Poll results: where in Japan is everyone skiing this winter?

Earlier this year, we asked the 30,000 members of our private Facebook group where they were planning to ski in Japan over the 2024/25 winter season. There was a clear winner – and a few notable changes from the results of a similar poll we did three years ago.

In top spot is Nozawa Onsen (13%), which will come as no suprise to anyone who has tried to book accommodation there for this season or last. Hakuba Valley resorts (13%) are still a popular option, while Niseko United appears to have declined in popularity amongst our readers, with just 8% of votes polled versus 29% in 2021.

Sapporo resorts are on the rise, with 8% of votes going to either Teine, Bankei or Kokusai – three of the larger resorts within a short drive of Hokkaido’s capital.

But perhaps the most interesting change of all is the larger percentage of votes now falling to resorts outside the top 10 – now at 28% versus 10% in 2021. It’s a clear sign that plenty of travellers are now looking to veer off the beaten track, something that is not a great surprise to us given the response we’ve seen to articles like “5 tiny Japanese ski resorts you’re guaranteed to fall in love with“, which amassed more than 15,000 views within a few days of its publication.

Please note the obvious: none of our polling is scientific; we’ve simply posed a question to our readers for our own interest and the interest of others in our Facebook group.

If you’d like to see the full resorts of the survey or even cast a vote yourself, you can do so here. You’ll need to join our Ski & Snowboard Japan Facebook group, which has recently ticked over 33,000 members.