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In the spring, they come for cherry flowers. In the fall, for foliage tours.
Now more travelers books winter trips to Japan as a country reputation as Appointment of a world -class skiing He continues to attract visitors from the Asia-Pacific region and abroad.
Japan’s foreign visitors increased by 33% last winter from the pandemic. About 10.5 million visitors arrived from December 2024 to February 2025, which is compared to 7.9 million over the same period of 2018, according to the Japanese National Tourism Organization.
Many flock on the powder slopes of Nissy and Hakub, which, together with other skiing areas such as Yamagat and Yuzov, have received a record number of international tourists last winter, according to a message published on Thursday Visa.
In the winter of 2023, visitors to Japan’s ski directions exceeded the pandemic, Visa reports. This did not stop there – international arrival rose by another 50% in the last ski season.
About 30% of visitors were from Australia, 20% from the US and 15% from Southeast Asia, Visa reports.
According to the Visa report, international visitors also manage the costs, and the average daily costs are more than three times than local skiers.
Drop in domestic demand
However, many ski cities in Japan are fighting. Those who do not have international crowds fight the fall of domestic demand, which decreased by 75% after skiing in the early 1990s.
The number of skiers and snowboarders in Japan declined from 18.6 million in 1993 to 4.6 million in 2023, when the population of Japan has grown, the level of birth declined, and young generations have found other ways to spend their free time, according to local media Reports with reference to Japanese performance data center.
The number of ski resorts in Japan also decreased – from 1669 in 1985 to 449 in 2021 – according to the largest English newspaper, The time of Japan. Here comes in One day prefecture is niigatIt has long been considered one of the leading ski in Japan.
Canadian Harvey Glik has been traveling to Japan for almost two decades. He said he was abandoned with ski resorts – and those who “just hang” – you can see in rural Honsche and Hokkaido.
“I have seen an incredible change over the last 20 years,” he said. Now the efforts are “around foreign, international ski and snowboarding travelers because they spend more than home, and they really try to create this luxury brand of Japan – like Switzerland.”
Put the Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu ski resort in Katchans, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, January 20, 2023. Nissyk is seen as a success story for an industry that deals with a ten -year decline from household skiers.
Noriko Hayashi | Bloomberg | Gets the image
According to him, this is nowhere more obvious than Nissyk and Hokub, in which luxury resorts work with English -speaking workers and slopes that cause holy reviews from the lips.
Singapore resident Oman Naene said the recommendation of friends made him book a trip to Hakaeda Club at Med Med Tomamu Club for his first skiing to Japan.
“Japan and Club Med make the perfect duo to learn how to ski with soft, sorry snow and amazing setting, especially for children,” Naene said.
The resort’s bet included lifts and ski lessons, as well as renting the equipment, which was the main one, “he said.
Naene visited the New Year’s lunar holiday in January and estimated that 80% of other hotel guests were from China after leaving.
Now Japan is the main ski place for the mainland Visa report.
South African Cindy Old, Who first went to Nissak 22 years ago said that she and her family had been regular visitors for the last decade.
“There was an explosion in Hong Konkong,” she said.
According to her, the prices rose, as well as the caliber of hotels and restaurants. “The restaurant scene has become quite a supermarket. These days you need to pre -book housing and restaurants up to a year forward.”
But one thing has not changed, she said, “The snow remains fantastic.”
Mixed feelings
Visa data has shown that almost half of all foreign visitors of Japan went to Nissy last winter, reports Prateek Sanghi, head of consulting and company analysts in the Asia-Pacific region. The popular zone of ski resort at Hokkaido also made more than half of the overseas costs at the peak of winter ski seasons, he said.
But Khakub Nagano – which is sometimes called “the second Nissy” – also acquires a position, said Sanggi.
“Hakuba is the fastest growing maps abroad, which spend a year a year and make up about 35% of foreign visits,” he said.
In part, Glik now says that now he avoids Nissy and Hakub.
“I do not like the new character and culture that developed there,” he said. “I find it very disturbing because I think they overlap a lot of medium … or even people with high income because prices go through the roof.”
The answers to the Reddit Post complaining of the crowd in the thym, as can be seen on March 31, 2025.
Many of the Internet have expressed crying for the popularity of resort cities. The Reddit poster complained about Nissy in January, writing: “Giant lines for Hirafu Gondolas (expected), which has absolutely the type of queue and gate?
In response, another commentator wrote: “In Japan, approximately 500 ski resorts. Many are virtually empty.”
Here Glik said he was going to snowboarding now.
“I’m looking for some smaller mountains that feel more Japanese,” he said. “You don’t see other foreigners.”
An inflow of investments
Increasing international interest in skiing in Japan causes an influx of investment, as foreigners scoop homes and pour money into resort development.
In 2023, the Singapore Capital Group in Myoko Kogen, a popular skiing direction in the Niigata Prefecture in Myoko Kogen, in Myoko Kogen, in Myoko Kogen, a popular ski direction. A The company is negotiating To restore your fund with new investors, Reuters reports in late March.
But not everyone applauds the idea of ”third” Nissak in Japan.
The locals are worried that jobs and tourism that will bring resort can be insufficient to compensate spikes in real estate prices and foodand the deterioration of the mall cultural morals of Japan, reports Reuters. A Now-Virus video Posted in February, shows a Japanese man who is facing the Australian tourist about smoking at the bottom of the ski slope.
“Many skiers from Japan also fight a little, because they see that these cities become something other than Japanese ski resort.” said Glik.
So far, he said, he adheres to independent resorts where English is not so wide.
Plus, the “full day of the lift is similar to $ 35”.
– Bella Stoddart in CNBC contributed to this report.
