Transporting ski gear
 

So say I'm living in Tokyo and I want to take a long weekend to hit the slopes and I want to go to Hokkaido for the powder.

Do people transport ski gear via takkyubin? i.e. is it the kind of thing that ski resorts are set up to receive?

There are ski and golf takkyubin services.
Google for Ski Takkyubin and you'll get some descriptions in English.

Yup, absolutely! I looked like a complete dork once when going on a ski trip with friends, hauling skis and boots onto the Shinkansen. Received with lots of rolling eyes. :) Since then I've found Ski Takkyubin a very civilized way to go.

When calling for pickup make sure to have them bring over one of the special plastic/tyvek "ski bags" (about JPY500) -- I believe it was required for my snowboard, even though it was already in its own carrying bag.

And if you're going for consecutive weekends, consider shipping it over to the *next* destination!

Yeah, this was precisely the scenario I was contemplating. Having once hauled a moderate amount of baggage from Tokyo to Kyoto on a direct shinkansen, I definitely didn't fancy the idea of flight + train + bus. I guessed there might be such a service, very glad to hear it exists!