Once among the most sought-after ski resorts, with its pristine powdered slopes peppered with trendsetters and winter sports fans, Nagano's Nozawa-Onsen Snow Resort Co. has fallen prey to the same steady economic decline that finds many rural communities scrambling with snowballing debts and searching for a way to resuscitate their existence.
Nagano's ski-lift use -- with 105 ski resorts in the prefecture -- ranks highest in the country, with about 92 million rides recorded in the year ending last March, according to Japan Cable Co.
But the number of skiers has been in decline nationwide after peaking at 18.6 million in 1993, said the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development in Tokyo, and by last March, Nagano's ski-lift users fell to only 40 percent of the level in 1993.