SnowJapan.Com - the japan winter sports guide & community SnowJapan.Com - the japan winter sports guide & community
HOME - SNOWJAPAN.COM
RESORTS
SNOW RESORTS
RESORT SPOTLIGHTS
PLACES TO STAY
DAILY REPORTS
TOWN GUIDES
MAPS
SERVICES
COMMUNITY
FORUMS
MEMBERS
PHOTOS
REVIEWS
JOURNALS
RANKINGS
INFORMATION GUIDES
GENERAL INFORMATION
TRAVEL INFORMATION
FEATURES
SnowJapan.Com
SnowJapan.Com Features
 
Feature Articles: General Features
 
 
 
 

How Was It For You Yuzawa
2004/2005 Season

 

October 23rd, 2004. 

The temperatures were dropping, resorts and hotels (and Snow Japan) were busy preparing for the first snow of the season and looking forward to a good winter season.

Then it happened... a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in the Chuetsu region of Niigata to the north of Yuzawa town around Ojiya and Nagaoka city. Within one hour there had been three extremely powerful earthquakes and multiple strong aftershocks. While the towns and villages around Nagaoka were by far the worst hit, Yuzawa (which is about 50km to the south of the epicenter of the quake) also got a strong shaking and hotels and buildings had to be evacuated. It turned out to be one very long night for many people - and a long month as countless aftershocks hit the region.

Of course, if the quake had hit in the middle of winter when there are meters of snow in the towns and on the hills, things could have been much worse than they were. (But even now, 9 months later, there are still many people - including some of our friends - whose houses were destroyed by the quake and have not been able to return. We wish all of those people all the very best.)

Considering what happened at the end of October, things actually weren’t too bad for Yuzawa in the 2004/2005 winter season - and better than most people predicted. While numbers were down at all of the snow resorts in the town, those numbers were higher than predicted at the beginning of the season when there was a worry that nobody would come to Niigata to ski or snowboard because of the quake.

One of the reasons why the numbers held was due to the large amount of snow that fell in the region - the most for 19 years.  There was a week in early February when the snow never seemed to stop falling...

Anyway, below are all the numbers for the biggest resorts in Yuzawa town.

Resort Number of Guests during the 04/05 Season 04/05 Season Numbers Compared with 03/04 Season
NAEBA 1,976,200 90.8%
KAGURA MITSUMATA 303,700 94.3%
KAGURA TASHIRO 84,000 91.1%
IWAPPARA 432,580 92.6%
GALA YUZAWA 261,960 92.4%
PINE RIDGE KANDATSU 134,630 96.7%
NASPA SKI GARDEN 98,580 87.5%
YUZAWA KOGEN 75,150 80.9%
YUZAWA PARK 93,600 93.7%
YUZAWA NAKAZATO 214,500 87.8%

The main numbers above indicate the total number of guests at each resort during the season, while the percentages indicate the change compared to the previous season


YUZAWA TOWN
Total Number of Skiers and Snowboarders
(Official data, NOVEMBER 04 - MAY 05)

YUZAWA TOWN RESORTS AS A WHOLE
(includes data from all 19 resorts in the town)

Month

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

26,000

884,800

2,064,000

2,063,400

1,895,600

353,400

70,800

'96/'97

32,200

902,100

1,777,000

1,893,100

1,792,000

235,900

38,500

'97/'98

27,100

718,500

1,605,400

1,784,500

1,678,600

276,300

24,300

'98/'99

28,000

611,790

1,695,250

1,710,440

1,530,630

259,540

48,210

'99/'00

23,700

632,360

1,605,580

1,663,680

1,420,930

269,420

55,870

'00/'01

24,500

648,690

1,385,520

1,499,450

1,305,700

254,200

  54,200 

'01/'02 10,700 651,430 1,404,370 1,466,390 1,297,560 207,890 37,800
'02/'03 38,500 716,350 1,363,450 1,315,560 1,195,919 193,580 42,670
'03/'04 10,500 568,250 1,253,470 1,242,960 996,540 157,460 49,650
'04/'05 7,100 359,760 1,143,840 1,087,110 1,031,570 187,720 66,920
  

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05
compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

7,358,000

November

359.8%

27.3%

'96/'97

6,674,800

December

110.0%

40.7%

'97/'98

6,117,100

January

97.1%

55.4%

'98/'99

5,887,560

February

89.7%

52.7%

'99/'00

5,671,540

March

92.2%

54.4%

'00/'01

5,172,260

April

93.1%

53.1%

'01/'02

5,076,140

May

112.9%

94.5%

'02/'03

4,868,020

SEASON

90.8%

52.8%

'03/'04

4,278,830

'04/'05

3,884,020
  

Individual Resorts

NAEBA RESORT
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

NAEBA RESORT

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

   

23,000

380,600

791,600

741,600

741,200

111,000

22,700

'96/'97

4,000

26,000

438,000

727,200

645,000

684,400

75,800

9,800

'97/'98

2,400

27,000

441,000

743,400

670,000

705,700

89,000

14,300

'98/'99

3,700

24,000

367,000

742,000

678,000

679,000

79,000

11,050

'99/'00

   

20,200

311,600

717,000

656,600

631,500

80,500

13180

'00/'01

   

21,500

311,600

609,500

603,800

606,400

62,000

7,900

'01/'02   7,200 339,500 641,200 621,100 660,100 55,800 10,800
'02/'03   8,500 377,900 653,200 568,800 594,100 49,000 8,800
'03/'04   9,700 313,900 644,000 605,100 547,700 46,200 10,600
'04/'05   7,100 202,500 615,000 536,000 543,300 60,300 12,000

        

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

2,811,700

November

73.2%

30.9%

'96/'97

2,610,200

December

64.5%

53.2%

'97/'98

2,692,800

January

95.5%

77.7%

'98/'99

2,583,750

February

88.6%

72.3%

'99/'00

2,430,580

March

99.2%

73.3%

'00/'01

2,222700

April

130.5%

54.3%

'01/'02

2,335,700

May

113.2%

52.9%

'02/'03

2,260,300

SEASON

90.8% 70.3%
'03/'04 2,177,200
'04/'05 1,976,200

KAGURA MITSUMATA RESORT
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

KAGURA MITSUMATA RESORT

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

    

 2,500

60,000

77,000

72,000

90,000

65,000

25,000

'96/'97

  

 6,200

103,000

80,000

62,000

95,000

62,000

20,000

'97/'98

  

 100

115,000

81,000

62,000

95,000

60,000

10,000

'98/'99

   

 4,000

90,000

50,000

46,000

68,000

55,000

25,000

'99/'00

    

 3,500

80,000

80,000

62,000

75,000

60,000

27,000

'00/'01

    

 3,000

98,000

60,000

57,000

69,000

60,000

28,000

'01/'02

  3,500 67,000 59,000 55,000 78,500 55,000 19,000

'02/'03

  30,000 85,000 57,000 52,000 72,500 53,000 22,800

'03/'04

  800 61,400 62,000 53,500 62,000 56,500 26,000

'04/'05

    56,400 51,500 43,300 59,000 57,500 36,000

      

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

391,500

November

n/a

--

'96/'97

428,200

December

91.9%

94.0%

'97/'98

423,100

January

83.1%

66.9%

'98/'99

338,000

February

80.9%

60.1%

'99/'00

387,500

March

95.2%

65.6%

'00/'01

375,000

April

101.8%

88.5%

'01/'02

337,000

May

138.5%

144.0%

'02/'03

373,300

SEASON

94.3% 77.6%

'03/'04

322,200

'04/'05

303,700

KAGURA TASHIRO RESORT
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

KAGURA TASHIRO RESORT

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

    

  

14,000

24,000

21,000

23,000

20,000

8,100

'96/'97

  

  

32,000

25,000

20,000

30,000

21,000

8,600

'97/'98

  

  

32,000

26,500

20,000

30,000

24,000

      

'98/'99

  

  

22,000

17,000

16,000

24,000

21,000

9,000

'99/'00

    

  

20,000

25,000

20,000

21,000

17,000

10,500

'00/'01

    

  

25,000

18,000

18,300

21,300

19,600

10,500

'01/'02     18,000 19,000 19,500 28,100 17,200 8,000
'02/'03     23,000 17,000 18,000 18,500 15,500 7,800
'03/'04     13,700 18,000 16,000 19,800 16,500 8,200
'04/'05     14,900 14,500 12,100 18,200 15,500 8,800

        

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

110,100

November

---

---

'96/'97

136,600

December

127.8%

106.4%

'97/'98

132,500

January

89.5%

60.4%

'98/'99

109,000

February

92.3%

57.6%

'99/'00

113,500

March

65.8%

79.1%

'00/'01

112,700

April

90.1%

77.5%

'01/'02

109,800

May

97.5%

108.6%

'02/'03

99,800

SEASON

91.1% 76.3%

'03/'04

92,200

'04/'05

84,000

IWAPPARA RESORT
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

IWAPPARA RESORT

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

      

   

110,100

326,300

331,500

288,500

35,600

    

'96/'97

  

  

50,800

236,300

333,700

266,900

9,600

  

'97/'98

  

  

6,000

188,200

338,300

238,500

4,500

  

'98/'99

  

  

 10,000

287,800

298,800 

 193,700

 10,200

  

'99/'00

    

  

 61,400

237,700 

 269,000

 174,500

13,700

  

'00/'01

     

  

50,200

 214,200

 224,500

141,000

8,630

      

'01/'02

        58,070 197,500 203,800 115,630 1,650   

'02/'03

    47,350 184,800 180,600 120,600 2,300  

'03/'04

    48,300 159,500 163,900 93,750 1,570  

'04/'05

    24,200 144,550 148,400 110,850 4,580  

    

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

1,092,000

November

---

---

'96/'97

897,300

December

50.1%

22.9%

'97/'98

775,500

January

90.6%

44.3%

'98/'99

800,500

February

90.5%

44.8%

'99/'00

756,300

March

118.2%

38.4%

'00/'01

638,530

April

291.7%

12.9%

'01/'02

576,650

May

--

--

'02/'03

535,650

SEASON

92.6% 39.6

'03/'04

467,020

'04/'05

432,580

GALA YUZAWA RESORT
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

GALA YUZAWA RESORT

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

    

 

34,000

93,200

105,700

82,000

21,000

4,300

'96/'97

 

 

48,600

87,000

83,300

88,000

16,600

100

'97/'98

   

   

57,100

98,100

99,600

97,500

15,200

   

'98/'99

 

 

36,130

74,490

98,070

80,780

17,330

3160

'99/'00

   

 

32,500

95,970

98,970

76,400

24,570

5,190

'00/'01

    

  

36,080

70,870

92,610

78,190

      

       

'01/'02

        30,300 73,110 86,170 75,760        
'02/'03       46,700 62,460 76,160 70,490 28,280 4,070
'03/'04 39,750 68,330 82,780 57,600 30,120 4,850
'04/'05 13,470 63,840 68,930 67,930 37,670 10,120

  

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

340,200

November

---

---

'96/'97

323,600

December

33.9%

39.6%

'97/'98

367,500

January

93.4%

68.5%

'98/'99

309,960

February

83.3%

65.2%

'99/'00

333,600

March

125.1%

82.8%

'00/'01

319,900

April

208.7%

179.4%

'01/'02

283,410

May

--

235.3%

'02/'03

288,160

SEASON

92.4% 77.0%

'03/'04

283,430

'04/'05

261,960

PINE RIDGE RESORTS KANDATSU
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

PINE RIDGE RESORT KANDATSU

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

    

500

122,200

225,000

281,000

264,000

71,000

10,700

'96/'97

  

  

120,800

215,000

271,000

252,000

30,000

    

'97/'98

  

  

39,000

191,000

186,200

205,000

79,000

    

'98/'99

  

   

34,550

182,000

183,000

178,000

62,550

  

'99/'00

    

  

50,600

137,200

173,800

156,900

58,400

   

'00/'01

    

  

55,560

135,100

169,500

157,000

58,500

      

'01/'02

        52,780 135,000 164,400 141,300 52,650      
'02/'03       51,520 124,250 139,740 117,590 39,080  
'03/'04 13,440 43,150 48,430 32,160 1,980
'04/'05 7,700 40,520 43,880 35,310 7,220

   

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

974,400

November

  

'96/'97

888,800

December

57.3%

6.3%

'97/'98

700,200

January

93.9%

18.0%

'98/'99

640,100

February

90.6%

15.6%

'99/'00

576,900

March

109.8%

13.3%

'00/'01

575,660

April

364.6%

10.1%

'01/'02

546,130

May

--

---

'02/'03

472,180

SEASON

96.7%

13.8%

'03/'04

139,160

'04/'05

134,630

NASPA SKI GARDEN
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

NASPA SKI GARDEN RESORT

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'95/'96

   

 

19,600

55,100

55,600

46,600

3,800

 

'96/'97

 

 

22,900

40,600

54,000

40,500

2,500

 

'97/'98

 

 

 

28,800

44,000

33,100

  

 

'98/'99

 

 

8,750

40,650

40,600

31,200

2,600

 

'99/'00

   

 

11,350

35,600

40,950

32,100

2,600

 

'00/'01

   

 

11,780

37,840

37,550

28,050

     

     

'01/'02

       14,650 38,440 38,620 23,790 1,730   
'02/'03     14,130 36,100 34,300 28,900 2,430  
'03/'04 14,500 38,300 34,900 23,500 1,500
'04/'05 6,430 31,390 30,520 28,250 1,990

   

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'95/'96

180,700

November

---

---

'96/'97

160,500

December

44.3%

32.8%

'97/'98

105,900

January

82.0%

60.0%

'98/'99

123,800

February

87.4%

54.9%

'99/'00

122,600

March

120.2%

60.6%

'00/'01

117,160

April

132.7%

52.4%

'01/'02

117,230

May

--

---

'02/'03

115,860

SEASON

87.5% 54.6%

'03/'04

112,700

'04/'05

98,580

YUZAWA KOGEN
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

YUZAWA KOGEN

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'96/'97

 

 

14,000 65,400 59,000 52,000 4,700

 

'97/'98

 

 

 18,000

58,000 55,000 46,800

2,300 

 

'98/'99

 

 

11,000 44,100 52,250 44,000 2,000

 

'99/'00

   

 

9,310 43,000 51,000 39,000 2,600

 

'00/'01

   

 

8,620 25,000 35,730 25,280

2,060

     

'01/'02

       9,330 30,510 34,170 23,600 1,920   

'02/'03

      11,750 28,360 32,520 23,050 1,550   

'03/'04

    9,290 29,540 32,140 21,590 360  

'04/'05

    4,840 24,000 22,100 23,150 1,060  
     

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96

'96/'97

195,100

December

52.1%

34.6%

'97/'98

180,100

January

81.2%

36.7%

'98/'99

153,350

February

68.8%

37.5%

'99/'00

144,910

March

107.2%

44.5%

'00/'01

96,690

April

294.4%

22.6%

'01/'02

97,610 May

--

--

'02/'03

97,230

SEASON

80.9% 38.5%

'03/'04

92,920

'04/'05

75,150

YUZAWA PARK
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

YUZAWA PARK

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'96/'97

 

 

12,400 47,400 58,000 48,100 3,500

 

'97/'98

 

 

2,300 33,000 51,100 37,500 600

 

'98/'99

 

 

5,200 39,600 42,900 32,000 2,300

 

'99/'00

   

 

10,300 35,200 42,300 30,200 2,100

 

'00/'01

   

 

9,600 33,000 38,100 27,500 1,900

     

'01/'02

       12,100 31,500 35,000 22,000 850   
'02/'03     8,900 28,300 29,500 23,800 550  
'03/'04     8,800 31,400 35,500 23,300 900  
'04/'05     3,800 25,900 34,400 28,000 1,500  
  

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
2001 compared
to 1996

'96/'97

169,400

December

43.2%

30.7%

'97/'98

124,500

January

82.5%

54.6%

'98/'99

122,000

February

96.9%

59.3%

'99/'00

120,100

March

120.2%

58.2%

'00/'01

110,100

April

166.7%

42.9%

'01/'02

101,450 May

---

---

'02/'03

91,050

SEASON

93.7% 55.3%

'03/'04

99,900

'04/'05

93,600

YUZAWA NAKAZATO
(resort page on Snow Japan here)

YUZAWA NAKAZATO

Month

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Season

'96/'97

 

 

30,000 125,000 170,500 114,000 2,000

 

'97/'98

 

 

800 65,000 140,000 86,000 0

 

'98/'99

 

 

6,500 111,000 142,000 103,500 2,000

 

'99/'00

   

 

23,000 99,000 142,500 98,000 2,500

 

'00/'01

   

 

21,500 93,000 125,000 79,000 2,500

     

'01/'02

       24,000 90,000 119,000 63,500 1,000   

'02/'03

     21,500 85,000 100,000 60,000 ---   

'03/'04

20,600 77,000 92,500 54,200

'04/'05

10,000 65,000 80,500 59,000
   

Season

TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS

MONTHLY
ANALYSIS

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04

YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
2001 compared
to 1996

'96/'97

441,500

December

48.5%

33.3

'97/'98

291,800

January

84.4%

52

'98/'99

365,000

February

87.0%

47.2

'99/'00

365,000

March

108.9%

51.8

'00/'01

321,000

April

---

---

'01/'02

297,500 May

---

---

'02/'03 266,500

SEASON

87.8% 60.3%
'03/'04 244,300
'04/'05 214,500
   
 
   


Snow Japan Features Index
Features Index

Please note that the views expressed in Features published on Snow Japan
are not necessarily those of Snow Japan.