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Japan’s Under-the-Radar Ski Areas

Ski areas that get a lot of snow and almost no attention. We measured all 395 Japanese ski areas on both, separately, and 94 of them landed here.

Under the radar
94
Prefectures
12
Snowy and well known
23

94 ski areas

# Ski area Prefecture Snow Attention Snowfall World rank
1 Nakazato Snow Wood Ski Area Niigata 95 25 755cm 5
2 Yuzawa Nakazato Ski Resort Niigata 95 25 755cm 5
3 Yuzawa Park Ski Resort Niigata 95 25 755cm 5
4 Seki Onsen Ski Area Niigata 94 21 748cm 9
5 Muikamachi Hakkaisan Niigata 93 21 738cm 10
6 Charmant Hiuchi Snow Resort Niigata 91 21 725cm 11
7 Itoigawa Seaside Valley Ski Resort Niigata 90 21 718cm 13
8 Tainai Ski and Snowboard area Niigata 90 21 717cm 17
9 Hakuba Cortina Nagano 86 16 685cm 24
10 Hakuba Norikura Onsen Ski Resort Nagano 86 21 685cm 24
11 Joetsu International Niigata 86 21 686cm 19
12 Ippon Sugi Ski Resort Niigata 86 25 686cm 19
13 Ishiuchi Hanaoka Ski Area Niigata 86 25 686cm 19
14 Maiko Snow Resort Niigata 86 25 686cm 19
15 Tateyama Sanroku Ski Area Toyama 85 21 677cm 26
16 Nakasato Kiyotsu Niigata 77 21 610cm 31
17 New Greenpia Tsunan Niigata 77 21 610cm 31
18 Kandatsu Kogen Ski Resort Niigata 77 25 610cm 31
19 NASPA Ski Garden Niigata 77 25 610cm 31
20 Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort Niigata 77 25 610cm 31
21 Ninox Snow Park Niigata 75 21 599cm 38
22 Yakushi Ski Area Niigata 74 21 586cm 47
23 Mitsumata Area Niigata 74 25 593cm 43
24 Cupid Valley Ski Area Niigata 71 21 569cm 48
25 Sakae Club Ski Area Nagano 71 21 569cm 48
26 Suhara Ski Area Niigata 71 21 562cm 50
27 X-JAM Takaifuji Nagano 70 21 554cm 53
28 Chateau Shiozawa Ski Area Yoshizato Niigata 69 21 547cm 56
29 Muica Snow Resort Niigata 69 21 547cm 56
30 Kagura Area Niigata 68 21 543cm 58
31 SAM Hakusan Ichirino Ski Resort Ishikawa 64 21 510cm 66
32 Hagurosan Ski Area Yamagata 64 21 511cm 64
33 Itsukamachi Ski Area Niigata 62 16 492cm 75
34 Hakkai Sanroku Ski Area Niigata 62 21 492cm 75
35 Mashike Choei Shokanbetsudake Ski Area Hokkaido 62 21 494cm 73
36 Koshi Kogen Ski Area Niigata 62 21 491cm 78
37 Yashima Ski Area Akita 62 21 490cm 79
38 Tadami Ski Area Fukushima 61 0 484cm 80
39 Hakusan Senjo Onsen Seymour Ski Area Ishikawa 61 21 482cm 82
40 Yokone Yamagata 60 21 481cm 83
41 Akita Hachimantai Ski Area Akita 59 16 466cm 96
42 Kyukamura Myoko Niigata 59 16 466cm 96
43 Akakura Onsen Ski Area Niigata 59 21 466cm 96
44 Akakura Kanko Ski Resort Niigata 59 25 466cm 96
45 Tangram Madarao Ski Circus Nagano 59 25 466cm 96
46 Oze Hinoemata Onsen Ski Resort Fukushima 58 16 459cm 108
47 Aizu Kogen Takahata Fukushima 58 21 459cm 108
48 Awasuno Ski Area Toyama 58 21 464cm 107
49 Jiigatake Snow Resort Nagano 58 21 465cm 103
50 Kashimayari Snow Resort Nagano 58 21 465cm 103
51 Hakuba Sanosaka Snow Resort Nagano 57 21 453cm 112
52 Hakkoda Kokusai Ski Area Aomori 56 16 445cm 124
53 Tambara Ski Park Gunma 56 16 449cm 116
54 Jeunesse Kurikoma Ski Area Akita 56 21 444cm 125
55 Tashiro Area Niigata 56 21 448cm 118
56 Kawaba Ski Resort Gunma 56 33 449cm 116
57 Iwanai Resort Hokkaido 55 0 439cm 130
58 Koide Ski Area Niigata 55 21 438cm 132
59 Asahi Shizenkan Snow Park Yamagata 54 21 431cm 136
60 Sannokura Fukushima 53 0 422cm 144
61 Ani Ski Resort (Mt. Moriyoshi) Akita 53 16 423cm 140
62 Chisennupri Hokkaido 53 16 418cm 150
63 Grandeco Snow Resort Fukushima 53 21 423cm 140
64 Moya Hills Aomori 53 21 418cm 150
65 Tengamori Ski Area Akita 53 21 423cm 140
66 Tengendai Kogen Yamagata 53 21 423cm 140
67 Fairy Land Kaneyama Ski Area Fukushima 52 0 412cm 159
68 Nagaoka City Ski Area Niigata 52 21 411cm 161
69 Geto Kogen Iwate 51 0 404cm 165
70 Aizukogen Nango Ski Area Fukushima 51 21 407cm 162
71 Ryuoo Ski Park Nagano 51 25 407cm 162
72 Norn Minakami Gunma 50 21 395cm 171
73 Tanigawadake Tenjindaira Ski Area Gunma 50 21 395cm 171
74 White Valley Ski Area Gunma 50 21 395cm 171
75 Kuriko International Ski & Resort Yamagata 50 21 400cm 169
76 Hanagasa Kogen Ski Area Yamagata 49 21 388cm 189
77 Matsumori Ski Area Akita 48 0 386cm 196
78 Amihari Onsen Ski Resort Iwate 48 21 386cm 196
79 Shizukuishi Ski Resort Iwate 48 21 386cm 196
80 Mikawa Onsen Niigata 48 21 386cm 196
81 Choei Yuda Ski Area Iwate 47 0 374cm 226
82 Suttsu Town Ski Area Hokkaido 47 0 373cm 235
83 Daisetsuzan Sounkyo Kurodake Ski Area Hokkaido 47 21 373cm 235
84 IIZUNA HIGASHI KOGEN RESORT Nagano 47 21 374cm 226
85 Mishima Choei Fukushima 46 0 366cm 251
86 Kijimadaira Ski Resort Nagano 46 21 366cm 251
87 Fuyudorigoe Ski Garden Niigata 45 0 362cm 260
88 Hachimantai Resort Panorama Ski Are Iwate 45 21 357cm 268
89 Hachimantai Resort Shimokura Ski area Iwate 45 21 357cm 268
90 Iwate Kogen Snow Park Iwate 45 21 357cm 268
91 Aizu Kogen Daikura Ski Resort Fukushima 45 21 356cm 274
92 Aizu Kogen Takatsue Ski Resort Fukushima 45 21 356cm 274
93 Kurobushi Kogen Snow Park Jangle Jungle Yamagata 45 21 357cm 268
94 Hirayu Onsen Ski Area Gifu 45 33 362cm 260

Snow and attention are both indices scaled to 100. Neither is a depth in centimetres. · Updated: 2026-09-05

How these were chosen

Snowfall and attention are measured separately. A place counts as under the radar when it scores high on snow and low on attention. Rank by obscurity alone and you simply get the ski areas nobody goes to because there is no snow.

Attention combines how much its footage gets watched with how many language editions of Wikipedia carry an article about it. That measures how much has been written, not how good a place is. What has usually kept these off the list is beds and access, not snow.

Snowfall is the three-winter mean, measured the same way as all 3,112 ski areas on this site. The model understates mountain snowfall. It understates every one of them equally, so the ordering holds even where the centimetres are low.