If you are craving some western food while on the mountain, you might want to try Pizza House Luis. They are conveniently located just below the gondola station at Hakuba 47. Luis Pizzas have 3 different sauces to choose from; garlic sauce, basil sauce, codroe and mayonaise sauce, and your standard tomato sauce. These thin crusted Italian style pizza pies only come in one single serving size and cost ¥1200 - ¥1500 each. They also offer snacks like hashbrowns, fried chicken, curry buns, and saugages for ¥200 - ¥500. And serve draft beer and Italian wine to help you wash it all down and work up a bit more courage for your afternoon on the mountain.
かまくら (Kamakura) is not just the name of Japan's old capital, but it also means igloo in Japanese. From February 10th to 19th, you can explore a whole mura (village) of Kamakura at the bottom of Hakuba 47. There is a large Kamakura Bar, a Kamakura shrine (see pic above) and many little Kamakura where you can eat and drink with your own circle of friends. On the weekends there will be shops set up selling Okonomiyaki, chijimi, omelletes with fried noodles, hot sake, freshly roasted chest nuts, and more.... We had a Hiroshima Style Seafood Okonomiyaki. It was fresh, hot, tasty, and only ¥500.
四十七(Yonju-nanna) is Japanese for forty-seven and is one of the best restaurants on the mountain if not in the entire village. They serve excellent traditional and modern Japanese dishes at very reasonable prices. It is no more expensive to eat here than in one of Hakuba's izakaya down in the village. Yonju-nanna is located just behind the main cafeteria at the top of Hakuba 47 in the gondola station. If you like garlic or if you are trying to fight off a cold be sure to try the niniku-maru-age, a deep fried bulb of garlic for ¥400 (see second picture below). To make things easy they also have a good selection of teishoku, set meals that come with rice, miso soup, pickeled veggies, and tofu. I had the deep fried oyster teishoku for ¥1300 (3rd picture below, rice is also served but didn't fit in the cropped photo). Menu is in Japanese and English. Don't forget to say gochisosamadeshita on your way out.
Hakuba 47 and Hakuba Goryu early bird season pass is only 48,000 yen if you order it before October 31st. UPDATE: Hakuba Goryu/Hakuba 47 Early Bird Season Pass Deadline has been extended until November 15th! Get yours now here!
Hakuba 47 is once again offering lift-serviced downhill MTB . The green season runs from July 16th to August 31st. Try the gondolla run once for 750 yen, or shred all day for 3500 yen. You can even buy a green season pass for 20,000 yen. Find out more here.
