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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Villagers discover teamwork
- Crisis sensed due to a decrease in skier numbers
Tamami Yoshida, a 40 year-old man who runs a lodge in Misorano, Hakuba Village made a crucial decision last October to accept a group of construction workers as guests for the first time. The rate per night for this group, which was referred to the lodge by a reliable travel agency, was under 4,000 yen-- less than half the usual price.
Yoshida started the lodge with the thought that he'd "like to have a good time entertaining visitors, relaxing and conversing with them." He was originally concerned with his choice of new clientele, wondering, "What will this do to my image?" But he decided to accept them because, "Ten people at around 4,000 yen per night each adds up to quite an amount during a month."
Skier's descend at the site of the Men's Downhill at Happoh-one Ski Area. It is still difficult to see the effects of "Olympic dreams" in the area. What will come of post-Olympic visitor promotion? (photo taken at Usagi "Bunny" Beginner's Hill)
Yoshida and his wife moved to Misorano 16 years ago from Kanagawa Prefecture. One year after Nagano won its bid for the Games they remodeled their home and opened a lodge. They had originally planned to repay five million yen per year of the reconstruction loan. However, the lodge is filled with skier's only for about ten days during the New Year season and other holidays (which are few in number). Following the repayment schedule became difficult with the deepening of the economic recession. The lodge will be full for the most part until November with the construction group. Now there is some breathing room.
Steam rises from soup in the lodge's cafeteria during the middle of December. Yoshida says, "Next time don't come for work... just bring your fishing rod," to Takemi Sasaki (age 45), an electrician from a company in Saitama Prefecture who has come to work on an installation at a joint Village- Olympic gymnasium.
Approximately 70% of Hakuba's work force is employed in the service sector due to Happoh-one's reputation as one of Japan's prime ski areas. A dominant theme in the region was to "use the Olympics to increase the number of guests." But Yoshida says, "all that came was construction."
The annual decrease in skier numbers, accompanied by the recession (which at its peak reached 2.77 million visitors in 1992 according to Village statistics), ironically began two years after Nagano won its bid for the Games. Numbers last season fell to 2.36 million visitors, 85% that of fiscal year 1992's figure. On top of a failure to see any economic reprieve from "brand name recognition" (due to the area's recent national attention for world events), lodging facilities continue to be built even though occupancy among the area's 860 rooms now runs at only about 40%. This promises to make things even more difficult to manage.
"Echoland" is a district known for its lodges. Tokihiko Shimizu (age 41), who opened a 30-person inn nine years ago, works at a plant in nearby Otari Village, Kitaazumi County. He is forced to use part of his 200,000 something yen per month salary to run the lodge. He purchased it from another owner by borrowing 40 million yen (approx. $348,000 US) and must pay out 500,000 yen per month in loan repayment fees and utility costs, which is not completely covered by lodge revenues.
It was decided at the end of June 1996 to pass on a plan to build a new gondola to transport participants at the Olympic Downhill and other popular events at Happoh-one, due to the "lack of economic recovery and no end in sight for the decline in skier traffic." So explained Takashi Maruyama, President of a third-sector company to stockholders as the reason for not building the new gondola.
The plan for the new gondola was determined in September 1989 during the 'bubble economy' and accompanying ski boom. It was projected to cost 4.2 billion yen, to reach 4,200 meters in length, and link the surrounding villages at Kurobishitaira (elevation, 1680 meters). It had originally appeared that the plan would be quickly put underway due to numerous events-- Nagano winning its bid for the 1998 Winter Games in 1991 and the area being chosen to host the Women's Olympic Downhill events in 1993. In December of the same year all of the area's six resorts and the village invested 50 million yen (approx. $435,000) in a new joint-venture company.
In fiscal year 1995 skier numbers had dropped at area resorts since the high in 1990 by about 30 percent. The decrease is most notable within the boundaries of Hakuba Village. It is thought that a lack of adequate parking facilities near the slopes has contributed to the decline.
This sense of crisis has raised a new bud of cooperation-- a free shuttle bus connecting all of the surrounding areas with Echoland and Misorano. Lift operators began the service last season and this year will increase the number of roundtrips from three per day to four.
Until now a consciousness of teamwork has been thin among local "lodges of old standing" whose main purpose was taking care of strangers. Some hotel operators in the area have begun to express the following-- "We need to leave that behind, to remove the hedges and cooperate. We would like to see that happen together with the Olympics."
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Copyright 1999 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun