Driving to Hakuba our guide politely warned us that the area sees a lot of outsiders. And indeed it is a small-town seemingly flooded with Aussies and Kiwis. That said it is no where near as developed as your typical ski area in the United States. It is still a small town with a small town feel and not a corporate ski town like you find in the USA. There are not a lot of shops, and there is not a big bar at the base of the ski slope. At the end of the day everybody goes back to where they are staying.
Our hotel was built on top of a hot spring, and on arrival we were told about what to wear to 'onsen' and learned the whole 'onsen protocol'. I gather no clothes in 'onsen'. But on arrival at our room we discovered a hot tub that we could not turn off. And we really tried. It turns out that the tub is fed by the hot spring! The water is coming directly out of the spring! So we had our own hot spring right in our room. I am not usually one for baths but I ended up reading in the hot tub quite a bit. Nora used it quite a bit herself, and we never felt the need to go to the official 'onsen' room.
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