Many Australians choose Japan for their skiing holiday. Such trips often include some contact with traditional Japanese culture, as skiing areas are typically located in regional and rural areas of Japan where age-old traditions remain a part of everyday life. However, all too often, I have heard cases of ski travellers missing out on great cultural experiences in the Japanese countryside that would have been easily accessible to them, due to a lack of local knowledge and the language barrier. For example, think of all those winter festivals (other than the internationally renowned Sapporo Snow Festival) in regional towns of northern and central Japan, or the early spring blossoms and festivities in the mild climates of the south while most of Japan remains gripped in the rigours of winter... much of which remain unknown to the mainstream tourists.