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. Max temp +7C, min temp -5C and  -4C at 7am. 10cm of new snow  in the last 24 hours.  Depth of snow 197cm after settlement.  Barometer 913mbar.  The sky is has 100% cloud cover, snowing at 1cm per hour, no wind

Field observations:  Yesterday we travelled in the backcountry to 2150m and observed mainly easterly aspects in the Tsugaike-Otari area.  Stability was fair to good with scoured southern ridges and moderately loaded northerly ridge aspects.  Generally, there was about 20-30cm of settling and decomposing cold snow on top of a hard icy crust.    Winds were light to moderate from the SW.  It snowed at 1-2cm per hour in the early morning and again in the late afternoon.  Most of the middle day was sunny and clear, enough to create a sout aspect sun crust.  Winds aloft at 2600m were producing moderate to intense snow transport from the SW.

As usual snow stability reports posted on Japan Avalanche Network (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)