A family ski holiday over Christmas was the starting point, but my husband reframed the thinking entirely. Why not combine the mountains with something more adventurous and explore a new country at the same time? Japan rose quickly to the top of the list.

With our two eldest sons at university, family travel is increasingly concentrated around the Christmas break, which meant committing to the full two weeks and making every day count, especially with long-haul travel taking two days at the start. Skiing was non-negotiable, and with Kyoto and Tokyo never really in question, the harder decision was where to ski. Hokkaido's renowned powder in the north was tempting, but the additional travel time steered us toward the Japanese Alps and Hakuba Valley. Japan is simply too vast and varied to cover in one trip, and we knew going in that this would only ever be a first taste of the country.