The Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski Resort in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, is opening the indoor activity hall on its grounds as pickleball courts through the green season, when there is no snow. According to what Seibu Prince Hotels & Resorts released on July 31, 2026, the courts started on August 1 and are planned to run until November 23. To the question of how a snow resort keeps its facilities working outside its own season, one of Japan's best-known summer retreats has given the green season a concrete use. For operators in Japan looking for something to do with idle space, it is a move worth seeing.
Indoor courts a ski resort opened for summer
The stage is not the slopes themselves but an indoor facility on the grounds called the Activity Hall. Setting courts there created an environment where play does not depend on the weather. Hours are given as 8:00 to 17:00, and the fee as 5,000 yen per court per hour. Pickleball, played by hitting a perforated ball with paddles, combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, and a court takes about a third of the area of a tennis court. A game that can be laid out as several courts inside an indoor hall looks like a good fit for the spare space a ski resort holds.
What it means to add a new sport at a home of tennis
Karuizawa had the town's first tennis court in the 1890s, and it is a place where tournaments among the oldest in Japan have been held. Prince Hotels, too, has taken that history into account and laid pickleball over the racket-sport context. Rather than denying the existing tennis culture, it adds an easier new game as an extension of it. Put that way, it makes sense: visitors can be offered a new experience without breaking what makes Karuizawa itself. The thinking is to ride on assets and a story already held, not to build a facility from nothing.
Off-season utilization as a business problem
Ski resort revenue swings sharply with the snow. A fixture like an indoor hall is there all year, yet its intended role tends to fall in winter. Opening the hall to pickleball reads as an attempt to put that empty time to work in the green season as well. At Rusutsu Resort in Hokkaido an autumn festival is being planned on eight sanctioned courts, and resorts making the game a pillar of their draw is not a Karuizawa-only story.The October festival on Rusutsu's eight sanctioned courtsset beside it brings out a shared theme: double-cropping at snow resorts.
Fees, dates and location at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski Resort, Activity Hall (indoor) |
| Period | August 1 to November 23, 2026 (planned) |
| Hours | 8:00〜17:00 |
| Price | 5,000 yen per court per hour |
| Court size | About one third of a tennis court |
| Contact | Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski Resort (0267-42-8115) |
At 5,000 yen per court per hour, the cost per person comes down when it is split among several people. Since a small group can make it work by bringing gear to a venue where the court is already set up, it looks designed for families and groups dropping in between other plans on a summer break.
Rising player numbers, and how the facility reads them
Prince Hotels' material puts Japan's playing population at about 5,000 as of 2024. A small figure next to the world, but growth at home is steep. In registration trends on DUPR, the global rating system, Japan comes fifth in the world for growth rate, adding numbers sharply from the year before. That the facility opened indoor courts at this point looks like a judgment made on the angle of that rise.DUPR data showing the fastest-growing countries lined up across Asiabacks up the idea that the resort town's move was not a whim.
The spread of turning idle space into courts
Turning unused space into courts is not confined to resorts. In cities, department store rooftops have become limited-run courts, in experiments that keep shoppers moving through. Pickleball on the roof of Osaka Takashimaya was one example showing that a shopping complex can use the game as a way in. The indoor hall in Karuizawa and the rooftop in the city share the same root idea: fill the empty hours of a space you already have with the game.The Osaka attempt that made a department store rooftop a court for five days, read alongside it, shows that the method is starting to be shared across industries.
How it looks to a resort operator
For resorts that already carry lodging, golf and tennis on the menu, pickleball is seen as a game that is light on new investment and easy to add to the flow. The more an operator holds wide boxes such as slopes or a large hall, the greater the value of a product that can be laid out as courts and sold in short blocks. Absorbing weather risk indoors, and the ease with which a first-timer can start hitting straight away, also work as a device for extending a stay. Karuizawa's move matters because it shows a concrete route by which resorts whose revenue has been held by snow and grass can turn indoor idle time into cash. How fees and court counts get tuned to demand in each area now looks like the dividing line for rolling this out elsewhere.
What to know before you go
Because it uses an indoor hall, you can plan without worrying about rain or temperature. On the other hand, the run is stated as planned through November 23, and the number of courts and how bookings are taken on the day are not spelled out in the published material. Checking directly with the Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski Resort before you go, to confirm court availability and whether you can book, is surest. If you want to slot a racket sport into a summer trip, it works best combined with other activities inside that 8:00 to 17:00 window.
