Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort Services & Facilities

The town of Nozawa Onsen and the ski resort have reasonably well developed services and facilities, many of which are centred around the Hikage gondola and Nagasaka areas. Some facilities are managed by the Nozawa ski resort, yet most are owned by private operators. 

Nozawa Onsen Ski Hire

There are several privately owned Nozawa Onsen ski hire shops providing ski hire and snowboard rental, so prices remain fairly competitive. 

Nozawa Sports Thanx (formerly Tomi) is located near the Nagasaka gondola and has a good range of kids’ rental gear. The shop also offers a storage area so there’s no need to carry the gear back to your accommodation in the evenings.

There are also a few Nozawa Onsen ski rental shops near the Hikage gondola.

Nozawa Holidays has an equipment rental shop with good quality gear. They have a decent range of standard and premium skis, boards and snow clothing including powder skis, snowboards, and Atomic and Rossignol all-mountain skis.

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Nozawa Onsen Ski Lessons

The international component of the Nozawa Onsen Ski School is run by Canyons and they offer private lessons and group lessons for the morning or full day. Kids lessons are for ages 4-6 (skiing only) and 7-14 (skiing and snowboarding), whilst adult group lessons are for ages 15+. Kids aged 3 can have private lessons. The Nozawa Onsen Ski School is located at the Hikage Gondola which can be accessed via Yu Road, or via snowmobile shuttle from Nagasaka Gondola.

The other option for ski and snowboard lessons is with Nozawa Holidays. They run private lessons for adults and kids, with a maximum of 4 per group. The Nozawa Holidays instructors all run kids group lessons for ages 5-10 from Xmas to the end of January.

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Facilities for Kids

Day care for 1-6 year old children is provided at the Yumin Day Nursery on the second floor of the Hikage Information Centre. The staff are well qualified and a few of the staff speak English. The operating hours are 9-12 and 1-4pm so you have to pick up the kids for lunch time. Rates are pretty good and include morning and afternoon snacks. The nursery only accommodates 20 children, so it’s wise to make a reservation (your accommodation may need to assist with this).

Private babysitting is another option for day care or evening child minding. Some accommodations can arrange this.

A playground area, Nozawa Kids Park, is located at the Hikage base. Entry is free. 

Eating On Mountain

Blimey! At some stage Nozawa Onsen had a blow out of on-mountain eateries. There are 31 on-slope restaurants and all the ski areas at Nozawa Onsen have eateries so you’re never very far away from some sustenance. Many of the restaurants serve a range of typical Japanese ski resort food such as Katsudon (rice dish with pork cutlet), ramen, and donburi, as well as Nozawana (pickled leaf vegetable typical to Nozawa). A few of the restaurants have more international fare, with Mos Burgers near Hikage gondola being one example.

There are also various eating spots at the base of the Nagasaka gondola, so they’re easy to access between runs. 

Banking Facilities

Thankfully Nozawa Onsen is not devoid of access to the all important yen. The centrally located post office has an ATM that accepts international debit cards. The ATM is open 8:45am to 6pm on weekdays, with shorter opening hours on weekends.