The Japanese are known for adopting popular American culture. Think movies, TV shows and baseball. Snowboarding is another example, and the most popular site is Myoko, which features a main mountain elevated at 2,450 meters (about 7,400 feet) above sea level that annual draws about 14 meters (44 feet) of snow.

Myoko would be referenced as a ski destination, but the younger generation of Japan is really into snowboarding Japan has a number of modern snowboard and ski destinations, but Myoko is a small town with old-time Japanese culture, having served as a ski resort town since the 1930s, which makes Myoko one of the world's oldest established ski areas.

Myoko's snowboard and ski area is made up of 10 mountains. They are Myoko Akakura, Shin-Akakura, Ikenotaira Onsen, Myoko Suginohara, Seki Onsen, Kyukamura, Myoko Ski Park, Myoko Pine Valley, Madarao Kogen and Tangram Ski Circus. Each has its own distinctive features. You can get a combined lift ticket or "Myoko Big-4" season pass to the four largest resorts, which are Akakura Kanko Ski Resort, Akakura Onsen Ski Resort, Ikenotaira Ski Resort and Myoko Suginohara Ski Resort.

The Japanese enjoy evening activities, which means snowboarders will encounter numerous opportunities to try out flood-lit terrain parks in Myoko. While the Japanese are getting more and more into snowboarding, there still is a work ethic which frowns upon taking leisure time during weekdays. This means vacationers on weekdays find themselves with virtually no competition for fresh tracks.

Bars and restaurants are within walking distance of the Myoko village and feature both Japanese and Western food and drink. You can opt for sushi and sake or burgers and beer. If you wish to mix some big city life with the remote Myoko experience, well, Myoko is not so remote. Nagano is 40 minutes away on Japan's bullet train, and Tokyo is within two hours.

Sources:
http://www.myokokogen.net/index.html
http://www.myoko.tv/foreign/english/
http://www.snowseasonjapan.com/myoko/
http://www.myoko-nojiri.com/myoko.htm
http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/298476/Re_Snowboarding_the_world_s_be.html

In Ireland, there are plenty of people who are really into snowboarding, especially college students attending DCU (Dublin City University). After all, it's not like these Irish sports enthusiasts can exactly hang out at the beach during the summer. The summer's average daily high temperature is about 60 degrees.

With summers that are so chilly, you might think Ireland would get cold enough during winter that the surfaces for snowboarders would be piled high with fine powder. Well, not quite. The average daily winter temps in Ireland remain up there in the low 40s.

It's like having six months of early spring and six months of late fall. What's going on here? Dublin is just as far north as Moscow. But maybe you remember from school: The Gulf Stream. The North Atlantic Current.

Sometimes it snows in the mountains of Ireland up to 30 times per year. But the snow usually doesn't stay long, and there have been years where it doesn't snow at all. So what's a snowboarder to do?

Aidan Coughlan was determined to do something. He returned from his first snowboarding experience in Europe eight years ago, and he was enraptured. So Aidan created a web site, irishsnowboarder.com, which attracted nearly 900 members. He organized ways to get snow made as often as possible at a mountain in Kilternan, both for slopes and half pipes. He started an online equipment store. The DCU snowboarders joined in. Aidan Coughlin is now seeking help to maintain the web site.

Still, sometimes they have to use fake snow, and sometimes it sounds sad. One forum poster wrote of the fake snow: "Ouch. Just back from freestyle Sunday in Kilternan, and I'm proof that what you can do on snow just does not happen on the dendex (i.e. fake snow)... I just took spill after spill after spill. Believe me, if you are going up there after time on the snow give yourself at least 5-10 runs to readjust, ('cause) I didn't and I paid the price. Bad fall on my shoulder, hand, etc. Still though, I'll be back there next Sunday!"

So, Ireland doesn't have the greatest snowboarding on the planet - just some of the most loyal and dedicated snowboarders.

Sources:
www.irishsnowboarder.com
www.dcusnowboarding.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Ireland

In the land of cheese, bratwursts and beer - Wisconsin - there is more than heavy food and drink. Snowboarding enthusiasts will be delighted with a less-publicized product of Wisconsin that is light and fluffy.

So-called "lake-effect" snow constantly falls near Wisconsin's coastlines along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. This is different than the lake nearest you, because you need a really big lake to get lake-effect snow. Such as a Great Lake.

Skies can be clear in other places, but lake-effect snow still will be falling in these areas. Don't worry, snowboarders, this doesn't mean that you're going daffy. This happens because the water quantity is so great on the Great Lakes that the water stays warmer compared to inland lakes, ponds and rivers, which freeze over. The frigid winter air hits this warmer Great Lakes' water, and there you have it: lake-effect snow.

Buffalo, Syracuse and New York's entire northwest, upstate areas get socked for a similar reason, but Wisconsin gets less attention for its prodigious snowfalls. For example, Crystal Ridge Ski Area and Wilmot Mountain are located just a few miles from downtown Milwaukee, and Milwaukee = lake effect (as well as beer). If you head 35 north of Milwaukee, you will encounter Sunburst Ski Area, where the lake effect is in full effect. Then there's Hidden Valley Ski Area near Green Bay, but don't try to get Packers' football tickets, because there is something like a 20-year waiting list, and Packers fans generally aren't into scalping.

You can find great Wisconsin inland locations as well for a day of snowboarding, a weekend, a full vacation or even a reasonably priced season pass for just a few hundred bucks. Wisconsin is by no means a mountainous state, but the glaciers left behind some really neat gorges and long sloping hills. For example, there's Granite Peak, which is smack dab in the center of the state. You can get a 700-foot vertical at Granite Peak, which is virtually unheard of in the Midwest.

The snowboarding culture is fully alive in Wisconsin, sparked in part by the presence of the University of Wisconsin's main campus at Madison and other campuses that dot the state. UW is known both as a liberal school and a party school. Hey, what can you say about a school that had its marching band suspended this fall for hazing?

Also recommended: Tyrol Basin, Alpine Valley and Mt. La Crosse.

Sources:
http://www.travelwisconsin.com/Snowboarding_Wisconsin.aspx
http://www.snowboardingwisconsin.com

If you aren't among those who remain angry with the French for failing to support U.S. foreign policy, they you can easily discover some of the planet's best snowboarding.

Consider Chamonix, which features Mont Blanc, which is Europe's highest mountain. More than 90 percent of the slopes are higher than 2,000 meters, and if you wish to convert from meters to feet, you will have to remember some of your school math. (Okay, we came up with 6,561 feet and a few inches. How? See below.)

Chamonix also advertises "superb culture and nightlife," but of course we're in France, so everyone is going to say that. But it's true! Chamonix also has a reputation of being more "snowboarder-oriented." Publicists for the resort emphasize that beginners and intermediates need fear not, because Chamonix is not just for experts.

Among the offerings at Meribel, meanwhile, are "645 kms of pisted trails." Seems like they could have worded that a little differently. But indeed the trails are well-packed. And a cool thing about Meribel, like Chamonix and some other French resorts, is that they offer special vacations just for snowboarders. Many snowboarding super-enthusiasts feel they get more respect in Europe than in North America.

If you really want to make a snowboarding vacation out of it, Meribel is a neighbor of Courchevel and Val Thorens, located in the Trois Vallees. That's three valleys, of course, and the Meribel folks proclaim that theirs is the prettiest.

These three valleys, which in the United States would be called "tri-valleys" or "tri-cities," reach a peak of 3,200 meters. That's 10,495 feet and a few inches, by the way.

Other spots in France to consider: Alpe D'Huez Resort, Les Arcs 2000, Let Gets, Morzine, Sainte Foy, Tignes and Val D'Isere.

And now (drum roll), time for the math explanation: A meter is 39.37 inches or 1.0936 yards, give or take. Go from there. And if you don't remember that from high school or junior high, well, we won't speculate . . .

Sources:

http://www.alpineelements.co.uk/snowboarding-holidays/resort/chamonix.html

http://www.alpineelements.co.uk/snowboarding-holidays/resort/meribel.html

http://www.worldreviewer.com/experiences/snowboard/