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 The seasons are changing in Japan as well, and we're seeing temperatures fluctuating 5-10 degrees on either side of the freezing point and a mixture of sunshine and snow showers. Niseko (110/315cm / 44/126") has seen very little change in its base depth for weeks now, really, getting 5-10cm fresh snowfall deposits but then losing a bit of depth due to thawing.

It's also had its usual issue with strong winds closing higher lifts at times. Charmant Hiuchi ski area (100/400cm / 40/160") near Itoigawa City in Niigata has Japan's deepest base. Gassan Ski Area says it will open for its 2024 summer ski season in a month 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 1 resorts and 1 are reporting good piste conditions.

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Recent Eyeball Snow Reports for Japan - Nagano

A–J

K–R S–Z Best powder (1)Best piste conditions (1)

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)
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

(1140m — 1320m)

snow report 7 days ago

28 cm
7 days ago
10.0
4.0
10.0
cloud snow showers snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1230 m
350m 0m 0m 0m 0m

(900m — 1100m)

snow report 6 days ago

16 cm
7 days ago
11.0
10.0
light snow snow showers snow showers light snow heavy rain
Mid station 1000 m
200m 150m 0m 0m 250m

(1880m — 2050m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
2 days ago
15.0
13.0
12.0
light snow mod snow snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1965 m
250m 300m 0m 0m 0m

(1200m — 1400m)

snow report 6 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
5.0
4.0
4.0
part cloud light snow snow showers part cloud light snow
Mid station 1300 m
250m 400m 0m 0m 350m

(1350m — 1800m)

snow report 6 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
8.0
4.0
6.0
cloud snow showers snow showers part cloud light snow
Mid station 1575 m
300m 400m 0m 0m 350m

(1400m — 1620m)

snow report 6 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
6.0
3.0
4.0
cloud light snow light snow clear light snow
Mid station 1510 m
350m 400m 0m 0m 400m

(2610m — 2830m)

snow report 6 days ago

33 cm
7 days ago
16.0
39.0
15.0
light snow snow showers snow showers clear mod snow
Mid station 2720 m
250m 0m 0m 0m 0m

(1450m — 1850m)

snow report 6 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
9.0
9.0
7.0
cloud light snow snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1650 m
300m 400m 0m 0m 400m

(2172m — 2305m)

snow report today

4 cm
yesterday
45.0
22.0
30.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers light snow
Mid station 2238 m
0m 300m 0m 0m 0m

(1200m — 1400m)

snow report 6 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
7.0
3.0
6.0
cloud light snow snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1300 m
400m 400m 0m 0m 450m

(1050m — 1780m)

snow report 6 days ago

1.0 cm
6 days ago
9.0
4.0
8.0
light snow light snow snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1415 m
400m 350m 0m 0m 450m

(1000m — 1500m)

snow report today

8 cm
yesterday
56.0
5.0
33.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers light snow
Mid station 1250 m
0m 300m 0m 0m 0m

(876m — 1676m)

snow report today

7 cm
yesterday
83.0
8.0
50.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers light snow
Mid station 1276 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(731m — 1440m)

snow report today

6 cm
yesterday
76.0
8.0
44.0
light snow heavy snow snow showers snow showers light snow
Mid station 1086 m
0m 200m 0m 0m 0m

(950m — 1676m)

snow report today

6 cm
yesterday
79.0
11.0
49.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers mod snow
Mid station 1313 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(704m — 951m)

snow report today

4 cm
yesterday
57.0
2.0
33.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers heavy rain
Mid station 828 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(750m — 1289m)

snow report today

6 cm
yesterday
72.0
5.0
42.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers heavy rain
Mid station 1020 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(840m — 1050m)

snow report today

4 cm
yesterday
58.0
4.0
35.0
light snow heavy snow snow showers snow showers heavy rain
Mid station 945 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(700m — 1300m)

snow report today

5 cm
yesterday
70.0
5.0
41.0
light snow heavy snow snow showers snow showers heavy rain
Mid station 1000 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(760m — 1831m)

snow report today

290
40
Packed powder and groomed snow 7 cm
yesterday
87.0
11.0
52.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers mod snow
Mid station 1296 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m

(1375m — 1600m)

snow report 7 days ago

26 cm
7 days ago
14.0
4.0
14.0
cloud snow showers snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1488 m
350m 0m 0m 0m 0m

(1097m — 1440m)

snow report 6 days ago

20 cm
7 days ago
15.0
7.0
13.0
light snow mod snow snow showers snow showers mod snow
Mid station 1268 m
250m 250m 0m 0m 0m

(950m — 1030m)

snow report 10 days ago

1.0 cm
11 days ago
6.0
1.0
6.0
cloud snow showers snow showers clear heavy rain
Mid station 990 m
350m 0m 0m 0m 0m

(1454m — 1748m)

snow report today

9 cm
yesterday
64.0
16.0
38.0
light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers light snow
Mid station 1601 m
0m 300m 0m 0m 0m

(1080m — 1480m)

snow report today

2.0 cm
yesterday
51.0
8.0
34.0
light snow heavy snow snow showers snow showers light snow
Mid station 1280 m
0m 200m 0m 0m 0m

(900m — 1500m)

snow report today

2.0 cm
yesterday
50.0
7.0
34.0
light snow heavy snow snow showers snow showers light snow
Mid station 1200 m
0m 200m 0m 0m 0m

(876m — 1086m)

snow report 6 days ago

16 cm
7 days ago
8.0
8.0
light snow snow showers snow showers clear heavy rain
Mid station 981 m
250m 0m 0m 0m 0m

(1160m — 1350m)

snow report 7 days ago

17 cm
7 days ago
10.0
4.0
10.0
cloud snow showers snow showers clear light snow
Mid station 1255 m
350m 0m 0m 0m 0m

(940m — 1200m)

snow report yesterday

3.0 cm
yesterday
54.0
4.0
36.0
light snow heavy snow snow showers snow showers heavy rain
Mid station 1070 m
0m 150m 0m 0m 0m