Visiting a traditional snowboard workshop and riding insane 3D shapes in Hokkaido, Japan

Jamie O’Brien visits Island Snowboard’s workshop in Hokkaido and gets to try some of Field Earth’s innovative boards

There’s no getting away from the fact that the vast majority of skis and snowboards are mass-produced in factories in China. To a certain extent, this is good for the sport because it, in theory, keeps costs down.

But if you compare mass-produced equipment to more traditional methods of making snowboards, there is obviously a difference in quality and sustainability. The first part of the process is largely the same: the designer or design team has an idea for a board, selects the wood, cuts the shape, handmakes a prototype, then tests and refines it. The second part isn’t. At Hokkaido’s Island Snowboards, they hand-make small batches with exactly the same processes using local materials. Big brands outsource production to cheaper locations, sometimes using the same factories as other brands.

“They shun traditional construction methods to make very high-end, ground-breaking, innovative snowboards that take seven times as long to build.”

Another local company, Field Earth, also keeps everything in-house and produces small batches, but they do things very differently. They shun traditional construction methods to make very high-end, ground-breaking, innovative snowboards that take seven times as long to build. They were the first to physically carve 3D side-to-side contours into a board’s internal wood core to match the shape of the base so the wood flexes without internal tension. They are also very focused on sustainable production.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic mass-produced snowboards. A factory-made Honda is a very solid vehicle, but a hand-built Aston Martin is something else.

Last season, I had the chance to see first hand the great work of both of these Hokkaido-based manufacturers. One of the highlights of my trip was visiting Island Snowboards’ workshop on the south side of Kutchan, and demoing their all-mountain Volume One deck. A few days later, I also got to try out a selection of Field Earth’s unique 3D designs and lightning-quick graphite bases at the resorts near Asahikawa.

The store area inside Island Snowboard’s workshop. Image: Jamie O’Brien

Island Snowboards

I suppose the idea of visiting a snowboard workshop and chatting with the designers and craftspeople is not really something you expect to be able to do in 2026. But just a 15-minute drive away from the mega tourism of Niseko is Island Snowboard’s wonderful workshop, housed in a converted farm shed, where they are still making boards almost exactly how it was done in the 80s. Dreaming up shapes, handmaking them, then riding them and iterating the process until they have something they like. Then making the production boards in the same shed in the same way.

Island Snowboards’ founder Owain Basset explaining how they make the cores from local honoki and tamo timber. Image: Jamie O’Brien

If you’re in Niseko and you’re looking for something interesting to do in the evening, I can’t stress how much I enjoyed spending some time here chatting with Island Snowboards’ founder Owain Basset and getting to understand the entire process of designing a snowboard. From selecting local wood to seeing how the presses work and how they print the topsheets. I loved every moment.

The best part is, this experience isn’t something that was specially arranged; they encourage anyone to drop by and see how it all works.

It’s a niche, low-volume operation, and every single one of their boards is hand-built at their workshop. They only produced 20 of their first splitboard design, so you know you aren’t going to keep running into people with the same board.

Working on Island Snowboard’s first splitboard. Image: Jamie O’Brien

Island Snowboards have only been selling boards for five or six years, initially having only one model, the Volume One, and selling locally. They now have four models (not including the limited-run splitboard) and sell internationally.

On the day I got to try the Volume One, conditions at Niseko weren’t fantastic. It was very windy, the top lifts were all closed, and the snow was heavy and chopped up. Still, I had a great time in the trees at Hanazono. I immediately felt at home as the board is similar to the two I brought to Japan, a camber Burton Fish and the Burton Family Tree Forager. All three are directional, hybrid camber, setback and tapered and designed for deep snow. All three also perform well on piste, with the Volume One being more of an all-mountain design.

Island Snowboards’ flagship snowboard, the Volume One. Image: Jamie O’Brien

In the gondola, I met an instructor on his break, and he showed me where to find the fresh lines. It was a unique experience to spend time with a snowboard designer, see how the board was made, and then ride it in the woods where it was designed and tested. This was one of my more memorable experiences in Hokkaido. Runs and resorts can sometimes be easily forgotten, but if you’re at all into snowboards, then it’s a real treat to actually see how they are made and chat with someone who’s so passionate about snowboard design.

Field Earth Snowboards

Field Earth’s innovative snowboards. Image: Jamie O’Brien

After reading about Field Earth’s innovative snowboards, I was very excited to try them. What I wasn’t expecting on my arrival at my hotel, OMO7 Asahikawa by Hoshino Resorts, was a giant snowboard bag with five brand new boards to test, all still in their wrappers. As it worked out, with a number of splitboarding backcountry tours booked, it was going to be difficult to test all these boards with the two days resort riding I had planned. (A very nice problem to have.) I’m 182cm, 73kg, size US9.5 boots (K2 Darko) and used L Burton Cartel bindings on all the boards.

Field Earth XA Custom 159

I started with the XA Custom at Kamui Ski Links. Sadly, there had been no significant snow for a week, but the piste was in surprisingly good condition. Cold and fast. Visibility was good with sunshine and shade throughout the day.

Kamui is a compact resort but it feels bigger than it looks on paper. Image: opensnow.com

I’ve never seen a snowboard that’s rated 10/10 for powder, speed, carving, response, and stiffness, but that’s exactly what you get with the XA Custom. It comes in one size, a 159, and has a gigantic spooned nose and tail. Some boards have a little 3D contouring; this one has a boat-like hull of a nose. Riding this board, you’re going to hear the question “What is that?” at almost every lift.

The Field Earth XA Custom’s gigantic 3D nose. Image: fieldearthdesign.com

For a board that looks very aggressive on paper, I felt comfortable on it immediately. It felt solid but not overly stiff. Some boards you need to feel out a bit before you’re ready to push, but I had so much confidence in this board from turn one. It wants to go, but not in a way that’s at all scary. It holds a carve on inconsistent snow like a dream. The nose and tail seem to make it impossible to catch an edge. There’s very little chatter at high speeds, which could be expected with such a big spoon nose. You can just confidently throw this thing around at high speeds, and it will do what you want it to do. It’s so much fun, and unlike any other snowboard I’ve ridden. On fresh groomers, long, drawn-out carves feel amazing.

Charging felt effortless, and I didn’t have to use too much energy fighting the turns. Later in the day when things started to cut up, the way it just busted through everything reminded me of the first time I rode a Burton Custom X. Unlike the Custom X, if you’re lazy but you like to charge, it’s the board for you. Stand on it and steer it. No need to fight, a bit like a longboard surfboard. The board really dominates the snow rather than the conditions dominating the board.

I’m not sure how many people actually want to try boards this stiff, maybe because they’ve tried stiff boards before and struggled. I would say you just haven’t tried the right stiff board. You really can let the board do the work. Normally you have to be confident, willing to attack, and comfortable with high speeds, but with the XA I could still just back off at any point without fear of things going wrong.

The base and factory wax is incredible. It’s like a non-stick frying pan. It’s made from P-Tex that’s heavily infused with microscopic graphite particles. This makes it faster in three ways: the graphite eliminates the static electricity that causes drag with standard plastic bases, it also hydroplanes better on snow than regular bases, and it’s more porous, so it holds wax better and doesn’t dry out.

You must try this snowboard. Sadly, it’s not for everyone as it costs ¥228,800.

Field Earth SMM5 156

I really didn’t want to get off the XA, but I switched to the SMM5 at the end of the day, a softer flex bamboo core swallow tail built for powder and carving.

The latest model of the MM5 has a blue gloss topsheet; the model I tested was natural wood. Image: fieldearthdesign.com

I tried to ride this the same way as the XA Custom at first, but quickly realised that it’s much better suited to cruising and short carves. At 156 it felt much shorter, even though it was just a 3cm difference. For my height and stance width – I had it at the maximum width – it had too much nose and too little tail for long carves, but performed really well at lower speeds. After I realised it was best not to charge, it became a more fun board, good for cruising around and short carves with pressure on the nose.

The base on this board is also wonderful, very slick and fast, even though it doesn’t have infused graphite. Sometimes a factory wax on a demo board feels like glue to me when I run my hand over it. This feels incredible. It isn’t waxy – it’s just pristine and slippery. (There’s a reason they charge ¥19,800 for a factory wax on new boards.)

Field earth X1 Custom 165

I took the X1 Custom out at Pippu Ski Resort. Again, no new snow, but these are carving boards so there was still fun to be had.

Pippu is even smaller than Kamui, and only had two chairs open. Image: opensnow.com

I must admit, I tried this one last because at 165 and 10/10 stiffness I was worried it was too much board for me. I like a wide stance and even at max width it felt narrow. It feels a bit like this is a big board designed for smaller people. Heel turns were a bit washy.

The Field Earth X1 Custom. Image: fieldearthdesign.com

After a couple of hours, I got the hang of it, but it wasn’t as much fun as the XA Custom. This needed more work and more precision. In firm and slightly bumpy conditions, you really had to pressure the nose to drive in the edge to hold a carve. I struggled on the heel side, but toe side carves felt good. It has the same smooth and lightning-fast graphite-infused base. By the end of the day, I was linking carves better and having more fun, but the XA was so much more forgiving and better at handling the lumps and bumps. If the XA made me feel like a better rider, the X1 made me feel like a worse rider. I need to stress, though, it’s not the board, it’s me.

You can find out more about Field Earth’s unique snowboards and skis, their riders and their construction and sustainability methods on their movie page.

In this video, you can see how their boards float on top of the powder, giving a different sensation to most powder boards. Because of the 3D shape, the board floats more on the surface rather than the tail sinking in to provide float. This means less drag and more speed.

How to try Field Earth’s snowboards

If you want to try Field Earth’s snowboards, the best thing to do is keep an eye on their Facebook or Instagram for announcements (like this) of their Field Earth Meetings (what they call their demo days). They run throughout the season, mostly in Hokkaido but also in Hakuba and Yamagata. You’ll need to pre-register and pay a small fee on the day.