Madarao Kogen Mountain Resort

Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap

• How Japan's Early-Bird Lift Tickets Work: At Hakuba Happo-One, Eight of the Nine Need a Japanese ID Card Hakuba Happo-One opened early-bird sales at 10:00 on 1 October. A day costs ¥6,400 against ¥9,800 at the window, 35% off. But every ticket on the list except one needs a My Number Card and a Japanese phone app. A visitor from abroad can buy exactly one of them, at 15% off.
• What's New at Japan's Ski Resorts for 2026/27, and How Much Snow Each Place Actually Gets Six changes for 2026/27, each checked against the operator's own announcement. A new gondola at Niseko Village, a six-seat chair at Tsugaike, Madarao joining the Ikon Pass, Asia's first members-only ski area at Togari, new cabins on the Kurodake ropeway, and the first nonstop from the US mainland to Sapporo.
• Who Is Buying Japan's Ski Resorts — and What the Snow Data Says They Actually Bought A Singapore fund took Madarao and Myoko Suginohara. China's Fosun took Kiroro, its hotels and the Club Med brand on top of them. Hong Kong and Malaysian money is in Furano, an Indonesian group is looking at Minami-Furano — and Vail Resorts, the largest ski company on earth, owns nothing here at all. Set against twelve winters of measurements, the buyers and the pass companies are chasing two different things.
• Asia's First Members-Only Ski Resort: What Is the Snow Like at Togari? THE CLUB TOGARI sold its first 40 memberships in 14 days at ¥20.4 million each. The hill behind it, Togari Onsen, is 6 km from Nozawa and shares its snow: 450 cm a season, 108th in the world. It also has 16 runs to Nozawa's 55, and a base 178 m lower. What members are buying is not the mountain.
• Where Is the Next Niseko? Snowier Ski Areas With Somewhere to Stay Thirty Japanese ski areas get more snow than Niseko Grand Hirafu and have somewhere to sleep within reach of a city. Twenty-four have no English Wikipedia page — though most have a Japanese one. The beds did not make Niseko; they arrived after it was already famous.
• 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.

Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52

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