A slow start to the season in Japan
I have been holding off on posting this article for a week or so in the hope that I might be able to bring the exciting news about typical Japan-style heavy snowfall across the country, but unfortunately it is looking like we are going to have to wait a little longer for that to happen.
It has been a slow start to the snow season here in Japan. There have been short bursts of snowfall over the last few weeks, but there has also been prolonged periods of milder weather and rain meaning that in many regions any snow on the ground has been wiped about before any kind of base got established.
Parts of the northern island of Hokkaido and northern Honshu have fared better than other regions in central Japan and the south, but even in those regions there is significantly less snow than we expect as we enter the last 10 days of the year. Quite a few ski resorts are open in those northern regions and making the best of what they have, but it all still feels rather limited as we wait for the heavy snowfalls.
Although Japan is not a Christian country, it certainly does recognise and celebrate Christmas – though in its own unique way. (Christmas Eve is more important than Christmas Day, traditional Kentucky Fried Chicken, etc). There’s lots of money to be made!
By the weekend before Christmas the majority of ski hills around Japan hope to be able to open for the season. We are at that stage now, but for the moment many ski hills are still either on standby waiting for snow to arrive or open in a limited capacity. Missing Christmas is seen as a real disappointment. Missing the bigger and much more important New Year holidays would be borderline disastrous.
The forecasts do generally show snow potential before by the end of the year, so everyone is very hopeful that by New Year the situation will look and feel very different.
Things can change very quickly and often do. Now is the time for some of that please!
Daily snow and weather reports from around popular regions here:
https://www.snowjapan.com/japan-daily-snow-weather-reports
New 10-person Gondola at Nozawa Onsen for 2020-2021
I remember talking about the Nozawa Onsen ski resort last year when I did an introduction to Nagano Prefecture. Located in the north eastern region of Nagano, Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort first opened in 1923. The first ski lift was installed in 1950 and over the decades Nozawa Onsen has traditionally been one of the most famous and popular ski resorts in Japan. It is also a very popular year-round onsen hot springs village. In recent years the ski resort has been getting a lot of attention from ‘inbound’ skiers and snowboarders visiting from overseas.
As part of its lift infrastructure, Nozawa Onsen currently has two gondola lifts – the Nagasaka Gondola that first opened in 1979 and the 6-person Hikage Gondola which first opened in 1984. The Nagasaka Gondola initially had 4-person cabins and was upgraded to cabins for up to 12 people in 1990.
In time for the 2020-2021 winter season a brand-new gondola lift is being prepared in place of the current Nagasaka Gondola.
The current Nagasaka Gondola goes up from village base to a mid-station called Yunomine before going off in a different direction to the upper Yamabiko area of the resort. In contrast, the new gondola will go straight up from the same base area to a new top Yamabiko station, doing away with a mid-station.
The new gondola will have a length of 3,129m and each cabin will seat 10 people and the trip up to the top from base will take about 8 minutes. It looks like the gondola cabins are going for a real luxurious feel too, with comfortable seats and a lot of glass windows – including what looks like a partially see-though floor. There should be good scenery on the way up!
It sounds like the base station is going to get a good overhaul too, so that should make a significant change to the feel of Nozawa Onsen next winter.
One more thing about Nozawa Onsen if you plan to visit. The Japan Ski Museum is worth a look. Featuring information on the history of skiing in Japan, lots of actual old ski equipment and ‘snow country’ gear, as well as posters and images of times gone by. There is also various 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics memorabilia on show as well. The museum is located close to the base station of the Hikage Gondola and is open throughout the year (300-yen entry charge; normally closed on Thursdays).
It’s good to see new investment in new lifts and infrastructure.
Anyway, back to the 2019-2020 season. Heavy snowfall, please.
