Zao Onsen

Zao Onsen is unlike anywhere else in Japan. The mountain rises behind a sulphur-spring village said to date back roughly 1900 years, with a labyrinth of small wooden streets, steaming public baths and milky-blue rotenburo. Above town, the Zao Ropeway climbs to Mt Jizo at 1660 m, into the wind-blasted realm of the juhyo: Maries fir trees so plastered in rime and snow that they bend into the famous snow monsters, eerie at dawn, floodlit and unforgettable at night.

The ski area itself spreads across forty kilometres of piste, with thirty-six lifts knitting together gentle bowls at Yokokura and Paradise, longer fall-line runs from Jizo, and the steep, often misty pitches under the ropeway. The vibe is Tohoku through and through: regional Yamagata cuisine, soba and imoni stew, fewer foreign visitors than Nagano, and a quiet, slightly mystical feel. It suits travellers who want classic onsen culture, an unmistakable scene and powder days under skeletal white trees.