viv&kev 0 Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 I thought that Club Med was pretty much run as a "foreigners resort" (for want of a better phrase). Everything is done with the foreign market in mind - waiters, hotel staff, facilities, kids stuff, resort, etc. Link to post Share on other sites
snowboarding-sam 0 Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 That was unexpected. Hope things go well for you Blair. I was planning on taking a trip there this coming season. Link to post Share on other sites
newtojapan 0 Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Any further news on this? If someone is to open it up for this next season, they're going to have to be pretty quick aren't they. I liked the look of that place. Link to post Share on other sites
threep 0 Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Something which has really taken off in the European ski resorts is mountain biking. You can't do it with the gondolas, but with the chair lifts you can providee uplifts for bikes and create a new season in the summer when otherwise you might be stuggling to tick over. Some resorts like Morzine will give you a free week's lift pass in the summer if you retain the week lift pass you bought in the winter, quite a good marketing ploy. I don't know how busy Arai was in the summer, but it and other resorts in Japan should take note. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowConnection 0 Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Sorry to hear that. When Arai was open, I did not know where it was, and soon relaized it was more far place than Myoko from Tokyo. None of may friends had asked me to go there. It took much traveling time and cost. Then it had been closed before I had a chance to visit. It must be very hard work to get vistors from Tokyo... Link to post Share on other sites
jgraves 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Infuriating news indeed. Arai sounded like one of the better resorts. I don't criticise Japan very often, but there are just far too many crappy and mediocre ski resort zombies here diverting valuable skiers from (and making survival all that much more difficult for) the better, more viable resorts. IMO, anomalous snowfalls and energy shocks just laid bare a much more serious problem with Japan's ski industry. I am somewhat sympathetic to the arguments for propping the crappy and mediocre resorts up, but some of those just need to be allowed to die a proper death to avoid a tragedy like this. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 distance kept some people at bay. Far from Tokyo and Osaka. Tokyo has Yuzawa and the Neaba areas within just a few hours. Osaka has Gifu, Nagoya has gifu and nagano. the little ones have to shut-down but the resorts location might have been a problem....? Debt free owners might have a better shot at it. Mountain biking is just starting to boom here. The cost of bikes will in the end be a problem. The best bikes are the same price as a bloody used car. You cant really get anything for under 100000 that is any good for Downhill. mountains that run the lifts for hiking should really look at mountain biking. mountains like tsugaike and happo should have biking.their ondies are running anyways for the hikers. Link to post Share on other sites
Rag-Doll 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Are there any restrictions on mountain biking at the resorts in summer? Would there be an problem fronting up to the Happo gondola with a bike? Would a bike fit in the gondola? Seems like a good summer marketing idea for places like Happo - "2007 All Nippon Mountain Biking Championships". Hook it up with the IMBA, and things might start happening for the resort. Not that I know much about this stuff, but I'm not sure it would work for Arai though. http://www.imba.com/international/news.html Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 you could not rock up to happo they wouldnt let you on yet.... 47 is open and for 3500 yen you can ride for 2 hours. all the kit included in that price. Link to post Share on other sites
jgraves 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 One potential problem here with downhill mountain biking is that so many resorts have drainage/anti-erosion troughs switching back the entire length of most slopes. Seems like an easily fixed hurdle, though. Lots of resorts are trying summer stuff: golf, paragliding, massive inflatable balls with an inner chamber into which you climb and roll down the ski slope. . . From informal conversations I have had with people involved, none done much good. FT. I don't think Arai is any farther or more inconvenient from Tokyo than Aizu is, but i could be wrong. In Aizu's case, there are 13 ski areas within a 30 minute drive of Aizu Wakamatsu city, most of which subsist on zero-interest loans and local gov't subsidies while eating each other alive. And I don't think Aizu is unique in that respect. IMO, even a debt-free investor is going to be fighting an uphill battle until a much more basic problem is solved. I guess that was my point. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 hey i agree that the market saturation is killing potential profit making resorts. Link to post Share on other sites
taguchi 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 The demand for that kind of thing is so much small than winter sports. I saw report about Hakkai I think in Niigata that do biking and very few people do it it is not major. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 its growing but the price is a huge factor Link to post Share on other sites
SnowConnection 0 Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 MTB requires strength, power, and speed, ie. Youth, while young people pay thier money for cellphones and fashions. They say no thanks for sweaty activities. But, we see big demand for outdoors sports on job retirement phase of Japan baby boomers (Dankai no Sedai) comming. Their physical strength are weaken, but they afford to pay money for healthy outdoors. Note that they have already been scared of riding MTB. Link to post Share on other sites
nagoid 4 Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 I had 3 days booked in there. Link to post Share on other sites
I-Am-Patrol 0 Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 This was shock news for me also. I was planning on working there next season. Always I was impressed with the facilities and I like the resort also. I hope people can find jobs and also resort can open again. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 OK so one has closed down, there are still hundreds to explore. So much so that I regret having wasted my years doing the Korean resorts. Link to post Share on other sites
snowbender 3 Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 The big difference with this news being that this was/is a decent place with good modern facilities, not just some crappy hole that no-one cared about. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 I'm sure news like this sent some shockwaves through the industry. No further news on this at all? Link to post Share on other sites
SnowConnection 0 Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Check out this blog if you can read Japanese. http://ameblo.jp/simsnow/ Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 That really is too bad, Arai was a decent place and I sure wasn't expecting for that place to close done (unlike lots of others). It will be interesting to see what happens to all those facilities. Link to post Share on other sites
kkk 7 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 If they want it to be open this season, they will surely have to get moving on it soon. I hope someone does open it up. Link to post Share on other sites
viv&kev 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 I bet some people will be hiking up there. Link to post Share on other sites
columba 0 Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 I've heard from more than one person that some foreign funded company is in advanced discussions regarding taking over Arai. I wonder what changes they'll make. Nice place but no customers is no customers. Link to post Share on other sites
brit-gob 9 Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Nice way to make your entrance columba, that. Some advance marketing perhaps I've heard from more than one person that natto is delicious. They are obviously wrong. Link to post Share on other sites
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