Skiing had been gaining popularity, but it really took off during the 1980s. The decade brought dramatic winter resort development in many regions of Japan.
Frenzied development
Attractive new ski areas started to appear at an astonishing rate, and existing facilities were rebuilt or expanded. There was a period when there seemed to be a race to develop the biggest, longest, and best of everything. It was a period of frenzied development and investment.
Looking back from the 2020s, much of what was happening—and stories of some grand plans that never happened—now seems almost unbelievable. The rapid growth also often left rather complicated operating arrangements, with, for example, several companies operating ski lifts within the same ski area.
Modern high-speed quad lifts, gondolas, and ropeways were built, leaving Japan with some of the finest modern facilities. With all of this development and a carefully cultivated image, skiing became very fashionable and the thing to be seen doing. Designer outfits with bright colours, fur-lined hoods, and a distinctive 1980s look (including shoulder pads) were flying off the shelves.
A romantic weekend at one of the more fashionable ski resorts was something many people dreamed about. The fact that the slopes were frustratingly busy once you got there, leaving little time for actual skiing, didn't seem to be a problem for many. For some, simply being there and being part of it was what mattered.
Crowded slopes
During the late-1980s ski boom, the famous ski areas were almost unbearably busy on weekends, with long queues for lifts and severe bottlenecks on the slopes. Waiting up to—or even more than—an hour for a short ski lift ride was not uncommon.
The image of overcrowded ski slopes and lift lines endured well beyond the 1980s, even though the reality is now somewhat different in many places. More on that later.
Early morning and night skiing
Floodlit early-morning and, in particular, night skiing was popular too, and some ski areas were open right through the night. The ski boom craze even led some people to take the first train out of Tokyo in the morning, ski for a few hours, and then return to the city in time for work—or do a few hours after work on floodlit slopes.
Out of the 537 ski areas introduced in a 1994 Japanese ski guidebook, 253 offered floodlit night-time operations. That means night skiing was available at 47% of the ski areas in Japan. (The number of ski areas offering floodlit night-time operations in the 2020s is a small fraction of that figure, as such operations have been significantly scaled back.)
By the early 1990s, skiing had established itself as one of the most popular and fashionable sports among young people in Japan. However, as the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, the number of people trekking out to the mountains every weekend started to decrease, giving some ski areas pause for thought about their significant investments.
That was around 1993.
1993 was also around the time that snowboarding appeared in Japan.
The arrival of snowboarding
Snowboarding first appeared in Japan in the early 1990s. At first, the small number of snowboarders taking to the slopes were often viewed by skiers with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. That quickly changed.
Snowboarding was very much a niche activity, and in the first few years ski areas where it was allowed were few and far between throughout Japan.
From niche to boom
But the once-niche activity quickly became fashionable. By the early 2000s, the situation had been almost completely reversed. Nearly all ski areas allowed snowboarders on at least some of their slopes.
The snowboard boom also arrived at a good time for the industry, helping to slow the decline in overall visitor numbers.
The peak in Japan's skiing population is thought to have been in 1993, with around 18.6 million visits to ski areas. Skiing numbers dipped in subsequent years, but the increasing number of snowboarders helped stabilise overall participation. In 1998, the total was around 18 million, made up of approximately 14 million skiers and 4 million snowboarders. A noticeable decline began around 2003, followed by a gradual decrease over the years that followed. By the early 2020s, the number had fallen to about 5 million.
In the early 2020s, the ratio of skiers to snowboarders on the slopes of Japan was probably somewhere around 60:40, though that varies significantly between individual ski areas. As you might imagine, some are well known as 'skiers' mountains', while others are more popular with snowboarders. Looking at the characteristics and facilities offered by a ski area—such as mogul runs and snowboard parks—along with its official website will often give a good indication of its primary audience.
Skiers-only
Some ski areas around Japan remain skiers-only and do not allow snowboarding. These ski areas often use that as one of their main selling points, usually to attract young families and skiers who, for one reason or another, would prefer not to share the slopes with snowboarders.
Japan has always embraced changing fashions and trends, and both skiing and snowboarding will likely experience periods of renewed popularity in the future.
In recent years, several previously skiers-only areas have opened to snowboarding, including:
• Blanche Takayama (Nagano Prefecture)
• Sapporo Moiwayama (Hokkaido)
• Shirakaba Kogen Kokusai (Nagano Prefecture)
• Kita-Nikko Takahata (Fukushima Prefecture)
While some smaller ski areas may still have specific restrictions, as of 2026 only a small number of ski areas with lifts remain strictly skiers-only:
• Fujimi Kogen (Nagano Prefecture) (snowboarding permitted in the evening)
• Gozaisho (Mie Prefecture)
• Katashina Kogen (Gunma Prefecture)
• Kiso Fukushima (Nagano Prefecture)
• NASPA Ski Garden (Niigata Prefecture)
• Zao Sarukura (Yamagata Prefecture)
