misorano and Iwatake areas, and an ATM at the Happo Information Centre.