Oze Iwakura Resort Hotel - Japan Snow Accomm

9th February 2023

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Oze Iwakura
Thank you Hisae for organising another great ski trip and liaising with hotel staff to ensure our trip was trouble free.

This was our second trip to Oze as we really enjoy the skiing and find there is enough challenge and variety to occupy us for at least 3 or 4 days. We also like the fact that it is off the beaten track and mid week is uncrowded. However, it is very popular and busy with locals on weekends and especially public holidays as we discovered.

We stayed two nights each at both Iwakura House and the Resort Hotel due to a school camp that occupied the main resort hotel all week. (The school camp caused absolutely no issue to our skiing at Oze). Both types of accommodation offer easy ski in/ ski out access.

Oze Iwakura Resort Hotel
We had a lovely room overlooking the mountain. Nice onsen, buffet breakfast and Kaiseki ( multi course Japanese ) dinner.

On mountain restaurants
We favoured Alp for lunch as it had great food and hot chocolate. As we had dinner included in our package, we're unsure if there is anywhere else to have dinner in Oze.

Staff
The staff here are so helpful and obliging. A very special mention to Yoshihiro Toshiba, who helped us with local bus timetables to Jomo Kogen ensuring a seamless trip back to Tokyo and organising the Takkyubin to Haneda. He is a great asset to the hotel for foreign guests.

Access
Is a little tricky but with help from Hisae and Yoshihiro san, we had no problem. We caught the local bus from Numata station ( about 1 hour) and were picked up by Yoshida san at Kamata bus stop for the 15 min trip to Oze. The same in reverse except with another bus to Jomo Kogen Shinkansen station. It's worth mentioning that the local buses are quite small and can be crowded so it's best to send luggage via Takkyubin. There is also a bus to and from Takasaki station this year, but the departure time didn’t suit our travel plans.

All in all, Oze Iwakura is a great little resort that is well worth visiting.

I am looking forward to booking Japan next year and also really interested in your latest gem.

Warm Regards

Janne

Early February 2020

The trip was awesome, shame the snow wasn’t that great. But saying that it was still a hundred times better than NZ and we managed some powder at Geto Kogen and Oze.

Oze Iwakura, I love this place and if I was on a short time line would just go here. It is a bit off the beaten track getting there, but once there you don’t want to leave. The hotel is not modern and a bit dates, but the staff are awesome, and they really look after you.

This is my favourite mountain in all of Japan, even when there is not much snow. (we managed to get 2 powder days here at the end of the holiday) With the resort facing north and south there are so many options as to snow quality.

The little old café above the kids area is one of the best places to go when you have had a hard days skiing. The café at the top of the mountain are a bit expensive.

Really loved your service and help making this a great holiday.

Dave

Early Feb 2020

Oze was one of the best mountains that I have skied on in Japan. While the snow wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, the variety of terrain was enormous. I would definitely go back there again.

The accommodation was exceptional, staff super friendly and accommodating. Yoshihiro Toshiba was particularly helpful and looked after us so well.

It wasn't easy to get there , but that made it special as we were virtually the only westerners staying in Oze so we really experienced traditional Japanese hospitality.

Regards Steve

Early Feb 2019

We visited Oze in Feb this year and once again we experienced excellent snow, excellent accomodation and excellent hosts. We had a large crew of 30 and Mami and Yoshi (our hosts) exceeded our expectations, they looked after us all extremely well. Out of the nearly 40 resorts I have visited, Oze is number 1 for friendliness. Definitely on our list for next year!

Thank you once again for your help in making our booking.

Best regards.

Mike

Early Feb 2019

We loved this resort as it was real traditional to us and the staff were so pleasant even accommodating our gluten free needs as coeliacs . Loved it!!

Ebony Tindale

Early February 2019

Oze Iwakura was an amazing resort and has to rate as one of the best we have been.

The hotel was amazing with fabulous meals and very comfortable accommodation. Located right at the base of the ski slope it was very convenient. The staff were so accommodating and even organised for us to attend a local festival one night which was an sensational experience where we were able to join in the festivities and sample some of the local food and drink.

The mountain was fantastic and you definitely need quite a few days to explore all areas. The eateries on the mountain were exceptional. Weekends get very busy but during the week there will are no crowds.

Will definitely return to this resort.

Sharon

Late Jan 2019

Many thanks Hisae for organising a smooth and memorable stay at Oze. Also for organising my surprise birthday cake as well as ensuring ahead of our trip, that one of our group, a coeliac, was able to be catered for.

We had a really enjoyable week at Oze Iwakura especially given the amazing snow conditions.Our western twin room was spacious and comfortable and we really enjoyed the onsen after skiing. Above all though, was the staff's great service that is really worth mentioning. They were all extremely friendly and helpful. A special mention to Mami Hoshino who organised a special fun trip for a small group to the local fire festival. As well, she helped us deal with a serious dietary issue by ensuring that even lunch was carefully catered for. Also thank you to Toshiba Yoshihiro who seemed to be everywhere. He not only recognised us on the slopes and advised us on the best runs, but organised our takkyubin and wrote a detailed travel plan and timetable to our next destination, that was to the say the least, a bit tricky.

Whilst there were plenty of restaurants and cafes for lunch options, evening meals at the hotel became very repetitive. We were unable to explore outside dining options, but feel the need to mention this to other long stayers.

Overall, a great stay.

Janne

Janne 5

Janne 4

Janne 6

Janne 2

Janne 3

Janne 1

Late Jan 2019

Our stay at Oze Iwakura Resort was fantastic, the snow was amazing. There seems to be a focus on groomed runs which were impeccable however there was still enough powder to satisfy and it wasn’t over run with powder hounds. We even spotted a few wild Nihon Kamoshika (Japanese Serow) on the slopes!

The staff at the resort were brilliant with a few who could speak very good english despite saying their english was poor (very traditional). The crew in the rental shop were great too, going “out the back” to give us better equipment at no extra cost, we even got a discount for staying at the resort.

With regards to my dietary requirements being allergic to Gluten: the restaurant bent over backwards to make sure I had a good experience and I never felt like I was missing out on meals, everything was delicious. They even arranged for lunch to be made for me at one of the kiosks. I took my own Gluten Free soy sauce from Australia and the staff looked after it for me between meals.

I think the gluten free card I sent you may be a little too serious though, it seems that staff in all restaurants are very aware of allergies, however, every allergy is treated as extremely serious as though it is a peanut or shellfish allergy. While it is always safe to eat somewhere that has read the Gluten free card, it is very hard to find a place that will say yes to being able to feed a coeliac. I believe this is due to the staff not wanting to cause harm to anyone and coeliac disease (and therefore knowledge of) not being widespread in Asian countries.

The service received from Japan Snow Accomodation made everything run smoothly on the trip, from communicating dietary requirements, to organising a Birthday Cake, having the resort aware of English speaking guests so the english speaking staff were there on arrival so we knew who they were and where to find them.

Thank you again for organising our stay at Oze Iwakura

Richard