Ski Season in Japan: Full Cost & Salary Breakdown for 2024/25
- Last Updated On July 22, 2026
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You might think spending a ski season in Japan sounds like an expensive dream. Before we went, so did we. But after 108 days of living and working in Nozawa Onsen, one of the most stunning ski villages you’ll ever set foot in. The two of us walked away having spent a grand total of…
Net cost for two people
£2,110.81
That's less than £10 each, per day.
All figures based on the 2024/25 season at an average rate of ¥190/£1
We spent £6,501 over 108 days in the 2024/25 ski season, but after wages, our winter in Japan actually cost us £2,110 as a couple. That’s less than £10 a day each.
In May 2023 on a 3 day boat trip from El Nido to Coron in the Philippines, we met a South African girl who told us all about how she works in a tiny ski village in Japan every winter season. We were immediately hooked as we’d recently rediscovered our love of skiing and had just wrapped up a three week trip in Japan, dreaming of going back.
It was her description of the cute traditional village and how incredible the skiing sounded, that made us reevaluate all our future travel plans. Before we knew it we were making plans to get a Japan Working Holiday Visa.
That led us to spend the 2024/2025 ski season working in the magical onsen village of Nozawa Onsen in Nagano, Japan.
The Dosojin Fire Festival in Nozawa Onsen. One of the many things that makes the village magical.
Planning to work a ski season in ANY foreign country can feel like a daunting task, especially where finances are concerned. That’s why in this blog we’ll lift the veil on how much it actually costs to work a ski season in Japan, and what budgeting techniques you can use to make the dream of working in Japan a reality.
Cost of Working a Ski Season in Japan - Our Actual Figures
You might already have your heart set on working a ski season in Japan. Or perhaps you’re looking for a new adventure in life. Whichever it is, knowing how much it’s going to cost you is key to making your dreams into a reality. Unfortunately, the world does kind of revolve around money.
Fortunately for you we have the habit of tracking EVERY single penny we spend when we’re travelling. From accommodation costs to transport costs, and yes, even how much we spend on coffee.
We’ve outlined exactly how much it costs to work a ski season in Japan and how much money you can expect to make. So keep reading to find out!
Total spent
£6,501.03
Days in Nozawa
108
Daily average
£60.19
| Category | Total | Per day |
|---|---|---|
| Total | £6,501.03 | £60.19 |
Your mileage might vary depending on what ski resort you work at. Larger resorts like Niseko and Hakuba which are really popular with Australian tourists will likely cost more to live in. But job opportunities might be easier to come by.
Accommodation Costs for a Japan Ski Season
Accommodation
£637.65
Per person
£318.83
Daily (couple)
£5.90
The biggest difference between an expensive or inexpensive ski season is your accommodation cost. Most staff positions in a ski resort will provide free accommodation or in our case, heavily subsidised accommodation.
We really lucked out with our accommodation and got to share it with 22 incredible people that made the whole ski season experience 1000x better! One of our biggest takeaways from the season was the friends we made, and it wouldn’t have been the same if we hadn’t lived in the share house.
Party in the staff house!
Nozawa Onsen Season Pass Cost: Is It Worth It?
Activities
£1,088.83
Per person
£544.42
Daily (couple)
£10.08
Season pass
£440.77
The Nozawa Onsen Season Pass gives such incredible value for money!
Honestly, when you compare it to what ski resorts charge in America or Europe, a Japan season pass is remarkable value. The main cost of our ‘Activities’ section was our season pass for Nozawa Onsen. Which cost a whole £440.77 each. That worked out to £4/day (if we had the legs to ski everyday!)
Make sure to keep an eye out for early bird prices on their socials around September/October time. We were able to snag a deal on our season pass because we bought it early!
Just make sure you don’t jump the gun and buy your season pass before your job is secured. Some staff positions include a season pass as part of the package, either a personal one or a shared staff pass. The shared option comes with a bit less freedom over when you ski, but for what it saves you it is absolutely worth it. A small compromise for a pretty big win to the budget.
There are a few other activity costs thrown in there like a day trip to a neighbouring resort, and the occasional rent of a snowboard to humble us. We’ll hold our hands up and say that learning to snowboard is much more painful than learning to ski!
Speaking of skiing, we were able to borrow old ski gear from our boss. That meant zero rental costs for us, which was a huge help! If you are not in the same position, it is worth shopping around at a few rental shops and being upfront that you are there for the season. Most of the time they will give you a much better rate than the standard daily price.
Food and Drink Costs During a Japan Ski Season
Food & Drink
Restaurants + Groceries + Drinks
£3,131.54
Per person
£1,565.77
Daily (couple)
£29.00
Turns out the bare necessities are what cost the most. Well, sort of.
Look, we did try to budget, but when you spend your season working in a bar, and your days off are surrounded by fun people, the bar has a funny way of calling your name. Often…
The fact that our grocery spends and our drinks spends came out almost identical is either very funny or slightly concerning. Possibly both.
To be honest with you about or spends, tracking exactly how much you spend on drinks gets a little hazy around the eighth round, so there’s a good change that value is slightly higher. But we did our best!
Eating out on the mountain was the other quiet budget-drainer. Each meal runs around ¥1,600 to ¥1,800, which is roughly £7.50 to £8.50, not bad by UK standards but it creeps up quickly when you are eating out every other day. We never really sought out the cheaper spots either. When everyone is heading somewhere together, you just go with the flow.
Working in a restaurant had its perks though! Most evenings after my shift, Tatsumi-san would cook for the staff and we would sit down together for a proper meal. Authentic, home cooked Japanese food every night not only kept our grocery bill down but became one of my favourite parts of the whole season.
Could we have spent less on food and drink? Absolutely.
Packing a lunch instead of buying on the mountain would be the easiest win, and cooking at home more often would bring the grocery-to-restaurant ratio back into something more sensible. Easier said than done when the ramen shop is right there though.
A classic post-work meal at the restaurant.
Shopping and Gear Costs for a Nozawa Ski Season
Shopping
£917.30
Per person
£458.65
Daily (couple)
£8.49
Ok, so whilst this cost looks kind of high for a pretty chill ski season in a small ski village, we did have some big purchases mixed in there.
Our biggest ‘shopping’ cost was buying our very first pair of ski boots each. Even then, we managed to snag a deal and only paid around £180 each for our boots! Second Street, Japan’s brilliant second hand chain, is absolutely your best friend for that kind of thing.
Beyond the boots, our gloves gave up on us mid season from sheer overuse, so we treated ourselves to a better pair each. Lesson learned on that one. Buy once, cry once.
The rest crept in gradually. Living out of a small suitcase for three and a half months means your clothes take a beating, and with such a limited rotation we found ourselves heading into the nearest city every so often for a bit of a refresh. Retail therapy is a legitimate budget category and we stand by that.
Fees & Charges
£359.13
Per person
£179.57
Daily (couple)
£3.33
Fees and charges might sound scary, but it’s mostly just life admin.
Our Airalo eSIM data plans came to around £18 each per month, and national health insurance is non-negotiable if you are on a working holiday visa. This came in extremely handy for us when Sarah had an argument with a tree whilst skiing and had to get five stitches. Although, we always make sure to have the best travel insurance as well!
Then there was the cost of shipping our ski gear home at the end of the season.
I say shipping it home. My gear had other ideas. It is currently somewhere back in Japan, living its best life without me, and the whole saga is honestly a story worth telling properly. Something I’ll get around to telling once the stress is over with.
Other
£366.58
Per person
£183.29
Daily (couple)
£3.40
‘Other’ is a polite way of saying Sarah’s coffee fund.
£201.97 worth of flat whites, lattes and the occasional matcha, and that is before you count anything ordered with food. We have done the maths and decided ignorance is the better option.
Transport and petrol are in there too, mostly from splitting a rental car with friends for a trip to see the Nagano Snow Monkeys, worth every penny!
Living in a village as remote as Nozawa also means the train gets a workout. Stock up runs to bigger towns, day trips to Matsumoto to see the castle light show, that sort of thing. The kind of costs you don’t really mind because the reason behind them is always worth it!
Could You Do a Japan Ski Season on a Tight Budget?
Most definitely! We spent a lot of our time eating and drinking till our hearts content.
And we don’t regret it one bit!
Sure we probably could have shaved £500 or £600 off our total spend but where’s the fun in that? Like we said earlier, the best part of the season was spending time with the crew. Whether it was skiing, eating or partying. Every penny was worth it!
If you are on a tighter budget then you could definitely save money in the areas we didn’t. Cooking all of your own meals and not drinking are the easiest ways to save money whilst travelling.
Even then, we don’t think spending £1000 each is bad going over a 4 month period. It’s worked out to be our cheapest travelling yet and probably the most fun and memorable experience we’ve had.
Seems a fair price for all the unforgettable memories we made.
Can’t forget about the Charcuterski!
How Much Do You Get Paid Working a Ski Season in Japan?
If you’ve made it this far then you’ve seen how much we spent and what our net cost came to. So it should be no surprise that from our wages we made a total of…
Wages Earned
Combined income during Nozawa season
£4,390.22
Per person
£2,195.11
That’s over the full 108 days working around 30 hours per week. Not bad going considering we got to ski all day and party all night!
Japan Ski Season Jobs: Pay Rates by Role (2024/25)
How much you earn during a Japan ski season depends entirely on what type of job you have. The difference between the highest and lowest paying jobs is bigger than you might expect.
Here is a rough breakdown of what different roles tend to pay:
| Role | Hourly pay | Perks |
|---|---|---|
|
Bar and restaurant Evening shifts, ski all day |
¥1,100 ~ £5.15 / hr |
Staff accommodation Staff meals Shared pass (some resorts) |
|
Rental shop Daytime shifts, gear perks |
¥1,000 — ¥1,200 ~ £4.70 — £5.65 / hr |
Staff accommodation Free ski rental Shared season pass |
|
Lift operator Outdoor role, early starts |
¥1,000 — ¥1,200 ~ £4.70 — £5.65 / hr |
Staff accommodation Personal season pass Free onsen access |
|
Ski instructor Qualification required, highest pay |
¥2,000 — ¥3,500 ~ £9.40 — £16.45 / hr |
Personal season pass Free ski rental Staff accommodation Branded ski wear |
Mountain jobs like ski patrol, lift work or instructing tend to pay more than cafe or restaurant work, but come with stricter schedules.
We worked evenings in the bar and restaurant, which meant our days were free to ski. If time on the snow is the priority, hospitality is your friend. If maximising earnings matters more, look at mountain based roles instead.
It’s worth noting that the national minimum wage in Japan varies by prefecture, and Nagano sits slightly above the national average. Always check the current rate in the prefecture you’re planning on working.
Bar work is the way to go!
How Much Can You Realistically Earn in a Japan Ski Season?
As we said earlier, our actual Japan ski season salary in Nozawa Onsen came to a total of £2195 each.
Could we have earned more?
Definitely.
Working on the mountain or working more hours would have pushed our total higher. But the lifestyle that came with hospitality; the days on the snow, the staff dinners, the crew we shared the house with, was worth way more than the hourly rate difference on paper!
We felt like we struck a really favourable work/life balance that allowed us to ski A LOT. You can check out what a typical day in the life in a Japanese ski resort looks like.
You are unlikely to come home having saved a significant amount of money. But you can absolutely cover your living costs and have an incredible time doing it!
How Much Money Should You Bring for a Ski Season in Japan?
We’ve been asked this question a lot since finishing the season.
Just how much money do you need to work a ski season in Japan?
Well, how much you earn in Japan is going to be a big influence on how much of your own money you need to bring with you. Meaning that it can be difficult to give a definitive answer. We left for Japan on a working holiday visa with a plan to travel Japan for a year, so we had more than enough money saved for the ski season.
If you’re just going over to work a Japan ski season we’d probably recommend you bring at least £2k – £3k.
This gives you enough to live on until your first payday and gives you a bit of extra money to go on day trips to nearby cities. Or even spend a few days in Tokyo before the season starts. If you know you’re going to need to rent/buy ski gear when you get to Japan, budget a little extra on top.
Is a Ski Season in Japan Worth It?
At £10 each per day, this was some of the most affordable travel we have ever done. But more than that, it was the best return on investment we have ever had, not financially, but in terms of what we actually got out of it. The skiing, the culture, the people, the food, the feeling of living somewhere rather than just passing through.
No trip has come close to the ratio of value to memories. It was truly a great experience, made incredible by the people we were with.
If this post has got you thinking seriously about doing a season yourself, our guide to apply for a Working Holiday Visa in Japan is the best place to start to get the ball rolling.
Frequently Asked Questions About Japan Ski Season Budgets
What visa do you need to work during the Japan Ski Season?
Most people doing a working ski season in Japan use a Working Holiday Visa, which is available to UK citizens aged 18 to 30. It allows you to work and travel in Japan for up to a year. Always check the latest eligibility requirements before you apply as these can change.
What is a realistic Japan ski season budget?
Our actual Japan ski season budget for 108 days in Nozawa Onsen came to £6,501.03 for two people before wages. After earning £4,390.22 during the season, our net cost was just £2,110.81 as a couple. Your budget will vary depending on accommodation, food, nightlife and whether your job includes perks like a season pass.
How much money should I budget for a ski season in Japan?
A good Japan ski season budget is around £2,000 to £3,000 in accessible savings before you arrive. This covers your first few weeks before payday, any equipment purchases, transport costs and unexpected expenses while settling into resort life.
Can you do a Japan ski season on a budget?
Absolutely. One of the biggest advantages of a Japan ski season is how affordable it can be compared to Europe or North America. Choosing staff accommodation, cooking more meals at home and limiting nights out can significantly reduce your overall Japan ski season budget.
What are the biggest expenses in a Japan ski season budget?
For most people, accommodation, food, drinks, season passes and ski gear will make up the largest part of a Japan ski season budget. In our case, food and drink was by far our biggest expense, accounting for nearly half of our total spending.
Is a Japan ski season budget cheaper than a Europe ski season budget?
In many cases, yes. Lift passes, accommodation and daily living costs in Japan are often considerably cheaper than equivalent ski resorts in Europe. Combined with the quality of the snow and the cultural experience, Japan offers some of the best value for money in the ski world.
How much should I save before doing a ski season in Japan?
Even if you already have a job lined up, we recommend saving at least £2,000 before arriving in Japan. Having a financial buffer makes it easier to enjoy the experience without worrying about every expense and helps cover any unexpected costs.
Can you save money during a Japan ski season?
Most people won't return home with huge savings, especially if they prioritise skiing and socialising. However, many seasonal workers cover their living expenses through wages, meaning their overall Japan ski season budget ends up being far lower than a normal long-term holiday.
Does a season pass affect your Japan ski season budget?
Yes. A season pass is often one of the largest upfront expenses if it isn't included with your job package. Some employers provide a free or shared pass, which can reduce your Japan ski season budget by several hundred pounds.
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Hi! We’re Mark & Sarah.
We’ve been travelling the world together for the past 4 years. Exploring destinations such as Europe, South America, South East Asia, Japan and Australia. Now we’re sharing everything we’ve learned on our travels, to help you get out there and have your own adventures!
