"Raising Prices Every Year While Some Lifts Aren't Even Running": Do Japanese People Still Ski?
「毎年値上げしといて、稼働してないリフトが有るとか勘弁して欲しい」——日本人スキーヤーがリフト券で降りた話
By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan
A one-day adult pass at Kagura, a Prince resort on the Niigata side of the Tokyo mountains, is 7,500 yen this season, and the most-liked comment under a Japanese ski channel's video about resort price rises (132 likes) is not about the number at all. It is about paying it while some of the lifts sit idle. The thread fills with arithmetic rather than anger: a day that reaches 30,000 yen once tolls, parking, lunch and the pass are counted, a stated ceiling of about 4,000 yen for a day ticket, courses that feel emptier and less groomed than they used to. One skier argues back that halving prices would not double the crowd. The names traded at the end are all small hills nobody outside Japan has heard of.
“This isn't about Karuizawa Prince specifically, but raising prices every year while some lifts aren't even running, give me a break.”
軽プリの話しじゃないけど毎年値上げしといて、稼働してないリフトが有るとか勘弁して欲しい。
Where Japanese people go instead
I'd like the people who have been going to the resort type places to make the trip out to more local ski areas like Norikura, Nomugi Pass, Yabuhara and Ontake. They're bound to notice a new kind of appeal!!
今までリゾート系に行っていた人々に、乗鞍や野麦峠、やぶはらや御嶽といったローカルよりのスキー場に足を伸ばしてもらいたい！きっと新たな魅力に気付ける筈!!
— @hogeta481150 likesLet's go to local ski areas like Suhara, Koshi Kogen, Sakae Club, Yakushi and Hakkaisan Sanroku. In top season they're plenty.
須原、古志高原、さかえクラブ、薬師、八海山山麓のような、ローカルスキー場に行きましょう。トップシーズンなら十分です。
— @yahootokyo28 likesI'd bought a season pass at Akakura Kanko in Niigata two seasons running, but with the price rise and the restaurant prices going through the roof I passed on it this season. I'm buying a season pass at Matsunoyama Onsen ski area, a local slope you can still enjoy, and having fun there.
新潟の赤倉観光もシーズン券を2シーズン購入していましたが、値上げとレストランが爆上げになって今シーズンは購入を見送りました。 ローカルゲレンデでも楽しめる松之山温泉スキー場のシーズン券を買って楽しみます。
— @gamakatsubaka27 likesKandatsu has a mogul course and kickers and the rest of it, and a weekday unlimited season pass for 25,000 yen. I bought it.
神立なんかモーグルコース、キッカー、充実で、平日滑り放題シーズン券２５０００円だぜ、買ったぜ
— @gebarakastoro13 likesIt throws cold water on the excitement of the season starting. I'm a broke boarder on top of that, so it looks like all I can do is go to Sayama for two thousand something in fares. Even in top season I'm relying on JR and Orion!
シーズンインというワクワク感に水を差しますね。ましてや貧ボーダーなので、交通費２０００円台で狭山行くしかなさそう。トップシーズンもJRとオリオンが頼りです！
— @kimosavage724020 likes
Places named in this article
- Kagura Ski ResortYuzawa, Niigata
The resort whose 7,500 yen day pass and 6,000 yen morning ticket set off the thread (124 likes). Official prices for the 2025-26 season confirm both figures, and elementary school children and younger ski free.
Sources: princehotels.co.jp — checked 2026-08-25
- Rusutsu ResortRusutsu, Hokkaido
The most expensive lift ticket in the country, 16,200 yen at the window for an adult day in the 2025-26 regular season, or 12,000 yen bought online in advance.
Sources: rusutsu.com · tabiris.com — checked 2026-08-25
- Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski ResortKaruizawa, Nagano
The resort the video is about, at 10,000 yen for an adult day. A skier from Nagano says in the thread that it was never a good ski area and that people from around there basically never went (13 likes).
Sources: tabiris.com — checked 2026-08-25
- Yabuhara Kogen Ski AreaKiso, Nagano
One of the four Nagano hills named in the most-liked instead comment (50 likes). An adult day ticket is 5,400 yen, and 3,400 yen on the Wednesday discount day.
Sources: yabuhara-kogen.jp — checked 2026-08-25
- Mt. Norikura Snow ResortMatsumoto, Nagano
The first name on the same list, on the flank of Mt. Norikura inside Chubu Sangaku National Park.
- Matsunoyama Onsen Ski AreaTokamachi, Niigata
Where one skier moved his season pass after giving up on Akakura Kanko, saying the price rise and the restaurant prices decided it (27 likes).
- Kandatsu Snow ResortYuzawa, Niigata
Named by a skier who bought the weekday unlimited season pass there for the mogul course and the kickers (13 likes).
- Sayama Ski ResortTokorozawa, Saitama
The indoor slope a budget snowboarder in the thread falls back on, about 40 minutes by train from Ikebukuro.
Sources: sayamaski.jp — checked 2026-08-25
Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.
FAQ
- Are lift tickets expensive at Japanese ski resorts?
- At the big-name resorts, yes, and the rise is recent. A survey of 64 resorts for the 2025-26 season put the average adult one-day ticket at 7,327 yen, up 8 percent on the previous season, with five resorts at or above 10,000 yen. Rusutsu in Hokkaido is the highest at 16,200 yen at the window, Niseko's all-mountain pass is 12,000 yen, Hakuba Valley 10,400 yen and Karuizawa Prince 10,000 yen. Kagura, the resort the thread argues about, charges 7,500 yen for a day and 6,000 yen for a morning ticket.
Sources: tabiris.com · rusutsu.com · princehotels.co.jp — checked 2026-08-25
- Do Japanese people still ski?
- Fewer of them, and the thread is full of people describing the exact moment they stopped. One writes that a weekday trip reaches 30,000 yen with parking, the pass, lunch and tolls, and that he has quit. Another says he has not skied since a resort closed mid-season during covid, his snow tires are still sitting there, he handed back his instructor license, and the current prices settled it. A skier who still goes says the slopes are emptier than any year he remembers.
- Where do Japanese skiers go instead of the big resorts?
- To small local hills, and they name them. One comment (50 likes) sends people to Norikura, Nomugi Pass, Yabuhara and Ontake in Nagano; another (28 likes) lists Suhara, Koshi Kogen, Sakae Club, Yakushi and Hakkaisan Sanroku in Niigata and says that in top season they are plenty. The price gap is real: a day at Yabuhara Kogen is 5,400 yen, and 3,400 yen on Wednesdays, against 16,200 yen at Rusutsu.
Sources: yabuhara-kogen.jp · rusutsu.com — checked 2026-08-25
- Is there skiing near Tokyo that is not expensive?
- The cheapest answer in the thread is not a mountain at all. A snowboarder on a budget says all he can manage is Sayama, the indoor slope in Saitama, for a couple of thousand yen in train fares, and that he leans on rail and bus packages even in top season. Sayama is a 300-meter indoor run about 40 minutes by train from Ikebukuro, which is why it keeps coming up as the fallback.
Sources: sayamaski.jp — checked 2026-08-25
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What Japanese people said — picked from the top 141 of 174 comments
A one day pass at Kagura for 7,500 yen is finished. Even a half day is 6,000 yen. I can't go skiing any more 😭
かぐらスキー場1日券7,500円とか終わってる 半日券でも6,000円とか もうスキーに行けない😭
It's already a physically demanding sport for beginners, and now it costs about as much as Disneyland 😨 If nothing is done, new people will stop coming and in the end it will be a disaster 😫
ただでさえ、初心者には強度の高いスポーツなのにディズニーランド並みの値段になってます😨何も対策しなければ新規の人はいなくなり、最終的には悲惨な事になると思います😫
Personally the increases are hard, but I don't hold the view that a price rise is simply bad (there are cases where a place raised prices and also invested in its facilities), so my thinking is that going along with it is far better than complaining to the resort. Of course I understand the view that it's too expensive. Conversely there are places holding out without raising prices, and then the thought comes up, can they be all right at that price? As Naekagu points out, I'd like the resorts to try things like local discounts too. On the other hand, if lift ticket prices were halved from where they are now, would twice as many people go to the ski areas? I don't think so.
個人的には、値上げは厳しいが、「値上げ=一概に悪」という考え方は持っていない(値上げした一方、設備投資はしている事例もある)ので、 値上げでスキー場に文句を言うよりは従った方がはるかにマシという考え。もちろん、高すぎるという意見もわかります。 逆に、値上げせず頑張っている所もあるが、「この価格で大丈夫なのだろうか？」という考えも出てくる。 なえかぐさんの指摘する通り、スキー場側も地元割などの工夫はしてほしいものですね。 一方で、リフト券価格を今の半額にしたところで、今の2倍の人がスキー場に行くだろうか？私はそうは思えない。
Even on a weekday, once they take parking money and you buy a day pass and eat, with the expressway tolls it's a 30,000 yen job. Not worth that. I quit skiing.
平日でも駐車料金取って1日券買って飯食ったら高速料金含めて3万仕事 そんな価値なし スキーヤメタわ
The lift price problem, please keep putting it out there (crying) Tolls, lodging and lunch all have to be juggled. I keep holding off on replacing my gear. A day ticket in the low 4,000s is my limit. This is the chance for small and mid sized slopes, please keep promoting them 🙏
リフト代問題 どんどん発信してください（泣） 高速代、宿泊、昼食でやりくり必至。道具も買換ガマンガマン。 日券4000円前半が限界です。中小ゲレンデチャンス どんどんアピールしてください🙏
It really is emptier than any year I can remember. Japanese people have definitely left. It's uncrowded, but the trail width is narrower than usual, the early morning racing tears the courses up, they're full of holes and seriously dangerous!! You've raised the prices, so groom the courses properly again!! Your customers aren't only racers 💢 Do the piste work properly. I want patrol to side slip and pack the holes in too 😡 The restaurants had all raised prices as well and were empty.
ホント例年になくガラガラよ〰️。確実に離れたね日本人。空いてるけれどいつもよりゲレンデ幅がせまく、早朝レーシングでコースは荒れ果て、穴だらけで超危険！！値上げしてるんだから、ちゃんとコース整備しなおしてほしいよね！！顧客はレーサーだけじゃなかろうに💢ピステしっかりやってほしい。パトもデラがけ、穴埋め固めてほしいわよー😡レストランも軒並み値上げでガラガラだったよ
Labor, utilities, ingredients and the rest have all shot up so I understand the situation, but it's too expensive. Personally I think it's a ripoff, raising prices on the back of it.
人件費、光熱費、食材他高騰してるから事情はわかるんだけど 高すぎるよね 個人的には、ボッタクリ便乗値上げだと思う
Hakuba has raised prices every year too and has become a pastime for the wealthy. 😢
白馬も毎年値上げでセレブのレジャーになりました。😢
I'm from Nagano, and Karuizawa Prince was never a good ski area, so I don't understand why it's popular 😅 It was a place people from around there basically never went to.
長野出身ですが、軽プリは昔からいいスキー場ではないのに何故人気なのかが理解出来ない😅 地元の人間はまず行かないスキー場でしたよ
Since they closed mid season on their own during covid, I haven't skied once. (The lift tickets I'd bought went to waste.) My snow tires are still sitting there. I handed back my instructor license too. But when I thought about going for a ski again after all this time, there's this price lol. I think I'm done after all. There are other fun things.
コロナで勝手にシーズン途中で閉鎖されてから、一度もスキーしていません。（買っておいたリフト券無駄になった）スタッドレスタイヤも放置したまま。指導員資格も返上しました。でも、久々にスキーでもしようかと思ったら、このお値段w。やっぱり、もういいかな。他にも楽しい事あるし。
The free rest areas are gone too.
無料休憩所もなくなりました。
When I see foreign visitors paying close to two thousand yen for a slope side curry that's only onions, I feel bad about it. I'd like to know whether they feel it's expensive, or cheap, or fair.
玉ねぎだけカレーのゲレ食に2千円近く出してる外国人見ると申し訳なくなる 高いのか安いのか妥当だと感じてるのか知りたい所