Inbound visitors cheer and locals scream – “Snow Machine,” a Japanese festival without Japanese people

Snow Machine” is a much talked-about music event that allows you to experience an overseas festival while being in Japan. What are the lights and shadows behind the event, which is a fusion of “snow sports” and “music”?　We will report on the actual event as well as the actual event itself.

“A Japanese festival without Japanese people”.

Snow Machine” started as an alpine music and ski festival in Queenstown, New Zealand. It was first held in Japan in March 2008 in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture, and attracted a lot of attention when the phrase “a Japanese festival without Japanese people” became a buzz word on Twitter (now “X”) at the time. The festival was held in Hakuba Village last year and again in March of this year, and also made its first appearance in Niseko (Hokkaido), one of Japan’s leading snow resorts, in the same month.

The Hakuba event was a great success, attracting over 5,000 people, while the Niseko event attracted over 3,000 people in its first year. Data shows that about 80% of the event attendees came to Japan from overseas to visit this event. Visitors came from more than 30 countries, including New Zealand and Australia, where the event is based, and the response was positive, saying, ‘I enjoyed the music, the world’s best snow, and Japanese food culture.

The response has been very positive,” said an Australian-based organizer of the event.

According to the organizers, the Hakuba event had an economic impact of approximately 1.5 billion yen, and the Niseko event had an economic impact of approximately 900 million yen. The inbound demand generated by “Snow Machine” is very large.

The differing views of the organizers and the locals

Of course, there are problems as well, as one Japanese snowboarder living in Hakuba Village who participated in the Hakuba Snow Machine two years in a row lamented, “I went early in the day, so I don’t know about at night, but there were far more foreign skiers than Japanese.

I went early in the daytime, so I don’t know about at night, but there were far more foreign skiers than Japanese. It is an event that can be enjoyed both day and night, but to be honest, it does not have a good reputation among the locals. Drunken customers cause trouble every year. Restaurants close earlier than usual to avoid trouble, and even convenience stores, which are open 24 hours a day, did not open late during the festival.

Going back to past SNS and blogs, when the festival was first held in Hakuba Village in ’20, there were frequent reports of damage such as “glass was broken,” “the Dosojin was destroyed,” and “a colored cone was covered and taken away. The local residents were flooded with complaints. Foreigners living in Hakuba also had a clouded look on their faces.

Thousands of drunks, tons of empty cans littering the streets, and petty crimes ……. I think there are more negative aspects than economic benefits to the village residents and the town hall from holding the festival. The organizers and foreign accommodation owners only generate revenue. I think many people have a negative impression when they see the current situation where local restaurants and businesses are scaling back their operations.

I spoke with a wealthy Thai businessman who was staying in Hakuba Village on vacation, but neither he nor his family ‘enjoyed Hakuba Village during the event. I would not recommend Hakuba Village events to my friends. I wonder if this is the brand image that the Japanese and foreigners living here want.

The Niseko-Kutchan Tourism Association also wants to see improvements.

We are aware that the police station has received noise complaints from local residents. We have also asked the organizers to make improvements regarding the lack of sharing of the progress of preparations prior to the event and the fact that the necessary procedures to hold the event were completed just before the deadline. If the festival is to be held in the future, we hope for proper operational management.”

The organizers claim that the event was a great success and had a great economic effect, while the local residents are concerned about the “noise problem” and mismanagement of the event. When we asked the organizers to respond to the voices of the local residents, we received the following response.

We are aware that there were noise complaints in both Hakuba Village and Niseko, but we responded by adjusting the bass level of the music. “We are aware of the noise complaints in both Hakuba Village and Niseko, but we have adjusted the bass level of the music to address the issue,” said Mr. Kurokawa. “It is challenging to prevent sound leakage at an outdoor event for over 5000 people, but we will continue to work closely with the community to make improvements.

This year we deployed local and international security guards and ran a cleanup team not only on the event grounds but also throughout the village. We chose Hakuba Village and Niseko because we wanted to bring the charm of Japan to a wider international audience and introduce them to Japan’s wonderful culture, food, snow, mountains, and natural environment through music. Through the success of Snow Machine, we believe that more and more foreign tourists will discover Japan’s ski resorts, which will in turn lead them to vacation in the village and the country for years to come.

Snow Machine” is scheduled to land again next year on an even larger scale. Dialogue and mutual cooperation between local residents and overseas event organizers will be the key to melting the snow.