I have been going to Niseko for a number of years now and have seen it develop from a much quieter place to what it is now, and of course with interest seeing what it will become as well.

I have also been to Yamagata Zao and Shiga Kogen/Nozawa and I really enjoyed those places, but just once each.

I was wondering if other places have changed in a similar way to how Niseko has over the last 5-10 years?

Thanks, good to be here!

I have not yet been to Niseko, but I do know about the area I am in which is basically the Yuzawa area of Niigata.

Resorts are apparently hurting pretty bad, some of the smaller tiny places have closed and it seems most of the others are losing money... rather than shiny new buildings going up you see boarded, closed hotels/shops which makes for a bit of a depressing site really. It is difficult to see places putting money into things like up there. Too many places (hotels and resorts) opened up during the 80s when there were far more people on the slopes.

I get the same impression of many others places too.

Location is everything. Besides the huges dumps of snow, accessibility by overseas markets is vital if you want to thrive. I mean thrive and not just survive.

They didn't need that market back in the 80's.
Do they need it now?
Is Niseko showing that they do?
These are all interesting questions.

I'm not really qualified to answer that. BUT, I can say that I would not really want to see places like Nozawa changed that much unless they did it tastefully and keep the look/atmosphere. They very probably could make it much nicer but I would guess they might be tempted to go the wrong way with big awful signs, buildings and anything else hideous you can think of. Or maybe not, they seemed to be proud of their little village.

The fact is, the local market can no longer sustain so many resorts. It's go international or go...

Thats probably right, but for the big % of them that face that choice it will be "go".

thats my signature for a reason

One of the saddest things I noticed during my couple of years in Japan was the decline of the small, local resort, for local people.

Many of the ski-jos in my area were downsizing (closing lifts), opening less (eg went from night skiing everyday to only at weekends) or closing down all together.

It's a sad fact that these little places just can't afford to stay in business anymore, and when the time comes to replace a lift or buy new rental gear or something - the new investment just isn't worth it - and it's sayonara ski-jo...

I think over the next 10 years or so, a lot of the little guys are gonna dissapear - which is a real shame as I had some of my best days at the small ski areas - and they make a nice change to more commerical resorts.

In the big picture lots of those tiny places closing will be a good thing.

Thing is, lots of the bigger places are shutting down lifts and limiting nighta to weekends etc as well. I don't know about this season just finished but I remember Naeba seemed to be half closed for a lot of the season the season before cutting services back all over.

Naeba? That's one of the top resorts. Hard to see them cutting back.

They sure did.

Lots of lifts not running mid-week, lots of restaurants closed. Much more than they had previously.

HotRod - I've got to disagree with you there - I don't think that the closing of the local ski-jo is a good thing.

I think it's an inevitable thing - but I don't see why it's good.

You might argue that with less competition from the small players, the big ones will have a more secure future- with is true to some extent - but then it will also mean a lot less people go skiing/snowboarding at all.

For example - if your local hill opens on weekdays and is just a 30 minute drive - you're likey to frequent it several times a season.

If that closes down- and only the big ski area that is 3 hours away remains open - you aint gonna be able to go so often.

The it will be good way of thinking is that the remaining 'decent' places will get more guests and actually be able to run a good business/reinvest/improve etc. Right now everyone apart from one or two seems to just be struggling.

You've got to admit that there are way too many tiny places in areas where there are bigger as well so it wouldn't really stop people in that area from skiing. Of course, not good for those companies and workers, but..

I know what you mean DayTripper, but no-one doing well with too many places and not enough people is doing no-one any good.

As big-will said, there are often groups of resorts together, could easily cope with a few closing and people still be able to get out there easily enough.

Why has there been such a downturn in skier numbers since the 80's its not quite as bad here but you can definatly see a smaller but similar trend.

The fad faded and more entertainment things to do appeared. And people got less affluent. Or something like that.

Its a shame but have to say that Kagura seemed quieter this season than from what I have heard of previous seasons - and considering the amount of snow it had.

Also don't forget conveniece [sic] - Gala thrives because you just walk off the shink and then jump on the gondola within about 10/15 mins. Other places just don't have that - places such as Kagura/Naeba, which are both great, take longer to get to, especially if you're using public transport, which whacks the cost up too.

I think cheap foreign travel is also factor in the decline in skiing in Japan. In the past, Japanese folk went to that little Holland place near Nagasaki, that indoor Hawaiian beach in Kyushu, and imitation Bavaria/British Columbia/New England/Cotswolds, judging from your typical 1970s/1980s Japanese pension architecture. When the cost of going to the real thing came down, more folk went there. I don't think 30 million a year went through Narita in the 1980s.

Hiking (called tozan, but really hiking), ten pin bowling, golf and tennis also went through massive fads, so I suppose fashion is the main factor though.

ten pin bowling Was that a massive fad?!

I still quite like it actually.

Those other fads are also considerably cheaper to do than skiing (well, perhaps not golf).