Ski Japan - Nagano

When you ski Japan you’re on the slopes of one of the world’s leading ski nations and the main ski country in Asia. There are more than 500 Japanese ski resorts spread across the country – a number only matched by Austria, Germany and the United States.

The ski centres stretch across the country and have a reputation of excellent snowfalls, particularly on the northern island of Hokkaido where annual snow accumulations are normally among the deepest in the world, officially only beaten by Mt Baker in Washington State just across the Pacific in the USA.

Skiing in Japan also has the longest history of downhill winter sports in the continent, with the sport introduced by famous Austrian pioneer Hannes Schneider from the Arlberg who popularised skiing in early films and books all over the world and is now commemorated in a dedicated ski museum in Nozawa Onsen, one of the country’s best known resorts where Schneider taught skiing in the early 1920s.

Most of the resorts are comparatively small in extent but in some cases up to a dozen small areas are inter-linked or at least very close together, such as the many sectors of 1998 Winter Olympic venue Nagano – one of two Olympics staged in Japan, the only country outside Europe, the US and Russia to stage a winter games.

The evolution of wintersports in Japan is a unique one and reflects both economic and consumer trends.

While in most first world countries with a long history of skiing the sport gradually grew and matured and has remained relatively stable for two or three decades now, interest in skiing among the Japanese population peaked in the 1980s and then dramatically dropped at the start of the 1990s after a collapse of the Japanese economy coincided with growth in interest in other activities, particularly computer gaming.

Skier numbers declined from 20 million a year to around a third of that number, although they have now recovered to about 10 million.

During the boom years Japan was known for having very crowded slopes – there are almost no drag lifts in the country and multiple chairlifts deposited Japanese skiers en masse at the top of slopes. As Japan is a very polite and respectful society, this rarely caused the kind of bad temper, pushing and shoving it might in Europe or North America and instead everyone made space. Many ski areas were efficiently accessed by rail from the country’s cities too and skiers would arrive in the early hours of the morning to ski through the small hours as ski areas operated nearly 24 hours a day to cope with demand.

Another consequence of the 1980s popularity of skiing was that in its early years, snowboarding was largely banned on the country’s slopes, with resort managers seeing no reason why they should complicate matters by allowing boarders on their ski runs. There was also little of the Western model of diversification in activities and resort facilities. There were basic hotels, ski runs only, childcare facilities were rare and while most skiing nations have a mix of nationalities on their slopes, non-Japanese skiers very rare too. This was partly due to the lack of any languages being spoken or signage other than Japanese and partly as the Yen was riding high making skiing very expensive.

The ski boom also led to Japan being a pioneer of indoor skiing with one of the world’s earliest centres opened in the 1950s and in the modern era a dozen indoor centres opening in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including what is still the biggest ever built – the SSAWS dome in Tokyo harbour with a 500m long, 100m wide slope built on earthquake absorbing piles to save the centre from the potential danger of an indoor avalanche. This centre was eventually demolished to make way for Japan’s first IKEA store, having never repaid its construction costs.

Indeed the 1990s saw many Japanese ski areas mothballed. Japanese business ownership rules meant it was generally better to close a ski centre down and leave it potentially operational rather than dismantle it.

Seeking to re-invent itself, the country’s major ski areas have, particularly in the last decade, followed Western business models far more, diversifying their resort activity range, dining and accommodation options.

None has been more successful in doing so than Niseko which has risen to worldwide fame as a cult free riding resort attracting powder hounds from around the world and particularly Australia, as Aussies have realised they have a shorter trip and no jet lag travelling to Japan than their traditional choices of Canada and to a lesser extent the US and the Alps. This has allowed Niseko to have far more English language information than other resorts, making the resort instantly more attractive to the global market.

A main attraction is the remarkable snow conditions, but visitors have also found that modern Japan also offers great food in its restaurants and relatively affordable prices. Service standards are also very high and the local population friendly and respectful in their welcome. Japan also has several unique attractions including the hot spring onsen baths found at many resorts and eternally popular karaoke bars for après ski.

It comes as a surprise to many freeriders that much of Japan’s extensive off piste terrain often buried metres deep is off limits as well as off piste and if skied or boarded can result in prosecution and certainly loss of lift ticket. Some resorts, including Niseko do have off piste zones available however.

Another point to be kept in mind is that Japanese snowfall can be unremitting. Photos of snow banks towering above tour buses can only result from periods where snowfall has lasted for weeks when a cycle of dry air sweeping in from across the vast Siberian plains sucks up moisture as it passes out over the Sea of Japan, depositing it all once it hits the mountains.

Japan’s ski areas are also frequently subject to earthquakes and resort facilities and buildings are designed to cope with this. Fukushima, where the nuclear power plant was damaged by the 2011 Tsunami, is a popular ski region where radiation level reports are now posted along side snow conditions.
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Japan - Nagano: latest snow conditions round-up


JAPAN REPORT Just as we published last week's report, winter returned with a little more force than expected with lots of fresh snow, including 45cm (18") of waiting for lucky skiers arriving at Nozawa Onsen (85/280cm / 34/112") which is celebrating its centenary this winter. Up in Hokkaido, snow depths are also up a little, with Niseko (100/320cm / 40/128") reporting nearly 90% of its slopes still open, and Rusutsu (110/160cm / 44/64") is at 98%.

Summer ski area Gassan is gearing up to open for its 2024 season on April 12th.

Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in Japan - Nagano. Fresh snow is forecast at 98 resorts. Powder is reported at 0 resorts and 0 are reporting good piste conditions.

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A–J

K–R S–Z

Ski resorts in Japan - Nagano from A to J

Resort
snow depth
top and bottom

on-piste

off-piste

Last Snow

Next 9 Days
0–3 | 3–6 | 6–9
snow (cm)
Next 5 days weather forecast.
Freezing level (m)
Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

(1140m — 1320m)

9 cm
on 23 Mar
part cloud cloud light rain heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1230 m
4000m 4050m 3950m 3950m 3650m

(900m — 1100m)

1.0 cm
on 26 Mar
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1000 m
3550m 3950m 3750m 3750m 3550m

(1880m — 2050m)

1.0 cm
on 1 May
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain clear
Mid station 1965 m
3450m 3900m 3750m 3800m 3450m

(1200m — 1400m)

8 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1300 m
3500m 3900m 3750m 3750m 3450m

(1350m — 1800m)

10 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1575 m
3600m 3900m 3850m 3800m 3400m

(1400m — 1620m)

1.0 cm
on 9 May
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1510 m
3800m 3900m 4050m 3900m 3450m

(2610m — 2830m)

1.0 cm
on 16 May
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 2720 m
3750m 4050m 3900m 3900m 3450m

(1450m — 1850m)

10 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1650 m
3600m 3900m 3850m 3800m 3400m

(2172m — 2305m)

2.0 cm
on 1 May
cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 2238 m
3100m 3750m 3700m 3750m 3250m

(1200m — 1400m)

4 cm
on 26 Mar
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1300 m
3750m 3950m 3950m 3900m 3400m

(1050m — 1780m)

11 cm
on 9 Apr
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 1415 m
3750m 3950m 3950m 3900m 3400m

(1000m — 1500m)

9 cm
on 9 Apr
light rain part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1250 m
2750m 3650m 3700m 3750m 3200m

(876m — 1676m)

19 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud part cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1276 m
2750m 3700m 3600m 3700m 3200m

(731m — 1440m)

10 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1086 m
2600m 3650m 3650m 3650m 3150m

(950m — 1676m)

18 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud part cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1313 m
2800m 3700m 3600m 3700m 3200m

(704m — 951m)

7 cm
on 26 Mar
rain showers part cloud part cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 828 m
2750m 3700m 3600m 3700m 3200m

(750m — 1289m)

1.0 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud part cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1020 m
2700m 3700m 3650m 3650m 3200m

(840m — 1050m)

7 cm
on 26 Mar
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 945 m
2850m 3700m 3600m 3700m 3200m

(700m — 1300m)

1.0 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1000 m
2700m 3650m 3650m 3700m 3200m

(760m — 1831m)

snow report 15 days ago

opens in 31 days 19 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud part cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1296 m
2700m 3700m 3650m 3650m 3200m

(1375m — 1600m)

10 cm
on 23 Mar
part cloud cloud light rain heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1488 m
3950m 4050m 3950m 3950m 3600m

(1097m — 1440m)

7 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain cloud
Mid station 1268 m
3300m 3800m 3550m 3750m 3350m

(950m — 1030m)

5 cm
on 23 Mar
part cloud cloud light rain heavy rain light rain
Mid station 990 m
4100m 4050m 3950m 4000m 3650m

(1454m — 1748m)

17 cm
on 9 Apr
1.0
light rain part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1601 m
2900m 3700m 3700m 3750m 3200m

(1080m — 1480m)

16 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1280 m
2800m 3650m 3700m 3700m 3150m

(900m — 1500m)

15 cm
on 9 Apr
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain rain showers
Mid station 1200 m
2750m 3650m 3700m 3700m 3150m

(876m — 1086m)

1.0 cm
on 26 Mar
part cloud part cloud cloud heavy rain part cloud
Mid station 981 m
3750m 4000m 3900m 3900m 3450m

(1160m — 1350m)

9 cm
on 23 Mar
part cloud cloud light rain heavy rain light rain
Mid station 1255 m
4050m 4050m 3950m 4000m 3650m

(940m — 1200m)

6 cm
on 26 Mar
rain showers part cloud cloud heavy rain light rain
Mid station 1070 m
3100m 3800m 3550m 3700m 3250m