ARAI SNOW RESORT is a ski area in Niigata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 289 and 1,147 m. Its mapped area is about 4.8 km across, with 12 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 13 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 663 cm of snowfall a season, 19th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (816 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (273 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 238 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 8.5 km away measured 775 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 725 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −2.2 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 156th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Nagano, about 38 km away. Below are links to 2 official live cameras.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charmant Hiuchi Snow Resort | 7.9 km | 690 cm | 18 |
| Kyukamura Myoko | 8.9 km | 445 cm | 117 |
| Seki Onsen Ski Area | 9.3 km | 689 cm | 19 |
| Akakura Onsen Ski Area | 10 km | 445 cm | 117 |
| Akakura Kanko Ski Resort | 11 km | 445 cm | 117 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 36% of January’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: March brings 85 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 663 cm, and 4 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 273 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 816 cm (3.0 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan, the leanest winter was the same 2015/16: bad winters tend to hit a whole region at once.
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Run map
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
88% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift4
- Gondola1
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Live Cameras
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Myoko and Joetsu webcams & snow report — all 11 ski areas →
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 関山 weather station — 8.5 km from this ski area, 368 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 775 cm |
| 2023/24 | 625 cm |
| 2024/25 | 1016 cm |
| 2025/26 | 684 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 725 cm.
A weather station is not a ski slope. We picked one at a similar elevation, but it stands in a valley or a village. More snow falls on the mountain above it. We have not tried to guess how much more.
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency historical records
Worth seeing nearby
Places within 20 km of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Myōkō妙高山 | Mountain | 11.6 km |
| Takada Castle高田城 | Historic site | 16 km |
| Kasugayama Castle春日山城 | Historic site | 18 km |
| Lake Nojiri野尻湖 | Nature | 19.2 km |
| Mount Kurohime黒姫山 (長野県) | Mountain | 19.8 km |
| Mount Amakazari雨飾山 | Mountain | 19.8 km |
Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Official piste map ↗Places to stay nearby
2 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ロッテアライリゾート＜上越・妙高＞ | ¥5,280 | 4.25 1493 reviews | 2.7 km | お車で新井スマートICから１０分、東京駅から上越妙高駅まで北陸新幹線で２時間、予約制無料送迎バスはHPよりご予約ください |
| ＭＡＨＯＲＡ西野谷 一棟貸し古民家宿｜新潟県妙高 | ¥25,000 | — | 3.7 km | 上越妙高駅より車で約15分。上信越自動車道 新井スマートIC から5分 。 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
1 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
What we have measured at ARAI SNOW RESORT
- Which Ski Resort Gets the Most Snow in the World? We measured snowfall at all 3,069 ski areas on earth the same way. The top two both shut in winter because they get too much snow: a Norwegian glacier at 783 cm that opens in May, and Okutadami Maruyama in Niigata at 765 cm. 46 of the top 100 are Japanese.
- Ikon, Epic, Indy or Mountain Collective in Japan for 2026/27: Which Resorts, How Many Days, and How Much Snow Each Gets Ikon gives 7 days at each of ten Japanese destinations, Epic 5 consecutive days, Mountain Collective 2 and Indy 2. Each pass checked against its own terms and set beside twelve winters of our snowfall data. Togakushi, on Indy, shares the deepest floor on any pass with Hakuba Cortina, on Epic.
- A Singapore Fund Is Spending ¥200 Billion on Myoko. We Measured What It Bought. Patience Capital Group bought Madarao in 2022 and Myoko Suginohara in 2023, and will spend about ¥200 billion over ten years building Japan's Aspen. The snow record says it picked the right valley: Madarao is 129th in the world and Seki Onsen, 13 km away, is 19th, while Niseko is 526th. The catch is rain.
- Myoko's Eleven Ski Areas: Which One to Choose Eleven ski areas sit within 16 km of Akakura. Measured over twelve winters, Seki Onsen gets 689 cm and Myoko Suginohara 357 cm — and Seki is the only one of the eleven in Japan's top 50 for both how much snow falls and what that snow is like. Here is what each one actually offers.
- How Much Vertical Do Japanese Ski Areas Have? We sampled the terrain at 389 Japanese ski areas. A third span less than 200 m from their lowest measured point to their highest. And height and snowfall arrive together — you do not get to trade one for the other.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52