Shiga Kōgen (Maruike)

photo by Photographed by Qurren ( talk ), with IXY Digital 10 compact digital camera. · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

In 1947 US forces installed Japan's first ski lift here.

Eighteen linked ski areas among the two-thousand-metre heights of the Northern Alps make Shiga Kōgen one of the largest skiing areas in Asia, inside Jōshin'etsu Kōgen National Park. At Maruike, one of the eighteen, the US occupation forces installed Japan's first ski lift in 1947, for their own use; in 1998 the nearby Yakebitai ski area hosted the alpine skiing slalom and the snowboard giant slalom of the Nagano Olympics.

A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (MAB programme) since 1980 (one of the first four in Japan, together with Hakusan, Ōdaigahara-Ōmine-Ōsugidani and Yakushima), over an area spanning two prefectures and five municipalities: Yamanouchi and Takayama in Nagano, Nakanojo, Kusatsu and Tsumagoi in Gunma. Tourist development began in the ’20s with the Nagano electric railway, which reached Yudanaka in 1927; the first ski lift, in 1947 at Maruike, was built for the exclusive use of the US occupation troops before opening to the Japanese public. The 1998 Olympic downhill was originally planned on Mount Iwasuge, within this area, but a nature conservation association blocked its development in 1990 and the race moved to Happo-one, in Hakuba.

ℹ️ Seasonal ski area (open roughly from December to May depending on snowfall, dates not fixed); out of season the area can still be explored on foot. Hours and prices vary by individual lift across the eighteen ski areas: check the official website before setting off.

🚉 Hasuike · in front of the station

Sources: town.yamanouchi.nagano.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · joc.or.jp

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