Nozawa Onsen Ski Rentals
As there are several “starting points” at Nozawa Onsen ski resort, the best place for you to rent from will depend on what lift you will be taking first thing in the morning.
Nagasaka Gondola:
Tommi Rentals Crew setting the board up just right.
Tommi rentals Nagasaka is the place to go. Located across the way from the Nagasaka Gondola, Shige and his team offer friendly service and a great selection of well maintained quality equipment. They have standard gear in a wide range of sizes, from very small boots for tiny kids, to 31.5 cm snowboard boots and 32cm ski boots (thats really big). They also stock a good range of “grade up” equipment – demo skis and snowboards, including a few sets of a fat skis and some great boards for the pow.
A few things I really like about Tommi Rentals: nothing is ever a problem in terms of replacing broken equipment and stuff that doesn’t quite fit, biggest range of decent gear in town, you can drop your gear off and store it overnight, and they’ll wax it!
Karasawa Gondola:
Sanohiro - pro snowboarder and part time model/rental shop owner
Tommi rentals also has a store down at the Karasawa lifts. Ren rentals is a new place with really good gear including AFDICE gear (Japanese clothing brand – similar to burton AK) and Shimano boots and bindings. The shop is run by Sato san, a professional snowboarder/model.
Yu road/Hikage Gondola/Shinyu Pair lift
If you are over the Hikage side, you have a choice between two main shops – Shirakaba and St Anton. Shirakaba is run by the MCV crew (a freestyle ski crew who have made a few dvds which get played on high repeat at certain places in the village) and they have a decent range of powder specific equipment, including telemark skis. St Anton also has a good range. Both are more expensive than Tommi Rentals, expect to pay around ¥3500/day for standard gear.