Custom Trips
Pure Joy’s custom trips combine OUR SHRED PROGRAM ski lessons, professional guiding, local transportation and lift passes to create the ultimate personalized ski experience. Whether you are trying skiing or snowboarding for the first time, an intermediate skier looking to improve your technique and powder skills, or an experienced rider seeking an extreme backcountry adventure, we can tailor a trip to suit your needs.
Our Trips Include
Lessons & Guiding
Patient, certified instructors teach you step by step and stay with you on the mountain: which lift to take, which runs suit you, and where to stop for a break.
Equipment Rental
Travel light. Your skis or board, boots and helmet are fitted for comfort and ready when you arrive.
Door-to-Door Transport
We pick you up from your accommodation or the nearest station and bring you back at the end of the day. No bus timetables, no carrying gear.
Lift Passes
Included and sorted for you. We choose the resort each day to suit the snow and your level.
Go Deeper
Build real skills and confidence at your own pace, from your first turns to exploring more of the mountain.
Ride Safer
Certified instructors, runs matched to your ability, and plans that change with the weather and snow each day.
Secret Stashes
We know the quiet, gentle runs away from the crowds, perfect for building confidence.
Experience Japan
Our favourite local restaurants, izakaya and onsen, with recommendations and help booking so you can eat and relax like a local.
Accommodation is not included, but we can recommend a range of options based on your needs, from budget accommodation and comfortable hotels to premium onsen ryokan. With more than 20 years of skiing and living experience in these areas, we can offer expert advice to help you find the best place to stay.
Our Locations
PureJoy’s team is based mainly in Echigo Yuzawa, also known as Snow Country. Our lessons are run with our partner Canyons, an established snowsports school in central Japan and the official ski school in Shiga Kogen, Minakami, Nozawa Onsen and Myoko Kogen. Every instructor is a fully certified professional employed through Canyons and holds a valid Japanese work visa. Lessons are available in English, Chinese, Thai, French and Spanish. Between us, we cover Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort; Shiga Kogen’s 18 interconnected resorts; Myoko’s Akakura Kanko, Akakura Onsen, Suginohara and Ikenotaira; the Yuzawa area’s 11 resorts, including GALA Yuzawa, Naeba, Kagura, Ishiuchi Maruyama and NASPA Ski Garden; and Minakami’s Hodaigi, Minakami Kogen Resort 200 and Kawaba.
In Niseko, we work with a small group of hand-picked instructors who share PureJoy’s approach, so you get the same PureJoy experience wherever you ride.
Nozawa Onsen
Echigo Yuzawa
Myoko Kogen
Nozawa Onsen, located in Nagano Prefecture, is a ski destination renowned for its extensive terrain and traditional hot-spring culture. Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort is one of Japan’s largest and oldest ski areas, offering a wide variety of runs for everyone from beginners to advanced skiers. It is famous for its high-quality powder snow and diverse terrain. After skiing, visitors can relax in 13 free public hot springs that have long been cherished by locals and travelers alike.
Echigo Yuzawa is located in Niigata Prefecture beside a Shinkansen station, approximately 90 minutes from Tokyo. Known as the setting of the novel Snow Country, the area receives abundant winter snowfall and has around 12 ski resorts. Well-known destinations such as GALA Yuzawa and Naeba offer excellent powder and varied terrain suitable for beginners and advanced skiers alike. The region is also famous for Niigata sake, making local sake and an onsen the perfect way to unwind after a day on the slopes.
Myoko Kogen is located in Niigata Prefecture, just one hour from Nagano City. It is renowned for its abundant annual snowfall and the dramatic backdrop of Mount Myoko, which rises to 2,454 metres. As one of the world’s oldest ski areas, established in the 1930s, Myoko offers an authentic Japanese skiing experience. The area includes several resorts, such as Myoko Akakura Onsen, Ikenotaira Onsen and Suginohara, with excellent powder snow, long runs and terrain parks for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities.