Japow Score
How We Rate Japan’s Ski Resorts
When you only have a limited number of days in Japan, choosing the right resort matters. The Japow Score is our way of answering a simple question:
“If I’m chasing great snow and fun terrain, how good is this resort really?”
Every resort on Japow.travel gets a score out of 10, plus a breakdown of the three things that matter most to us:
- Snowfall (40%)
- Crowds & lifts (40%)
- Terrain & tree riding (20%)
No resort can pay to change its score. It’s built from data, on-snow days, and local knowledge.
What the Japow Score actually measures
The Japow Score is designed for snow-savvy intermediate to advanced skiers and riders who care about:
- How much it snows (and how often it stays cold and dry)
- How easy it is to actually ski powder (crowds, lift layout, wind holds)
- How fun the hill is once you’re off the groomers (trees, lines, vertical)
In other words: Is this a place you’d plan a Japow-focused trip around?
It’s not trying to be a perfect, one-size-fits-all rating for beginners, nightlife hunters, or people who just want the fanciest base village.
The formula (40 / 40 / 20)
Every resort’s Japow Score is calculated like this:
- Snowfall – 40%
- Crowds & lifts – 40%
- Terrain & tree riding – 20%
We combine the three sub-scores with a simple weighted average:
Japow Score = (Snowfall × 0.40) + (Crowds & Lifts × 0.40) + (Terrain & Trees × 0.20)
Then we round to one decimal place (e.g. 8.8, 9.1).
Why the heavy weight on Snowfall and Crowds & Lifts?
- Deep, consistent snow is what makes Japan special in the first place
- But if it’s tracked out by 9:45am or you’re stuck in liftlines/wind holds, that powder doesn’t help much
Terrain matters a lot too, but we treat it as the finishing touch rather than the whole story.
Snowfall (40%)
This score reflects both how much it snows and how often the snow stays cold and dry.
We look at:
- Long-term snowfall averages
- How often meaningful storms hit in a normal season
- How quickly the snow gets heavy, rain-affected, or wind-stripped
- Microclimate effects (coastal vs inland, elevation, aspect)
As a rough guide, here’s how typical Japow resorts line up:
~20m = 10.0 | Elite-level snow machine
~17m = 9.5 | Incredibly reliable powder
~14m = 9.0 | Deep, consistent Japow most seasons
~10m = 8.5 | Very solid snow, but more variance
~8m = 8.0 | Good snow, but more weather swings
Resorts with lower totals can still score well if they’re cold, north-facing, and hold quality snow between storms; conversely, wetter or lower resorts might score a bit lower even if the raw “metres per season” number looks decent.
Crowds & lifts (40%)
This is where a lot of “big name” resorts lose points.
Crowds & lifts captures:
- How busy it gets on storm days and peak periods
- How quickly obvious powder lines are gone
- Lift layout (bottlenecks vs smooth flow)
- Modern vs ancient lift infrastructure
- How often key lifts are on wind hold or delayed
- How painful it is to move around the mountain on a typical day
Rough guide to scores:
9.5 – 10.0 = Uncrowded feel, minimal bottlenecks, decent/faster lifts
8.0 – 9.0 = Moderate crowds, generally okay lift system
7.0 – 7.5 = Busy on storms, powder gone by 10:00am, some chokepoints
6.5 or lower = Regular wind holds, slow access to best terrain, serious bottlenecks
A smaller “local hill” with one or two key chairs can score very well here if it stays quiet and lets you lap good snow without drama.
Terrain & tree riding (20%)
This score looks at how fun the mountain is once you’re off the groomers:
- Vertical and pitch (is there enough sustained fall-line?)
- Quality of tree zones (spacing, pitch, terrain variety)
- Sidecountry and lift-adjacent backcountry potential
- Gate systems and how realistic it is to use them for most visitors
- How repetitive vs varied the off-piste skiing feels
Broadly:
9.3 – 10.0 = World-class tree zones and/or well-run gate system, loads of interesting lines
8.6 – 9.2 = Fun sidecountry, solid vertical, playful off-piste with some limitations
8.0 – 8.5 = Mostly groomers, limited trees or short off-piste hits
Even a mostly groomer-focused resort can still land in the low 8s if what it does, it does well. But if you’re coming primarily for trees and freeride terrain, this part of the breakdown tells you how excited to get.
Example: a typical Japow favourite
Here’s a hypothetical example of how a strong resort might score:
- Snowfall: 9.5 (very deep and consistent)
- Crowds & lifts: 8.0 (great snow, but busy on peak days and a few bottlenecks)
- Terrain & trees: 9.0 (excellent tree skiing and sidecountry)
Japow Score:
- (9.5 × 0.40) = 3.8
- (8.0 × 0.40) = 3.2
- (9.0 × 0.20) = 1.8
- Total = 8.8 / 10
So you’d see Japow Score: 8.8 on the review, plus the three sub-scores so you can see why it landed there.
What the Japow Score doesn’t cover
The score is not a full “everything about this resort” rating. Some things we keep mostly in the written review and snapshots instead:
- Beginner friendliness & kids’ areas
- Ski school quality
- Village vibe, nightlife, and food scene
- On-snow accommodation options
- Value for money / cost tier
Those elements absolutely matter for planning a trip, and we call them out in each review and in “Best for families”, “Best first-time” style lists — they just don’t drive the core Japow Score.
Where the data comes from
To build and update scores, we combine:
- Historical snowfall data and climate patterns
- On-mountain experience — time spent actually skiing these places in all kinds of conditions
- Local knowledge — guides, patrollers, and locals where possible
- Publicly available lift and trail info (maps, vertical, lift counts, etc.)
Scores are not “set and forget”. If a resort:
- Adds a key lift or re-works a bottleneck
- Changes its off-piste/gate policies
- Gets noticeably busier over time
…we’ll revisit the ratings.
How to use the Japow Score
A few quick ways to make it work for you:
- Trip triage: narrow down which areas are worth flying across the world for if you care about snow + terrain.
- Resort comparisons: if two places look similar in photos, the breakdown often reveals which one is better for crowds or trees.
- Setting expectations: a slightly lower Japow Score doesn’t mean “bad” — it might just be amazing for families or beginners rather than pure pow hunting.
Use the number as a fast filter, then dive into the full review, pros/cons, and “where to stay” for the real nuance.
Questions or feedback?
The Japow Score will keep evolving as we ride more, get more data, and see how resorts change over time.
If you think we’ve missed something, want to suggest an update, or just want to nerd out about snowfall and tree lines, drop us a line: