Hokkaido town curbs resort development

By Go Haraguchi

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15 Comments

Brainiac at 08:27 AM JST - 28th May

Well, the Hilton is about to open a new resort in Niseko Village and I'd have to say the development is the best thing that ever happened to that area. It has brought the economy back to life, and the Aussies can take most of the credit.

I bet Yubari wishes something similar could save its economy.
nutsagain at 08:42 AM JST - 28th May

The story I heard is the town is overun with boorish Australian types in winter with fancy ski gear and poor manners.
frontandcentre at 09:12 AM JST - 28th May

nutsagain, from my experience Niseko's been completely revitalised by the influx of Australian investment and winter visitors. The vast majority of tourists go there and have a good time without causing any problems. Most of the local businesses have thrived - or sold out for a big profit - so I doubt you'll hear too many complaints from the locals about being "overun".

The story above is quite encouraging, because it means that planning is being properly considered. That's something many places in Japan don't seem to do.
DeepAir65 at 09:20 AM JST - 28th May

I've not been there yet but I think this sounds like good news. 14,000 ~ 24,000 visitors in one year is a big jump and I think they are better off controlling development so that we don't end up with a boom and bust situation. If it gets too busy and crowded to ski you'll end up with lots of empty grey monstrosities...
Altria at 09:34 AM JST - 28th May

It's too bad they had to resort to this.
electric2004 at 12:03 PM JST - 28th May

At some time in future, the boom will be over, and then there will be many empty condomiums and a lot of wasted money.

As is 101 for sustainable growth: grow slowly and steady.
Speed at 03:04 PM JST - 28th May

Whether the large hotel/resort makers get to build their giant view shattering concrete montrosities this year or not, the large demand for lodging, in the short term will still be there.

The Kutchan municipal government is smart in requiring visually appealing restriction for further buildings. Let the companies and bidders who will abide by this town's wishes win the contracts.

I'm glad to see that they're thinking long term. So many towns/cities in Japan have been ravaged by short term thinking/plans.
Nessie at 05:29 PM JST - 28th May

has curtailed construction of condominiums and other lodging facilities for foreigners in Niseko

How do they know which ones will be used by foreigners? This reads like lazy reporting.
sf2k at 07:08 PM JST - 28th May

Good on them. I'm nicely surprised that the municipality said no to the over-developers. They might end up with a lottery system if the demand is so high. That's okay. At some point you do have to stop don't you? Nature is why people are there. If you block the view or buldoze it, then what?

Also with the trend to overdevelop something, this looks like a meaningful long term plan. I'm curious to know if they have set a general building limit at all
gogogo at 09:35 PM JST - 28th May

Why did they mention foreigners in this article? I sort of paints the picture that foreigners are destroying nature.
Zenigata2 at 09:25 AM JST - 29th May

The article should be more about the intent of the town about preserving its scenery and natural beauty against the will of money-hungry developers who wouldn't think twice about smacking a high-rise building among the hills.

The world is dotted with previously cozy resort towns completely ruined by overdevelopment (take a look at photos of Cortina d'Ampezzo and Sestriere before and after), and the residents of Kutchan are rightly worried that their town too is headed the same way.

There are indeed ways to build condos that blend with the environment, the problem with them is that they're more expensive to build, and that would mean less profits for the builders. That's why they prefer to build cell-block like structures.
stanoue at 09:37 PM JST - 29th May

Japan's been aiming for this sort of tourism - large numbers, short term visitors. So really, the references to 'foreigners' are positive in that aspect.
Nessie at 04:01 PM JST - 30th May

The article should be more about the intent of the town about preserving its scenery and natural beauty against the will of money-hungry developers who wouldn't think twice about smacking a high-rise building among the hills.

Zenigata, builders will build as long as they get financing and as long as legal restrictions will permit them to build. That's what builders do. It's the town's responsibility to devise transparent standards to guide development.

According to peoeple who live there and people who've been running businesses there, the town was taken by surprise by the development, and it has been slow to act. Also, the farmers have more say in town affairs, by virtue of their traditional position in the economy there, and the farmers have little interest in the resort. The town has failed to provide supporting infrastructure like sidewalks, despite the increased tax revenue it must be getting from the developers and land owners. It may be that the town needs to raise the property taxes, which from what I understand, tend to be quite low in Japan. It certainly needs to get a handle on tightening building restrictions. That's the intent of the "scnic district" designation and the accompanying building regulations. But it's not always easy to find a golden mean between regulations that are too strict and those that are too loose. Deviation from either can kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. What the town needs is a long-term vision of where it wants to be in 10 and 20 years, and how to get there.
Nessie at 08:31 PM JST - 30th May

I should also point out that if standards change such that projects are no longer economically feasible, builders won't be able to get financing, which will stop overbuilding pretty darn quick. This assumes rational decision-making on the part of financiers, which is a somewhat probable assumption, but it's a better assumption than assuming that builders will moderate themselves.
ultradodgy at 01:29 PM JST - 2nd June

Most of the developers working on Niseko projects see (and rightly so) that the long term potential for the market is based on growing domestic Japanese tourism. However, some level of infrastructure and "buzz" will need to be there to begin pulling away the traditional Nagano/Karuizawa/etc weekend trippers. Most of the plans I've seen for the area are very interesting and innovative - needless to say, the opposite of a traditional concrete Japanese ski resort. It'll take some time to develop and for the local market to grow accostomed to it, but the long term prospects look very good.