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When Do Ski Resorts Open in Japan? 2026/27 Dates and First Snow
Japan's 2026/27 season opens on 23 October at Yeti on Mt Fuji and 31 October at Karuizawa Prince (both on machine-made snow), then on natural snow on 20 November at Sapporo Kokusai, 21 November at Sapporo Teine and Hakuba Goryu (Goryu on machine-made snow), and 28 November at Niseko, Rusutsu, Kiroro, Furano, Kagura and Nozawa Onsen. Dates checked on each resort's own site, set beside what December actually delivers: in Hokkaido about as much snow as January, in Nagano and Niigata about four-fifths.
If you are booking an early-season trip to Japan, two questions matter: when does the resort open, and will there be enough snow when it does? We checked the first on each resort’s own website, between 15 September and 8 November 2026. For the second, we used the snowfall we measure month by month at every ski area on this site.
Every opening date is a plan. Resorts open when there is enough snow, sometimes with only part of the mountain running. Check the resort’s own site before you book.
28 October: the first snow on the peaks
The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded the season’s first snow cap on 16 mountains on 28 October (as of noon). In Tohoku they included Iwaki, Iwate, Gassan, Asahi, Zao, Izumigatake and Azuma; in Hokkaido, Washibetsu and Yokotsu; and further south, Hakusan, the Toho range on the Nagano–Gunma border, and Hotaka in Gunma. Tateyama and Meakan followed on the 27th. Asahidake had its first snow cap on 2 October, and Teine and Hakkoda on 22 October (JMA, Japanese).
From this season the agency records a first snow cap from calculated snow depth on the summit rather than by sight, so this year’s dates cannot be set against earlier years or the long-term average.
On our figures for the morning of 28 October, 72 of the 361 Japanese ski areas we track had at least 1 cm of new snow in the previous 48 hours. The ones with the most, and when they plan to open:
| Ski area | Last 48 hours | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Kurodake (Daisetsuzan Sounkyo) | 17 cm | 1 Dec |
| Sapporo Kokusai | 7 cm | 20 Nov |
| Kiroro | 7 cm | 28 Nov |
| Niseko Grand Hirafu | 6 cm | 28 Nov |
Snowfall is from a weather model and in Hokkaido reads well below what resorts report (see “How this was checked”). Where it’s snowing now updates every day.
Opening dates
| Resort | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Snow Park Yeti (machine-made snow) | 23 Oct | 28 Mar |
| Karuizawa Prince (machine-made snow) | 31 Oct | 31 Mar |
| Sapporo Kokusai | 20 Nov | not announced |
| Sapporo Teine | 21 Nov | not announced |
| Hakuba Goryu (Toomi area only on opening day, machine-made snow) | 21 Nov | not announced |
| Niseko United | 28 Nov | 5 May |
| Niseko Moiwa (pair lifts first; early season to 18 Dec, quad lift from 12 Dec) | 28 Nov | 4 Apr |
| Rusutsu | 28 Nov | 31 Mar |
| Kiroro | 28 Nov | 5 May |
| Furano | 28 Nov | 5 May (season pass period) |
| Kagura (Kagura and Mitsumata areas; Tashiro from 19 Dec) | 28 Nov | 16 May |
| Nozawa Onsen (an “early-season period” to 18 Dec; opening festival 19 Dec) | 28 Nov | not announced |
| Sahoro | 1 Dec | 4 Apr |
| Tomamu | 1 Dec | 5 Apr |
| Hakuba Happo-One | 1 Dec | 5 May |
| Tsugaike Kogen | 1 Dec | not announced |
| Shiga Kogen | 5 Dec (Yakebitaiyama pre-opens 4 Dec) | 5 May |
| APPI | 6 Dec (season pass valid from) | 6 May |
| Kandatsu Kogen | 11 Dec (pre-season to 18 Dec) | 28 Mar |
| Takasu Snow Park (Gifu) | 11 Dec | not announced |
| Hodaigi | 12 Dec | not announced |
| Hakuba Cortina | 12 Dec | 29 Mar |
| Hakuba Norikura (Wakaguri side only from 22 Mar) | 12 Dec | 4 Apr |
| Madarao | 12 Dec | not announced |
| Shirakaba Kogen Kokusai | 12 Dec | not announced |
| Ninox | 17 Dec | 22 Mar |
| Itoigawa Seaside Valley | 18 Dec | not announced |
| Hakuba Iwatake | 18 Dec | 28 Mar |
| Kusatsu Onsen (first day of the “opening service days” ticket on the official price page; no separate opening notice yet) | 18 Dec | not announced |
| Nakazato Snow Wood | 18 Dec | 4 Apr |
| Tateshina Tokyu (closed Mon–Thu except holidays; open daily 18 Dec–11 Jan) | 18 Dec | 7 Mar |
| Iwappara | 19 Dec | 28 Mar |
| Gala Yuzawa (gondola and sightseeing lift only 12–18 Dec) | 19 Dec | 5 May |
| Maiko | 19 Dec | not announced |
| Akakura Kanko | 19 Dec | 5 May |
| Myoko Suginohara | 19 Dec | 28 Mar |
| Kyukamura Myoko | 19 Dec (closed 23–26 Mar) | 28 Mar |
| Tangram | 19 Dec | not announced |
| Chateraise Ski Valley Nobeyama | 19 Dec | not announced |
| Nakatonbetsu Kotobuki | 19 Dec | not announced |
| Katashina Kogen | 24 Dec | 28 Mar |
| Muica | 24 Dec | 28 Mar |
| Hakodateyama (Shiga) | 25 Dec | not announced |
Indoors, Sayama Ski Area in Tokorozawa, Saitama, runs from 30 October to 28 March (Seibu Recreation’s announcement, Japanese). It is under a roof on machine-made snow, so it has no snowfall figures and is not in the table.
Yeti and Karuizawa open first, then Hokkaido. Snow Park Yeti, on the second station of Mt Fuji, opened on 23 October on machine-made snow, the first outdoor opening in Japan for the 28th year running (operator’s announcement), with one run of about 1 km open (see what is open now), and Karuizawa Prince follows on 31 October, also on machine-made snow. On natural snow, Sapporo Kokusai goes first on 20 November and Sapporo Teine, half an hour from the city, the next day, and the big names — Niseko, Rusutsu, Kiroro and Furano — follow a week later on 28 November. In Honshu, Kagura (its Kagura and Mitsumata areas) and Nozawa Onsen (an early-season period until its 19 December opening festival) start the same day.
In Hakuba, Goryu opens on 21 November with only the lower Toomi area running, on snow from the first snowmaking machines in Hakuba village (Goryu’s announcement); Happo-One and Tsugaike open on 1 December, Shiga Kogen on 5 December, and Cortina and Norikura, which share a lift ticket, on 12 December. Kandatsu, Hodaigi and Madarao open around 11–12 December, and most of Myoko and the resorts around Minamiuonuma in Niigata follow in the week before Christmas.
Not announced when we checked
On 24 October, these had not yet published their 2026/27 opening dates: Hakuba47, Zao Onsen, Kawaba, Marunuma Kogen, Arai and Akakura Onsen (the smaller Myoko area next to Akakura Kanko). Hakuba Iwatake, also on this list then, has since announced 18 December. We will add each one when its own site publishes the date.
Will there be snow when they open?
This is where Hokkaido and Honshu differ most. We compared how much snow falls in December with how much falls in January, at the same ski area:
| Region | December snowfall as a share of January’s (middle ski area) | Ski areas where December matches or beats January |
|---|---|---|
| Hokkaido | 98% | 42 of 87 |
| Tohoku | 83% | 2 of 89 |
| Nagano and Niigata | 79% | 0 of 112 |
| Elsewhere | 73% | 0 of 109 |
In Hokkaido, December is already about as snowy as January. At Furano, Tomamu and Sahoro it is snowier. In Nagano and Niigata, December brings about four-fifths of January’s snow, and not one of the 112 ski areas there gets more in December than in January. The base is still building through December.
For a selection of the resorts above:
| Resort | December as a share of January | December’s share of the December–March total |
|---|---|---|
| Furano | 121% | 32% |
| Tomamu | 113% | 27% |
| Sahoro | 106% | 27% |
| APPI | 100% | 29% |
| Niseko Grand Hirafu | 98% | 29% |
| Hakuba Happo-One | 91% | 30% |
| Kiroro | 90% | 26% |
| Sapporo Kokusai | 90% | 26% |
| Rusutsu | 88% | 25% |
| Akakura Kanko | 82% | 28% |
| Shiga Kogen | 80% | 25% |
| Sapporo Teine | 79% | 23% |
| Ninox | 74% | 27% |
| Maiko | 71% | 26% |
For a trip in the first half of December, Hokkaido and APPI are the safer bet. In Nagano and Niigata, a trip from late December onward gives the snow more time to build. More on the whole season is in when to ski in Japan.
How this was checked
Opening and closing dates come from each resort’s own website, checked between 15 September and 8 November 2026 (the ten added on 8 November from search results limited to the resorts’ own sites). For APPI and for Furano’s closing date, the dates are those the season pass is valid for; neither resort has published the day itself. Resorts with a spring or “final” season list it as part of the season, and not every lift or area stays open to the last day.
Monthly snowfall is the average for each month from December to March over the last twelve winters, from the ERA5 reanalysis, measured the same way at every ski area on this site. December counts the whole month, so the first week of December is thinner than the monthly figure suggests. The model understates mountain snowfall, and understates Hokkaido’s more than Honshu’s (details), so this page compares months at the same ski area rather than centimetres between regions.
Lift ticket prices for the same resorts are in our 2026/27 lift ticket guide.
Sources: Open-Meteo historical weather data, based on the ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Change Service).
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When we went to Sapporo Teine
Video we shot ourselves, with a note from the day (sound removed).
5 December 2020
The view of Sapporo from the summit is genuinely beautiful. A place I'd tell any visitor to go and ski.
The site operator
What changed
- Added ten resorts whose dates are now on their own sites: Niseko Moiwa (28 November), Takasu (11 December), Shirakaba Kogen Kokusai (12 December), Hakuba Iwatake, Kusatsu, Nakazato Snow Wood and Tateshina Tokyu (18 December), Katashina and Muica (24 December) and Hakodateyama (25 December). None of the resorts opening in November has announced a delay. Moved Ninox below the 12 December openings, where its date belongs.
- Added a note on the indoor Sayama Ski Area (30 October to 28 March, from Seibu Recreation's announcement) below the table. Karuizawa Prince still closes on 31 March (22 March is the West area only).
- Added the first snow on Tohoku and Hokkaido peaks on 28 October, from the Japan Meteorological Agency, with our own snowfall figures for that morning.
- Added Kagura and Nozawa Onsen (28 November), Tsugaike (1 December), Hakuba Cortina and Hakuba Norikura (12 December) and Gala Yuzawa (19 December). Yeti opened as planned on 23 October.
- Added Hakuba Goryu (opens 21 November, from the resort's 1 October announcement).
- Added Snow Park Yeti (opens 23 October) and Karuizawa Prince (31 October), from their operators' announcements, and corrected the line that named Sapporo Kokusai as the first to open.
Keep reading
Other guides built from the same dataset.