La Tania Kar Tahmini

After the Sapporo olympics of 1972, Japan invested wildly in ski resorts but a combination of economic stagnation, declining population and a strong currency took their toll and the bubble burst. Hundreds of ski resorts were subsequently abandoned and the majority that survived (still about 600) haven't generally made enough money to reinvest. Old lifts and tired buildings are still widespread at many resorts but those are the only negatives in a country where so much scores so highly. The Japa