Hello you will be having a huge day skiing and it is a 6 hrs drive from Hakuba to Kyoto . There is a shuttle bus from Hakuba you can get off at Shinjuku and catch the train to Kyoto You may need to rejig your itinerary to suit the transport . Or there is a train that runs from Nagano station to Kyoto you can google / Bing search to find the timetable for Nagano snow shuttle / JR trains

Also not sure about snow. We stayed in an Airbnb in hakuba in March. It was nice and there are shops and restaurants nearby. E we had my 70 year old parents with us as well as my brother with his 2 year old. A drive to see the snow monkeys is worth it.

Hi, this year Japan is warm,so we are not sure how long snow stays. You can see snow in upper mt, but not best time to ski. Faster way to get there is take Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagano. 1hour30min. Then, take shuttle bus to Happo. 70min. enjoy!

Yes Evergreen Ski School has English speaking snowboarding instructors for kids. Make sure your child can understand the instructor as the first day the guy had a very strong German accent which our daughter found difficult to understand. After that we had an amazing English girl who was awesome!

I saw English Speaking instructors on Hakuba 47. It's also has easier runs better for beginners.

Since it's Jan it will be busy so suggest signing up soon. Best to go to the website and book there. See like no below.they are excellent instructors lessons on n English. I booked via their website and all fine. I can't paste the link here but go to Evergreen ski school Enjoy

Yes and they do have safety bars

Hi, It's very possibly the ski resorts will be opened any time soon especially it is snowing now and it will snow for few days afterwards. I suggest you come here to have fun for the first season ski at Hakuba since the powder snow is extremely fantastic! 0ff course the snow is the best for beginner! My family runs the Shakespeare Hotel located at Echoland, if you want to give a try, I am more than happy to waive the cancellation so you can book the accommodation without worrying change your plan if the ski resorts are not opened when you plan to come. If you would like to have more information, please access to our website, or send inquiry via the email. I will try my best to support you to have fun at Hakuba! Take good care Olivia Someya 81-90-7712-8363

We are doing that it again in the Dec 17 as well. Been in Happo one in Feb 17, it was the best snow field ever - Hakuba. Mind you, you are west from Tokyo, in a small town where the Olympic held back in 2008. So, only thing I can suggest is only if you enjoy hot spring, there are some temples and much smaller village your can do a day tour. Apart from that, they have the best snow depending on the time of the seasons. I hope I have answered your question. And the best way to travel is taking Shinkanzen train from Tokyo, the faster and nicer way to get there.