Fond memories and lasting benefits

The Games were organised in a way that minimised their environmental impact. Existing sites were used where possible and efforts were made to protect wildlife, prompting the introduction of local wildlife protection regulations. The Games also helped change attitudes to volunteering in Japan and were followed by an increase in the number of volunteer groups in the city, many of which are still running today. Their involvement and the staging of major commemorative events have helped create a positive perception of the Olympic Winter Games among local residents, a large majority of whom believe the event was worth staging.

Some of the finest skiing in Japan

Global coverage of the Olympic Winter Games helped Nagano become one of Japan’s leading winter sports destinations and made it more popular with skiers and snowboarders from overseas.

Also instrumental in Nagano’s increased ability to appeal to foreign visitors were the superb skiing conditions and facilities offered by the ski areas that hosted Olympic events.

Offering deep powdery snow and challenging skiing terrain, Nagano’s ski resorts continued to expand and develop in the two decades after the Games, upgrading their facilities to cater for demand as visitor numbers climbed.

Improved infrastructure

The upgrading of road and rail links in and around the city before the Olympic Winter Games made the region’s ski resorts more accessible and appealing to visitors. Given the fact Nagano did not have its own airport, these improvements were also welcome.

The extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet-train line to Nagano more than halved journey times between the city and Tokyo. Two of Nagano’s major railway stations were expanded. The road network was also upgraded. Expressways were built to improve links with Tokyo and other prefectures, and local roads linking the resorts were also built or widened, cutting journey times. The development of the local transport system continues to bring benefits to the area more than 20 years on.

Environmental safeguards

Efforts were made to protect the environment while improving skiing facilities and transport links. These included the creation of a special body to look at the environmental factors linked to the choice of venues. To reduce impact, all the Alpine skiing events were staged at existing sites, while some venues were switched in response to environmental concerns. Road-building impact studies were also conducted, local flora and habitats protected, and water purity and the natural landscape preserved.

As part of the Commemorative Olympic Tree-Planting Programme, some 70,000 indigenous trees were planted across the sites to offset the 11,000 trees cut down to make way for new competition venues. Meanwhile, the discovery of nesting goshawks at the proposed biathlon venue led to the events being moved to an existing site elsewhere and prompted the introduction of local wildlife protection regulations. Such actions helped raise environmental awareness among local people.

Lasting local engagement

Ranging in age from 16 to 83, over 32,000 volunteers helped out at the Games, opened their doors to visitors for homestay programmes and assisted in other ways. They were organised into volunteer groups, each with their own chain of command, and together they helped change the way volunteering was perceived in Japan.

Many of these groups continue to apply the expertise and knowledge they acquired at Nagano 1998. They include the M-tomo Group, which is made up of 200 people who help out at events staged at the M-Wave, the speed skating venue for the Games.

Volunteers were also instrumental to the success of the Snowlets Camp, an IOC-approved international youth gathering. The camp, the theme of which was “world solidarity”, promoted winter sports, the Olympic Movement and a message of world peace. Some 217 young people aged 15 to 20, and hailing from 51 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), took part.

In coming together from across the world, the camp’s participants immersed themselves in the spirit of the Games, learned about and practised the values of fair play and friendship, and enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the Olympic Movement and other cultures.

The perception of the Olympic Winter Games Nagano 1998 remains very positive among local people today. A recent survey found that 89 per cent of Nagano residents felt that staging the Games was worthwhile, a viewpoint that has been nurtured over the years by annual events such as the city’s Lanterns Festival and the Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon.