Know the weather = know the snow pack = know the stability.  For previous weather and snow reports use the Diary link at the top of the page.

Steep Deep Japan Hakuba  weather data for the 24 hours to 7am for 860m asl. Max temp +11C, min temp -2C and  +4C at 7am. 0cm of new snow  in the last 24 hours.  Depth of snow 160cm after settlement.  Barometer is steady at 916mbar.  The sky has about 100% cloud cover and it is raining lightly, apparently as high as 1800m.

Field observations:  For the last two days we travelled in the backcountry to 2600m on mainly south and east aspects.  Solar radiation was intense.  Recorded temps at 2600m at midday were +1.5C.  Besides obvious wet snow sluffing on steeper aspects below cornices, we found very stable snow above 2200m.  Below that altitude is very unstable on steep solar terrain due to rapid melting and deep isothermal conditions:  there is no structure in the snowpack.

As usual snow stability reports are posted on Japan Avalanche Association (JAN) can be found here.  JAN have made available a valuable public resource that I encourage people to consult before entering the backcountry.

Please refer to the Hakuba backcountry travel advisory from the guides at Evergreen Outdoors. (Frequency of update is unreliable)