Facilities for the national sports of badminton and table tennis can be found at every neighborhood, football & co. are as popular as everywhere else and even running and road cycling have become hugely popular over the last few years and there seems to be a major competition every second week.
Singapore is lacking any serious mountains, but for passionate hikers and mountainbikers there are many good options in neighboring Malaysia within reach of a day trip or weekend trip.
The only major activity you will be hard to come by, is winter sport. Actually, it will be hard to find a worse place to live in if your big passion is snowboarding fresh powder or climb frozen waterfalls!
Only the most desperate will attempt the Singapore indoor skiing facility. Trust me – nobody can be that desperate!
Being pin point on the equator means you wont find any snow in a radius of at least 5h flying time!
No wonder I never even considered the option of snowboarding during my first few years in Singapore and only started phantasizing about it after the topic emerged with my Korean colleague, who turned out to be a very enthusiastic snowboarder.
The skiing/snowboarding experience in my office was otherwise extremely limited, but after a few rounds of happy hour we managed to extend our group of enthusiasts to five and were soon heading out to our first winter sport trip to – Japan.
Options for winter sport in Asia are very very limited. Skiing in China is still in its infancy, which leaves Korea as the closest destination with decent ski resorts. Korean resorts however seem to be suffering from overcrowding and if already flying so far, we might as well fly a bit further and enjoy Japan, home to famous ski areas like Nagano (former winter Olympics) and Hokkaido (heaven of powder snow).
Our first ski trip to Hokkaido in 2013 became a big success and it has since become an annual tradition for us to go Japan beginning of the year.
Hokkaido being in the very north of Japan is very snow-safe and gets loads of new powder thanks to its Siberian influence. Typical for Japan everything is very reliable and efficient, lift facilities are excellent and rental equipment is usually of good quality.
And the best of all: during the week the slopes are usually very empty!
Obviously there are neither Europeans nor Americans coming to Japan for winter sport and among Asians skiing is still quite a new thing. That means the only foreigners you will see are from Australia & New Zealand and a few exotics from Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. And as working Japanese don’t have a lot of holidays, the only Japanese you will see are school groups. 
If you like Japanese food, then thats another big selling point. From Sushi to Ramen the quality at hotels is typically very good and even on the slopes you get very decent lunch food.
Fancy a hot bath after the cold and tiring day of skiing? Nothing better than a relaxing Onsen bath! Even the smallest family hotel will have hot bath facilities, usually with an indoor and an outdoor section.
In my view the only aspect where Japanese skiing is loosing out against its counterparts in the Alpes, is Apres-ski. While in Europe the first thing after a long day of skiing might be to have a pint at a bar next to the slopes, in Japan the priority is on Onsen and a lavish dinner (plus drinks). There are bars around, where you can mingle with other foreigners, but don’t expect the same standard as in the Alpes.
If you like to mix your skiing with a bit of sightseeing there are many good options, especially in Hokkaido, where most ski resorts are close to the regional capital Sapporo, famous for the best Japanese beer, and smaller gems like the coastal town Otaru, where you can indulge in delicious Sushi and Hokkaido’s famous dairy products.
So far I could never convince Yang Ke to join me for my trips, despite the numerous food photos! I was hoping to build up credibility by introducing her to the wonders of snowboarding in Chile, but (as you know) that turned out a big fiasco and since then it has been a lost case ;(
Every year we try a new ski resort and this year we opted for a less known, more local resort close to Nagano. Usually we have a stop over in Tokyo over the weekend, to do some shopping and enjoy Tokyo food, and then spend the week in the ski resort when it is most quiet.
Our ski hotel’s location was amazing, just next to the slope, it was (again) very well managed and the food was varied and very tasty.
This year was quite a bad year for winter sports, in Europe as well as Japan. But even then conditions were still pretty good with only a few icy patches during the first two days. After the second day we got lots of new snow and fully enjoyed the rest of our stay!
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