Hokkaido is one of the northernmost Japanese islands, and its frosty climate and largely rural, mountainous landscape have made it the national winter wonderland. The locals play up the chill with Quebec-style carnivals – snow mazes, ice villages, frozen waterfall festivals – and it’s got all the picturesque cold-climate necessaries like mountains with reliable fresh powder, hot springs, and ice floes drifiting down from through the Sea of Okhotsk. The only thing that’s missing from this perfect picture? The Northern Lights. So, with typical Japanese ingenuity, they’ve decided to make their own. From February 5 to March 21, the skies above Shiretoko Hot Spring will light up with a laser show designed to mimic the polar aurora, only better, because their version comes with a stirring soundtrack and is guaranteed at 8:00 pm every night! Take that, Arctic Circle! (via Jaunted)

Elsewhere:
– Aurora Borealis Forecast (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

Get out your long johns, ski season is here:

NYT “Snow Days”
– “Finding Bliss in Avalanche Country, British Columbia”
– “At Deer Valley, Utah, a One-Size-Fits-All Vacation”
– “Resorts Aim to Please Younger Skiers”
– “Niseko, Japan: Downhill Skiing in the Land of the Rising Sun”
– “Powder Trip in Silverton, Colo.”
– “36 Hours: Whistler”
– “Getting Ahead, or, How to Cut the Lift Line”
– “Eco-Resorts Turn White Slopes Green”

Globe and Mail
– “Early riders”
– “Earning your turns in the Selkirks”
– “Stowe’s major makeover”

SF Chronicle “Ski Preview”
– “BREAKING OUT OF THE TAHOE RUT: Kirkwood and Bear Valley”
– “Northstar, Tahoe resorts unveil new lifts, lodging, terrain”