Winter Olympic City Tour | Nagano: Champion Mayor Manages to Revitalize the Ski Industry

(Text/Yang Ting, Wang Zijiang, Yang Guang)

Nearly a century has passed since the first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Summer Olympics in Chamonix. In the past 100 years, more than 20 cities around the world have successfully hosted the Winter Olympics. On the occasion of the upcoming opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the reporter of "Reference News" takes you into a series of "Winter Olympic Cities" such as Pyeongchang, Sochi, Vancouver, Turin, Nagano, Sapporo, etc., to observe what changes the Winter Olympics have brought to the host cities, and how these cities inherit and carry forward the spirit of the Winter Olympics.

The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in Nagano, Japan. Today, walking the streets of Nagano City, you can still inadvertently see the signs of the Nagano Winter Olympics. The signs outside the municipal government building are even more striking, and Kenji Ogihara, who has only been mayor for more than two months, was interviewed by a reporter from the "Reference News" here.

Kenji Hagiwara, 52, has competed in four Winter Olympics and helped Japan's Nordic biathlon team win team championships at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. Skiing made Kenji Hagiwara, and his two-time Winter Olympic champion also played a major role in his election for mayor of Nagano City.

"It was the Winter Olympics that trained me," said Kenji Ogihara, who has been skiing since elementary school, "and I am here today thanks to skiing and the Winter Olympics." ”

Kenji Hagihara has lived in Nagano for about 30 years and has witnessed the dramatic changes that the Winter Olympics have brought to Nagano. He believes that running for mayor of Nagano is a "reward" for the city hosting the Winter Olympics, in order to better serve the 370,000 Nagano citizens.

Kenji Hagiwara said he hopes Nagano-related industries can provide diversified services to attract more international tourists to help revitalize the ski industry. In addition, Nagano City is also actively assisting Sapporo in bidding for the 2030 Winter Olympics, and if the bid is successful, Nagano will use the relevant venues to fully support Sapporo in hosting the Winter Olympics.

However, when it comes to skiing, Japan also faces some practical difficulties. According to reports, the number of skiers in Japan has been declining for more than 20 years, and many ski facilities are difficult to operate. According to a white paper on leisure activities released by the Japan Productivity Headquarters think tank, Japan's ski population peaked at 18 million in 1998 at the Nagano Winter Olympics, and by 2020, the total ski population will plummet to 4.3 million.

When the "Reference News" reporter conducted a survey in Nagano a few days ago, industry insiders and government personnel generally believed that the slump in Japan's ski industry was mainly due to the aging and young children in the country.

The village of Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture is home to several venues that hosted ski competitions at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and all of the ski resorts are now operated by Hakuba Tourism Development Co., Ltd. President Masashi Ogino said with concern that there are currently about 6.3 million elementary school students in Japan, and it is decreasing year by year, and there are fewer and fewer skiers, so that there will be no skiers in 20 or 30 years, and the ski resort will not be able to operate.

In addition to demographic factors, the diversification of sports and recreation also diverts the ski population. Kenji Ogihara said that now that entertainment methods and hobbies are diversified, how to provide diversified services has become a major problem for ski resorts.

In addition to attracting international tourists, the Japanese industry believes that to revitalize the ski industry and winter sports, it is also necessary to grab the dolls and attract children to the snow field as soon as possible.

Kenji Hagiwara had four children, and when they were very young, he personally taught them to ski. Now, many ski resorts in Nagano are trying to attract children. MWAVE Co., Ltd., which operates two Olympic skating halls in Nagano City, offers skating classes for children, such as beginner skating classes, figure skating classes, and classes for Olympians.

Hakuba Village, which is under the supervision of Masashi Ogino, has also opened children's courses this year, and children over 4 years old can sign up, and the results are currently very good, and the enrollment season has just begun, and the membership has exceeded 10,000 people.

Source: Reference News Network