Japan winter delivers bumper ski season on empty slopes
While the snow monkeys of Hakuba are enjoying long, peaceful soaks, a bumper season is going begging.
With foreign visitors virtually banned from entering Japan, we can only assume the snow monkeys of Hakuba are enjoying long, peaceful soaks in the hot springs outside Nagano.
Swathes of the country have been hit by extreme weather since Christmas, with a Siberian storm cycle dumping metres of snow, causing transport chaos and power blackouts.
Along with Niseko in Hokkaido, Hakuba is popular with Australian snow sport fans, who are watching forlornly as a fabulous ski season unfolds with little hope of experiencing it.
Some of Hakuba’s resorts, famous for their light-as-air powder, have received almost 5m of snow this winter.