Three winters from now, Japan's snowy Myoko highlands in Niigata Prefecture will be home to a $1.4 billion mega-resort built by a Singaporean fund, with hotels charging some $1,350 a night. The project by Patience Capital Group (PCG) promises to create 1,000 jobs and spur winter tourism.
But for many Myoko locals, foreign interest has become a double-edged sword, threatening overdevelopment, sky-high prices and the sweeping away of traditional culture. Even before news of PCG's interest, many inns, ski rental shops and restaurants in Akakura - one of five major ski resort towns in the Myoko region - had been snapped up by foreigners. But they're only interested in the snow and once that melts, those businesses shut.
The town, also once a bustling hot-spring destination, no longer has enough going on to attract many visitors during the rest of the year. "If you come to Akakura in summer, it's pitch dark at night," said Masafumi Nakajima, owner of local inn Furuya and head of the 200-year-old town's hot spring-inn tourism association. He estimates only 10 of about 80 inns in Akakura operate year-round.
Located roughly 2.5 hours from Tokyo by train, Myoko, along with the more famed Japanese ski resorts of Niseko and Hakuba, is known for powder snow, dubbed "Japow." The resort areas are a huge part of Japan's tourism boom, also fueled by a weak yen, which saw inbound tourist numbers jump 17% in February, hitting a record high for that month.
Nakajima said many foreign business ow.