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Why foreign tourists are drawn to the skiing in Hakuba, Japan: powder snow, great food, uncrowded slopes, and for many it is cheaper than at home
- Japan, which went through a winter sports boom and bust, has many resorts that are overbuilt for the number of skiers and snowboarders they see
- These resorts, including Hakuba, in Nagano, are attracting tourists with their uncrowded slopes and good-value food, ski passes and accommodation
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Japan is a country whose boom-bust experience with winter sports has left a mix of charmingly dated resorts matched with an infusion of new-found interest from foreign visitors.
In the inverse of the scenario in many other ski areas, where demand outstrips supply, the Japanese resorts are vastly overbuilt for their domestic market. There are six times fewer Japanese skiers and snowboarders today compared with 30 years ago.
Japan’s ski operators are increasingly catering to foreign visitors to revive an industry that peaked in the early 1990s, at the height of the country’s economic bubble.
As for which mountain town to pick, consult Winter Olympic history: Nagano hosted in 1998, while Sapporo did the honours for the 1972 games.
While Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido prefecture, gets some of the world’s most consistent powder dumps, nicknamed “Japow”, the slopes often aren’t adequately steep.
Nagano is the gateway to the Japanese Alps, the country’s steepest mountains, and, for arrivals coming through the capital, conveniently located on Honshu, the main island. The Shinkansen bullet train ride is 80 to 100 minutes from Tokyo Station and a ticket costs about 8,000 yen (US$56).
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