Rent or Bring Your Own Skis to Japan? How Storage Helps

Rent for a first or short ski trip. If you ski Japan every winter, keep your own gear in Japan. Silk Crane, a luggage storage service for travelers in Japan, keeps your skis, snowboard and boots in storage between trips and delivers them to a later hotel for your next visit.

From rented skis to your own set, winter by winter

1. Step 1 of 5

   The first trip: rent

   Rent for a first trip or a few days on snow. Rental shops at the major resorts' base areas offer complete ski and snowboard sets for beginners through to experts, with staff help fitting. Niseko United's rental directory lists the shops in that area; compare what each set includes before you book.

   Some shops rent outerwear too: Niseko Grand Hirafu's rental shop offers a jacket-and-pants set and helmets. Some shops also keep rented skis and boots at the base between ski days; that is a rental-shop service for your stay.

2. Step 2 of 5

   Your own boots, rented skis

   We've seen customers who rent skis but own their boots: they skip keeping up with ski technology as it changes over the years, and stay free to rent at the hill or at a local shop. Ask the shop whether its bindings work with your boots; Niseko Sports' rental guide shows the ski-only choices on offer.

   Silk Crane can keep your boots in storage between trips. Some skiers go further and buy a whole set.

3. Step 3 of 5

   Buying a set in Japan

   Buying a full set in Japan works well when you plan to come back. We've seen customers from the United States and Europe use the exchange rate: some bring skis from home and leave them with us, others buy a full set here and store it.

   A purchase from a Japanese shop or online seller can go straight to storage: Silk Crane gives you a storage address and suite number for the seller. Our guide to storing ski gear bought in Japan covers the next steps.

4. Step 4 of 5

   Between trips: keep your own skis in Japan

   After you sign up, Silk Crane gives you the sending steps. Send a ski or snowboard bag from your hotel front desk or, if you arrive with gear you will not use right away, from an airport counter of the delivery company Yamato that accepts ski equipment. Silk Crane keeps skis, snowboards, boots, helmets and winter clothing between seasons, so there is no storage location to visit and no ski bag on the flight into Japan.

   Our guide to storing for a week or longer covers shorter and longer stays; for one month, see the one-month ski storage page.

5. Step 5 of 5

   Next winter: the skis are waiting

   

   Picture finishing a week in Niseko with the skis and boots you already know, then a few nights in Tokyo before the flight home. The packed ski bag goes to your hotel front desk, and you carry on with your everyday luggage. The next winter you choose Hakuba, and Silk Crane delivers the stored skis to your hotel there.

   Our guide to exploring Japan after the slopes shows how the days between ski trips can work.

Is it cheaper to rent or bring your own skis to Japan?

It depends on how often you ski Japan and for how long. Compare the whole trip for your own dates, not one daily rental price.

• Renting: the rental set for each ski day, plus any clothing or helmet you rent.
• Bringing gear each time: airline baggage charges for the ski bag both ways, transfers in Japan and the effort of carrying it.
• Keeping gear in Japan: no ski bag on the flights in or out, because Silk Crane delivers your gear to your hotel for each trip.

The storage plans page shows the current options, so you can set them beside rental quotes for your dates.

Keep planning your trip

Thinking about your own skis? See how one trip works with skis and a suitcase stored together, compare ways to send and store ski gear in Japan, or see how Silk Crane gets your ski gear to your next stay.