Throughout the pandemic, Japan ski resorts kept on operating as close to normally as possible; that is except for one resort, which gave us a little bit of a scare. Hakuba Sanosaka is a little known Hakuba resort, beloved by locals for its breathtaking views of Lake Toya. But as with so many things which struggled to keep going over the past couple of years, Hakuba Sanosaka closed for the 2021-22 ski season. Japan is actually a country full of ski resorts which have closed down over the years. Altogether there are still almost 500 ski resorts in operation in Japan, more than any other country in the world. But as carefully documented by SnowJapanHistory, who know and love these old Japanese resorts better than anybody, there are hundreds which have closed over recent years, mostly because they could not afford to stay open.
So we breathed a big sigh of relief when we learned that Hakuba Sanosaka plans to reopen for the 2022-23 Japan ski season, and we encourage all families and beginner to intermediate skiers and snowboarders vising Hakuba to make the trip over to support this quiet resort with spacious groomers and stunning views. We love the SnowJapanHistory site, but we are really, really glad that Hakuba Sanosaka won’t be joining it for now!
