Two Rebirth of The White Horse(Hakuba)

Pyeongchang olympics have begun. My interest is to introduce to snow and ice. Hakuba where I enjoyed skiing when I was young is one of the most famous ski resorts and the location of Nagano Olympics. At Hakuba there were two separate restorations in the recent twenty years.

One is the symbolic restoration by the energy of the Japanese trait. The stage of this story was at the ski jumping team competition at Hakuba ski jumping stadium during Nagano Olympics in 1998. I will tell the conditions and the situation of the story before telling the core of the story. Firstly ski jumping was popular among Japanese and each member of the ski jumping team had enough ability to win the event. So Japanese people desired the Team Japan to get the gold medal of this event. Secondly this event has two trials, but if the weather was not good to try next trial it was likely to end the event. Thirdly four judges, who were strong ski jumping country men included a Japanese, have the authority of judgeing to go ahead or stop the event. Fourthly, unluckily, Team Japan after the first trial was in fourth place below bronze medal, and the weather with heavy snow falling that made it difficult to see was the condition that judges would decide to end the event.

The Japanese judge, and of course most Japanese, wanted to continue to the second trial, but the other judges who were all western people wanted to end the event because first place to third place of the first trial results were all western country teams. There was a severe argument between the Japanese and Western judges, after all they agreed to have a determination by the outcome of the test ski jumping members.

Number of the test ski jumping members who were all Japanese was twenty four, each member had high level skills for ski jumping. And they were also unsuccessful applicants dropped from the Japan national ski jumping team. They had low motivation because they were in Hakuba was just the duty for members who had had an eye on this Nagano Olympics. Moreover their treatment was not good compared with the national team.

Suddenly the great mission fell down onto the test jumping team. They had to jump far and beautifully under the bad conditions. If even one jumper among them had failed to jump it accurately, the event would end, the national team would lose their small chance to get a medal at Olympics and Japanese people couldn’t see the lifting of the Hinomaru, which is the Japanese national flag. Even if the mission was the most significant, they were only the back shadow of the game. Nobody among the spectators in the stadium and no one in front of the TV knew the mission ahead of them. No appreciation, no honor nor no prestige.

Nevertheless all of them jumped far and beautifully. The distance that a member jumped was longer than the longest record of the first trial, but his distance had no record.

The miracle which the test ski jumping members created knocked on the door of the national team. At last the four judges decided to try the second trial. The national team got the chance to try again. All National members who were stimulated by the test jumper trials jumped further and more beautifully than their first trial and the other country jumpers. The finale of the event was the scene that the extra biggest exultation among the jump members and the spectators.

Tomoaki Harada who was the gold medalist of this event said with tears; I jumped as far as possible for all the members. Actually his unsuitable air of asking for the success of the last jumper of the event, Kazuyoshi Funaki, was unbelievable for the Japanese spectators in front of their TVs. Why he was in abnormal was revealed after the Olympics as described above. Before his second trial he pledged to the test jumpers that he would do it unconditionally. Of course “all the members” he said were the national team members and the test jump members.

One of the test jump members disclosed his emotions after the Nagano Olympics; “Honestly I had little motivation before the event, but when I was given the mission there was no choice but to do it and I did it. I had no idea but to “connect to the next jumper”.

The second story is about the strategic eye of an Australian. The popularity of Hakuba had been dwindling after the Nagano Olympics. Young people’s interest in spending holidays had moved from skiing or snow-boarding to another enjoyment. For many Japanese people to have leisure was to spend a day or two days. Hakuba was far for many Japanese people. And Hakuba was not fashionable for the young. Hotels in Hakuba were old and different from the life style of the young. Visitors had decreased every year, as a result many hotels were on sale. Hakuba which has no attraction besides skiing had been forgotten by Japanese people. Hakuba was a dying town.

An Australian had an eye on Hakuba and he bought an old hotel. Since about 2000 Many Australians have visited Japan, particularly Niseko, to enjoy their holiday skiing. Hakuba had good conditions for Australians and foreign visitors. Number of foreign visitors has been growing every year. The number of nights staying in 2017 was about fifty one thousands, it was 162 times bigger compared with the number of 10 years before. Then Hakuba was reborn. Many new hotels have been built and we have heard a lot of different languages. Furthermore burgeoning Hakuba linked to a region of Nigata prefecture, where visitors can eat fresh fish dishes.

Josh Norris, Director of Japan Powder, is quietly confident of success in the region. “We see great potential for growth in Nagano,” says Josh. “The quality of snow here offers some of the best skiing in the world. The Olympics have been held here, and yet property prices are surprisingly good when compared to Niseko.”

Hakuba is a beautiful name which means “A White horse” in Japanese.The White horse has two characters, one is hard work with no reward and the other is dynamic thinking with power.