Kitanomine, one of two ski zones at the Furano resort on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, on Dec. 22, 2025. Faced with soaring ticket prices and bare slopes at many U.S. resorts, Americans are flocking to the island of Hokkaido, which gets up to 50 feet of snow a year. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times) By MEGHAN DAVIDSON LADLY I had never encountered a ski lift quite like this one. Each one-person seat looked like a pizza box hung from a cable on a metal hook. Only a low backrest stood…
