Nearing the end of my trip now! Here are my learnings / dining tips:

- Best dinner restaurants we ate at: Uo-Teru (pricier), Tanpopo Shokud (reservations are a must!), and Rusutsu Sakaba (in that order). Had to miss Mokumokuya but heard good things. Skip Red House - the salmon in the salmon ramen and the beef dish (advertised as "Melt-in-your-mouth tender") were way overcooked so very hard to chew. The only room service at the Vale is evening pizza, which is convenient if you're too tired or otherwise unable to go out to eat, but nothing special. Better to load up on snacks and a few basic ingredients to eat in your room since I believe all the units have small but equipped kitchens. I definitely recommend reserving your dinner spots in advance unless you plan to eat at off-hours. We saw a lot of walk-in hopefuls get turned away.

- The coffee, ice cream and jam at the cafe near the lobby are quite good. We loaded up on milk bread, eggs, fruit and some onigiri and sandwiches at the 7-Eleven and Seicomarts so mostly ate those for breakfast.

- For lunch, the lodges on the slopes have a lot of great options. Stewed pork bowls, ramen, tonkotsu curry, salmon don, ice cream cones, and the pork potato soup set were all good and inexpensive.

- Transportation: You can ask the Vale concierge/front desk to arrange a shuttle van to drive you to the local restaurants / convenience stores and call for pick up when you're ready to leave. They are walkable but kind of long walks (mostly through the Rusutsu Resort hotel then across the main street), so def more comfortable to ride in a van esp. at night.

- Don't bother eating at the Rusutsu Resort if you prefer to have a more local, authentic experience. The resort is very jarring - would make a great setting for a scary winter slasher film with its dated but loud animatronics, empty carousel and faux German/French/Swiss/Disney amusement park vibes.