>> About SnowJapan
>> Site updates for the 07/08 Season
>> Contact SnowJapan

Snow Japan first went online in the summer of 1999.  Back then, the creator of the site - who is still in charge of things today - had been living in the Yuzawa region of Niigata Prefecture for a number of years and was enjoying the huge amounts of snow that the region receives each winter.  It seemed strange that for such an excellent winter sports scene there was almost no information available in English.  After working in marketing for one of the ski resorts in the town, SnowJapan (originally known as Ski Japan Guide) was created... initially as a simple guide to the resorts in Niigata Prefecture.  The site proved popular and in those first few seasons online was expanded to include information from other prefectures and regions of Japan.

Right from the beginning SnowJapan has been totally independent.  That means that we are not trying to sell or push any particular region of Japan, any particular ski resorts, hotels, tour services or any other business to our readers.  It also means that no business or organisation has any say in the way that the site is run or influences our editorial in any way.  The site increases rapidly in size and popularity each season, has many more people involved and operates on a much larger scale than it used to.  We also have increasingly strong links with the ski and snowboard industry in Japan, at times consulting resorts and businesses on the "foreign market", but we highly value this independence and the basic concept of SnowJapan remains as it was when we first started out.

The other thing that we are keen to do is present the Japanese winter sports scene as it is.  Without any hype or too many exclamation marks!!!!!  An example of this is our daily reports.  If it is raining and the snow conditions are bad (happily that doesn't happen very often), then that's what they'll report.  Apart from the fact that we don't think it actually needs hype, that's not what SnowJapan is about.

What we are setting out to do is to bring truthful and detailed information about winter sports in Japan to the world and at the same time provide a place where like-minded people can gather and have fun.

>> Click here to read an interview with the creator of SnowJapan.

Please also read our new "START HERE" page for more information about the structure of the site and contents.

Each season has seen extensive updates and developments to the site.  This season is no different.  In fact, the 2007/2008 season sees by far the most changes yet to SnowJapan.  The main changes are outlined below:

Send any mails and comments to editor@snowjapan.com or use this online form.