insights from frontier Japan

The 33rd Shirataki Kita-Taisetsu Cross-Country Ski Competition, officially sanctioned by the Ski Association of Japan (SAJ) and co-sponsored by the Hokkaido Ski Federation, was held on the Kitami Pass course on December 11 and 12, signaling the arrival of the ski season.

Japan secured a spot in the Beijing Olympics' women's curling tournament, when Loco Solare beat South Korea's team 8-5 in Friday's playoffs at the Olympic qualification event. The win by Japan's Pyeongchang Olympic bronze medalists over the silver medal-winning South Korean team earned Japan a berth at the seventh straight Winter Olympics since the first women's tournament took place at the 1998 Nagano Games.

While many ski resorts in Hokkaido are postponing opening due to a lack of snow, Snow Cruise Onze, a ski area in Haruka-cho, Otaru, was the first to open for business as scheduled on November 20. Temperatures this year were higher than usual but the artificial snow-making machine, which is rare in Hokkaido, proved to be very effective. The ski area was able to respond to the expectations of skiers despite “not knowing when the slopes would open if we just waited for the snow to fall naturally”.

Cheerful voices echo around the Araiyama Ski Jump Ground (Miyanomori, Chuo-ku, Sapporo) as autumn deepens. The sound of skis sliding down the approach gradually increases and, when it stops, a small ski jumper leaps into the sky.

Former major leaguer Tsuyoshi Shinjo, the new manager of professional baseball team Nippon Ham Fighters based in Hokkaido, northern Japan, is expected to bring in nearly 6 billion yen ($53 million) in economic benefits, according to an economist’s estimate.

“The men start from this point.” Women’s ski jumper Takanashi experienced a first at the Miyanomori Jump Stadium (Normal Hill), a place so familiar to her that she claims her “jumping style was created here.” Takanashi was the last to appear in the first jump, starting from Gate 6. As all the men's second jumps that day started from Gate 5, it was an ultra-low gate comparable to that of the men. The start was one meter lower than that of Ito and 2 meters lower than that of Maruyama.

Sara Takanashi claimed her fifth straight ski jumping national championship on Friday, winning the women's normal hill event at Miyanomori Schanze in Sapporo. Placed third after her opening attempt, the Pyeongchang Olympic bronze medalist produced a second straight jump exceeding 90.5 meters to come from behind with 236.1 points.

Runner's stations (sometimes abbreviated to "runsute" in Japanese) are facilities where city runners can do things like change clothes and shower, and a new runner's station called "RUN BASE SAPPORO" opened in SAPPORO EXCEL HOTEL TOKYU. Eleven people visited on the October 2nd opening day and enjoyed running together with Lillehammer Winter Olympics Nordic combined team medalist Abe Masashi.

Rusutsu Resort, which is operated by Kamori Kanko Co., Ltd. (Sapporo), has received the ‘Winter Travel Hot Destination of the Year 2021’ award for the first time, at an international winter sports expo held in Beijing, China from September 2 to 7. Looking ahead to after the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control, the company hopes the award will lead to opportunities in the ski market in China, ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.