Myoko Kogen - Suginohara News
Posted on June 27, 2024
Singapore fund buys ski resorts in Niigata, raises hopes, concerns
By MASAKI KASAI/ Staff Writer
February 19, 2024 at 07:00 JST
Mount Madaraoyama, foreground center, and Lake Nojiriko are seen on Dec. 30, 2023, from the Myoko Suginohara ski resort in Myoko, Niigata Prefecture, which was recently acquired by Patience Capital Group Pte Ltd. (Masaki Kasai)
MYOKO, Niigata Prefecture--This mountain city is known as the training site for Aoyama Gakuin University, a powerhouse in the annual New Year’s Hakone Ekiden long-distance relay road race.
But in Myoko’s Suginosawa district, which faces the border with Nagano Prefecture, mixed feelings about the future are running through the minds of residents.
The city has been seeing its population age and decline. And around autumn 2022, rumors spread that large land plots in the Suginosawa district were being bought up.
Shigeo Yamakawa, the 51-year-old head of the Suginosawa Tourist Office, said he remembers how people speculated about whether certain homes or land plots had been sold.
There was truth to the rumors.
In spring 2022, Myoko city sold 43 hectares of land, including part of the Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park, to a company affiliated with Patience Capital Group Pte Ltd., a real estate investment fund based in Singapore and Tokyo.
PCG then acquired the Madarao Mountain Resort, a ski area straddling the cities of Myoko and Iiyama, Nagano Prefecture.
Last November, it was learned that PCG had bought the Myoko Suginohara ski resort in the Suginosawa district from Seibu Holdings Inc.
Yamakawa said he has both hopes and concerns about PCG’s acquisitions and what it plans to do.
“I would love to see more visitors from abroad and more tourists here, but I am also concerned our local community could be left behind if the focus is on attracting wealthy people,” he said.
About 30 accommodation facilities are currently members of the Suginosawa Tourist Office, down from about 100 in the 1990s.
The population is aging and shrinking, and many tourism-related businesses are suffering from a lack of successors.
Ken Chan, the 56-year-old founder and CEO of PCG, provided a glimpse of his development plan in an online interview in Singapore last December.
Chan lived in Japan until he was 6. Fluent in Japanese, he previously headed the Japan branch of GIC Pte Ltd., Singapore’s sovereign investment fund.
“I hope to develop a world-class high-end ski resort that will be the only presence of its kind,” he said.
Chan began buying land plots for his plan in 2020 and has now purchased between 300 and 350 hectares, mostly in the Myoko Kogen, Madarao and Lake Nojiriko areas.
He said he plans to build a resort hotel in Myoko Kogen by the end of 2027, along with a downtown area lined with luxury brand outlets and restaurants.
Chan has already procured about 35 billion yen ($240 million) for that purpose through a real estate fund. He said he intends to raise more funds, with his long-term investment expected to be worth more than 200 billion yen.
He said his ideal ski resort is Canada’s Whistler, the largest in North America.
“It provides clues on how to lure customers, not just in winter but also in summer,” Chan said. “The Myoko and Madarao areas offer convenient access being located about a two-and-a-half hours’ ride on Shinkansen and car from Tokyo. I am hoping to create an all-season mountain resort there.”
PCG is not the only foreign capital company investing in Japanese ski resorts.
GIC, Chan’s former employer, has acquired five ski resorts in Japan, including the Naeba resort in Niigata Prefecture, from Seibu Holdings.
“The ski industry continues to grow in Western countries, contrary to what’s happening in Japan,” Chan said. “There is potential for development in Japan as well.”
He was asked about public sentiment in Myoko.
“I know there are concerns about land plots in Japan being bought by foreign capital,” Chan said. “Let’s note, however, that we have no way to take those land plots back to Singapore. I just hope what we are doing will help revitalize communities, even though I won’t say we will be taking the lead in doing so.”
The Myoko Suginohara ski resort, which boasts a maximum trail length of 8.5 kilometers, opened in 1964.
The resort was previously packed with skiers, and it provided winter work for farmers.
Hisataka Yamakawa, an 84-year-old who has long operated a variety shop in the Suginosawa district and seen the changes in the community, said he also has mixed feelings about the development.
“I just don’t know if it is safe to place rosy hopes again on what we would call a second fleet of ‘Black Ships,’” he said, referring to U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry’s fleet that pressured Japan to open to the rest of the world in the mid-19th century.