Okushiga Kogen Hotel

Pleasant rooms (they very kindly upgraded our room next to the elevator). Hotel staff always very attentive and helpful. The piano lounge has a 1960s ski-lodge atmosphere, like in a movie. Great place to down a couple of beers before dinner. Location is right next to a lift and the ski school. The breakfast and (four) dinner options are quite good. Though the Raclette was not my favorite (my travel-mates loved it), we enjoyed delicacies like wagyu beef cheeks at the French place (Hi Michel!). Second place was the Japanese dining room. Breakfast had a plethora of choices; croissants were fine like everywhere in Japan. In Shiga Kogen, it's important to pick a place with good food, because there is no town, and this one fits the bill. Tips: it took us too long to figure out to turn the heat to the lowest setting this warm Feb-Mar. Also, use the provided humidifier. Minus: snowboarders are not provided with a locker. If you're a skier, there's a very convenient locker room right outside the lounge. Next time we visit Shiga Kogen, we will try to stay here again.

A Japanese Australian gave me excellent advice. Spend the w/e’s in Tokyo and on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning take a bullet train to one of the 100 to 200 ski resorts by bullet train 2 hours outside Tokyo and you will have the place to ourselves. So we spent 5 days in this hotel & loved it. We enjoyed an empty hotel, zero queues, excellent snow. 90 minutes by bullet train from Tokyo and then 90 minutes by bus. The hotel is truly ski in & sort of ski out. There is a short short climb to get on a lift. We had a 3 bed room on the third floor which was extremely spacious. Lovely view. The public areas are spacious and well designed. Had many beers in front of the open fire looking out through the big picture windows at acres of untouched powder snow. Yes, you need to book for the restaurants for dinner. There is no village at all. I found the ski rentals good enough for an advanced skier. All in excellent condition. Pleasingly the hotel provides good ski lockers so of a morning it’s easy to gear up & ski out to get on a lift. I have no complaints about the hotel. But the management of the ski fields and ski lifts is really lacking. For instance: First, There is a ski mat in the beginners area but they never turned it on! After watching my novice partner spend 45 minutes of the first hour trudging up a gently slope with her ski instructor to learn how to do “pizza skis” down I asked why it wasn’t working. The ski school actually said: “I wish you would complain. It’s infuriating.” So I politely spoke to the manager whose decision it was to leave it switched off. His view was it was unnecessary. I gently pressed the point but zero understanding from him that going sideways up hill with skis for a first timer is hard. For a toddler it’s impossible. It’s doesn’t cause him trouble so he couldn’t see if from any other perspective. Secondly, from the bottom of Okushiga Kogen you cannot ski from the beginners lift to the other more advanced lift even though it’s downhill! You have to trudge across a flat & up a small slope because of the way they have roped off the areas. It was not due to any shortage of snow but simply moronic way they corral the skiers to move from the beginners ski run to the ski lift for the more advanced run. Thirdly, exited every ski lift gave you a short down hill run into a basin and then you had to trudge uphill to ski away. Seriously, who designs a ski lift exit to create congestion at the exit. Commonsense and every other ski lift exit I have experienced , slopes the packed snow so you can ski away. snow

This hotel experience was the worst I've ever had in Japan. One of the front desk staff, Izumi Yoshi, was extremely unfriendly from the very beginning, treating us with a cold shoulder and never uttering a single respectful or polite word. Finally, unable to tolerate it any longer, I questioned her about her poor attitude, and she actually told me the hotel didn't welcome me and asked me to leave. At that point, I was already extremely angry, and I was shocked to receive such rude treatment. Therefore, I want to warn any travelers considering staying at this hotel to avoid choosing it and not become the next victim.