Best Ski Resorts near Tokyo

Just moved to Japan and want to go snowboarding for the first time this winter... What are the best ski resorts for learning to snowboard near Tokyo?

Some of the best resorts are introduced here:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2262.html

I think Echigo Yuzawa is a good choice together with Karuizawa. Both of them take 1 hr. to go from Tokyo. www.snowjapan.com is very informative site.

Cheers,

Echigo Yuzawa is 200km from Tokyo, and more than just one hour away by Shinkansen. The most common time is around 1.5 hours, although you can occasionaly get the Shinkansen for as short as 72 minutes.
For beginners, a special day trip deal to Gala Yuzawa (only 5-10 minutes further than Echigo Yuzawa) is good value. Early season deals for Shinkansen round trip, & lift ticket can be as cheap as 7000 yen. (the normal Shinkansen round trip ticket is about 13,000yen.

Naeba Prince ski season starts Nov.Would a day trip from Tokyo be sufficient for just having snow fun or an overnight stay be of a better deal. I'm bring along 2 kids age 8 and 12yrs and we're from Singapore.

I definitely recommend Naeba in Niigata. The lift ticket is a little pricey at around 5000 yen but its only a couple of hours from toyko and gets you access to 3 different mountains. Awesome for snowboarders and a reaaaaly long gondola. The tokyo snow club, http://www.tokyosnowclub.com does lots of group trips to heaps of different ski resorts close to tokyo but most of their trips are two day one night trips, not sure if they do up and back in one day..

Naeba good for beginners? I think it is to steep. I would rather recommend adjacent Kagura, which is much less steep:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7690.html

Trying to book accomodation for Naeba Prince in early December.The hotel website is in japaness. Could anyone direct an english website for the required booking. Forwarded an email to them but there's no reply. Thanks

Jaz - The Prince Hotel's English website is here:http://www.princehotels.co.jp/naeba-e/snow/index.html

Sandy - Any tips on where one can book shinkansen/lift ticket packages like the one you mentioned? (My Japanese is pretty basic, but I have friends who can help out if the resource you recommend is Japanese language only).

Thank you!

"Sandy - Any tips on where one can book shinkansen/lift ticket packages like the one you mentioned? (My Japanese is pretty basic, but I have friends who can help out if the resource you recommend is Japanese language only)."

If you go to the "View Plaza" travel office at big JR stations, you can get the package deal there.
Look for the logo at the centre/top of this:
http://www.travel.eki-net.com/

I think they will release their Ski package brochure very soon, which you can pick up there, or sometimes at regular JR stations.

You can already get copies of JR's brochures at major stations. You can also click here to see the digital version: http://view-web-magazine.eki-net.biz/08434_1012/?Page=3

I'm planning to to Naeba with friends on 12/06. Is the snow already good for snowboarding by that time?