Interviewer: Risa Ohinata Photo: Hiroshi Suganuma
INDEX
Kono Kenji started out as a ski cross athlete, and has shown his aggressive skating in freeskiing videos and photography. In the green season, he proposes new activities like tree camping and SUP, and even developed the Vector Glide skis.
In June 2020, he became chairman of the tourism association of his hometown, Nozawa Onsen Village. While carrying on the history of Nozawa Onsen Village, where a strong ski culture has remained since ancient times, Kenji is now using the knowledge he has gained from his global experiences to bring a breath of fresh air to the small village. We explore Kono Kenji's skiing career, from his days as an athlete to the present, and the future of Nozawa Onsen.
[Profile]
Kenji Kono
was born in Nozawa Onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture in 1983. He started skiing as a child and later competed around the world as a World Cup ski cross athlete for 12 years. He is currently based in his hometown of Nozawa Onsen, where he is active in a wide range of fields, including running "Nozawa Green Field," a camping and nature experience program that utilizes handmade tree houses, organizing SUP tours, and working as a marketing manager for Vector Glide, where he is involved in the development of skis. He is also the chairman of the Nozawa Onsen Tourism Association.
As a boy, he competed in alpine skiing with Yudai Ueno
When did you start skiing?
My earliest memory is when I was about 4 or 5 years old. An older woman who was a regular at our inn (※1) took me there. My parents were busy in the winter so we didn't get to ski together, but my older brother (※2) had started skiing, so I had no choice
-- Out of necessity?
At first, I didn't like skiing. I was suddenly taken to the Skyline Grand Prix course or something. I wasn't good at it. My grandfather was renting skis at Hikage slopes and had lots of equipment, so I guess it was inevitable that I started
──So you started to like skiing at some point?
I joined the Nozawa Onsen Ski Club (※3) when I was in the second grade of elementary school. There was a GS competition at Minami Shiga Onsen (now Yamaboku Wild Snow Park), and I came in third place. I think it was around that time that I started to enjoy skiing
──Do all the kids in Nozawa Onsen join a ski club?
There are a lot of people working in the accommodation industry. I think it's easy for the parents. They go to school, come back, go straight to practice, come back around 8pm, eat dinner, and go to bed right away because they're tired. Every weekday they'd play night games at the Kandahar course, and on the weekends they'd go to tournaments
──So you were immersed in racing from the second grade of elementary school through high school. Are there any particularly memorable episodes from your racing career?
In the ski club, there are two classes: one for first-fourth graders and one for fifth-sixth graders. I was doing well in third grade, and I thought I'd win every competition by fourth grade. But then, in the first half of my fourth year, I accidentally stepped over a pole and broke two shins, ruining my season.
Around that time, Yudai Ueno (※4) and I were competing for first and second place in the Nagano Prefecture competition. In the first half of my fifth-grade season, Yudai usually won first place, and in the second half, I usually won first place. I was determined to win every competition in sixth grade, but then I tripped over a pole again and injured my knee ligaments and bones.
In my second year of junior high, I placed second in the prefectural competition and was seeded first at the national competition. But then I suddenly developed severe back pain. I managed to ski one run, but couldn't stand on the second, so I had to withdraw. It was a frustrating experience.
──It's a battle against injuries. But it's amazing that Kenji Kono and Yudai Ueno, who are now active nationwide in the world of freeskiing, were competing for first and second place at Ski Kingdom Nagano since they were in elementary school. Was your dream to become a ski racer after all?
Yes, I was a ski racer all my life. I didn’t have any career guidance in my third year of junior high school, so I went on to ski at Iiyama Minami High School (※5). I didn’t even have any career counseling in high school either, as I didn’t think it was necessary
──Have you ever considered going to university?
My dad always said, "If you want to study, I'll pay for it, but if you want to go skiing, I won't spend a penny." I didn't do well in high school, so I knew it would be difficult to continue as a racer, but I didn't have any desire to study at university, and I didn't want to decide on my career path too early and give up on skiing, so I entered the FIS race in Nobeyama in March of my third year of high school. I didn't get any results, but I felt relieved that I was done
--What are you going to do next?
There was nothing to do in Nozawa Onsen, so a friend in Tokyo invited me to start working part-time as a messenger. I thought maybe there would be something to do in Tokyo
──Did you find anything when you went to Tokyo?
Working as a messenger was really fun, and although I was a young guy with no idea about the streets of Tokyo, thanks to my experience with skiing I was able to join the top sales team within three months of starting work. I think it was a good job because I was able to get some exercise. I still keep in touch with my coworkers from that time, and they come to Nozawa every year to visit me
*1 [Our Inn]
Located in the center of Nozawa Onsen Village, Yasuragi no Yado Shirakaba is Kenji Kono's family home.
*2 [Brother]
Kenji's older brother, Katsuyuki Kono, is also a skier. He studied skiing in Austria, was active as an alpine skier and ski cross athlete, and also produced freeskiing videos.
*3 [Nozawa Onsen Ski Club]
Founded in 1923 (Taisho 12) in Nozawa Onsen, where people were still only visiting for hot spring cures, with the aim of revitalizing the village through skiing. In addition to providing technical training, hosting competitions, and training athletes, the ski club was also responsible for running the ski resort in the past. It has produced many Olympic athletes.
*4 [Yuda Ueno]
A skier born in Nozawa Onsen Village. After working as a competitive skier, he switched to ski cross and halfpipe competitions. In addition to his own success as a halfpipe athlete, he is also dedicated to promoting the sport and developing athletes. He currently runs the ski shop "COMPASS HOUSE" in Nozawa Onsen.
*5 [Iiyama Minami High School]
The only public high school in Nagano Prefecture with a sports department, it is a prestigious ski school that has produced many ski athletes. It has now merged with three surrounding schools to become Iiyama High School.
My encounter with ski cross and
the beginning of my second skiing life
When did you start ski cross?
In the winter, my parents' business was busy, so I took a break from my part-time job as a messenger and returned to Nozawa to help out. At that time, Akifumi Kitamura (※6) from Madarao invited me to enter a ski cross competition. I didn't even know that ski cross existed at the time, but Ueno Masayuki (※7) and I went to Hokkaido and participated in the Japan Cross Game Masters (※8) held in Teine.
I lost in the semi-finals, but Akiba (※9) won. I was competing with Akiba in the semi-finals, and at first I was in the lead, but I was pushed out on the bank midway through and Akiba won.
──So you met Akiba-san suddenly at a race. Is that how you got hooked on ski cross?
There have been two moments in my life when I felt a strong, unfounded confidence, and this was the first. I thought to myself, maybe I could go to the world with this sport. That season I competed in amateur tournaments every weekend, and completed about 20 races. The following year, it was decided that ski cross would become a World Cup event
──So you returned to ski racing。
When I started working part-time as a messenger, I declared that I wasn't going to ski anymore, but in the end, I told him I was quitting my part-time job because I wanted to aim for the World Cup in ski cross. He was surprised that I was going to ski again after all, but he also encouraged me, saying that he would support me if I aimed for the world. At that time, Salomon released skis called Crossmax, and I, Masayuki Ueno, and Yudai joined the Salomon team
So you're going to the World Cup?
Yes, at that time, anyone could enter the World Cup by simply asking at SAJ. Besides my friends from Nozawa Onsen, there were about 13 or 14 others, including Akiba-san, Takizawa-san (※10), Daisuke Fukasawa from Hakuba, Kobayashi-san from VIC, and Gota Sakamoto from Sapporo. The opening race was in Tignes (France), and it was a timed race, with the top 32 qualifying. I started 80th, but halfway through, fog started to roll in and I couldn't see anything, so I ended up in 36th place. I
was still young at the time, and I wasn't happy with the unfairness of the race, and I didn't have the funds, so I didn't participate in the second race in Laax (Switzerland). However, I managed to place 7th in the final race in Les Contamines (France) in March.
──You're still around 20 years old, right? Is that young for a player?
That's right. Experience is what matters most in ski cross, so many skiers retired from alpine skiing and switched to ski cross, and I was always one of the youngest
──After that, you continued your career as a player for a while。
After I got 7th place, Salomon started supporting me with travel expenses, but I couldn't make a living from that alone, so I trained during the day in the summer and worked part-time jobs delivering alcohol to stores in Kabukicho at night (laughs). I
did everything. Having that base gave me the confidence that I could do anything even if I lost my job.
*6 [Akifumi Kitamura]
A skier from Madarao Kogen. After competing in the World Cup for ski cross for four years, he produced a tree run course at Madarao Kogen and currently operates a backcountry tour service at Madarao Kogen.
*7 [Masayuki Ueno]
A skier born in Nozawa Onsen Village. He is the older brother of Yudai Ueno and is well versed in all genres, including alpine and ski cross. He currently works at Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort.
*8 [Japan Cross Game Masters]
An amateur ski cross and snowboard cross tournament held all over the country. With Mild Seven as the main sponsor and a prize of 700,000 yen for the Super Final, it was a glamorous series at the time, and top athletes participated.
*9 [Masayuki Akiba]
After working in various genres as a professional ski racer, demonstrator, and ski cross skier, he became interested in freeskiing and founded the domestic ski brand Vector Glide.
*10 [Hiroomi Takizawa]
A long-time athlete in alpine skiing, moguls, and ski cross. In ski cross, he won the X Games, received the Crystal Trophy at the World Cup, and competed in the Vancouver Olympics. He is a leading figure in the Japanese ski cross world.
Traveling the world, he also tackles the steep slopes of Alaska. With a view to a second career
──How were your results after that?
I started competing in the World Cup from the 2002-2003 season, and for about four seasons my annual ranking fluctuated between 20th and 28th. In 2007 I came in 4th at Inawashiro, bringing my annual ranking up to 14th. I didn't make it onto the podium, but that was ultimately my best result
──While you were doing ski cross, you also appeared in freeskiing videos。
Yes, when I first went to Tignes, I was with people who did all kinds of skiing, so it was great that they taught me all kinds of things, like skiing in the backcountry and doing pipe skiing
Photo: Wataru Sugimura
──Is it different from when you were devoted to alpine racing?
That's right. We both aim to be number one in competitions, but in ski cross, you can ski down the mountain, jump, and do a lot of other things that you can use in cross. It was a time when I learned how to enjoy both winning and skiing down the mountain. I even got caught in an avalanche in Alaska
──What has been the most rewarding thing about your long career as an athlete?
I think it was an injury in 2009. I tore my ACL in the opening match in Tignes. It was the year before the Vancouver Olympics, and I had surgery in February. That was the second time I had "unfounded confidence." My
doctor and rehabilitation specialist at the time were the same ones who treated me as Kentaro Minagawa (※11). He told me that there was only one year until the Olympics, and it would be extremely difficult to make it in time. He told me that Kentaro recovered incredibly quickly, and that I would have to recover as quickly as him if I wasn't going to make it.
Those words ignited a fire in me. I was determined to do it. I started rehabilitation the day after surgery, and I worked 7-8 hours a day. As a result, I was fully recovered by the time the summer tour of New Zealand began, and even my doctor was surprised. During my rehabilitation, I had the opportunity to talk to various athletes, which broadened my perspective even further.
──But you fell just short of the Olympics。
There was only one spot for a Japanese athlete, so I ended up not being able to compete, and I'll be continuing for another four years, but I also won't be able to compete in the next Olympics in Sochi. But I have no regrets at all. I'm having so much fun right now. If I had competed in the Olympics, my life might have been different, but whether I compete or not is just a result, and the process leading up to it was fulfilling, and I worked hard, so I have no regrets
──Did you have an image of what you would do after retirement?
I'd been thinking about a second career ever since I was about 22 years old. I hadn't decided what to do, but I retired in 2014, and that same year my older brother said he was going to open Shichiryobei (*12), so I thought I'd help out for the time being. For
two seasons I worked at the inn's front desk and made breakfast, but sometimes I wondered if there was any point in me doing this. Stress built up and I caught a lot of colds, which I don't usually catch. So I thought about it a lot and decided to go to Nozawa Onsen during the green season.
──Have you ever thought about getting a coach?
I was asked to work as an assistant at the Sochi Olympics, but I was pretty stoic when I was an athlete, so I wondered if that seriousness would be conveyed to the other athletes, and there were some of my teammates who were better suited to being coaches than I was. My interests outside of skiing had expanded to include a wide range of things, and that was really interesting
* Continued in Part 2
*11 [Kentaro Minagawa]
As an alpine skier, he competed in four consecutive Olympic Games: Nagano, Salt Lake City, Turin, and Vancouver. At the Turin Olympics, he placed fourth in the SL, becoming the first Japanese skier to win a prize in 50 years.
*12 [Shichirabei Coffee]
A cafe and accommodation run by his brother, Katsuyuki Kono. In 2015, he renovated the building next to Shirakaba himself. It is now popular as a cafe bar where you can enjoy course meals made with seasonal ingredients unique to Nozawa Onsen.
Interviewer/Editor + Writer
Lisa Obinata
Born in Tokyo in 1980. After graduating from the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences II at Waseda University, she worked for a publishing company for 13 years as an editor for ski magazines such as "Ski" and "POWDER SKI". Since 2013, she has served as editor-in-chief of the magazine. In 2015, she went independent and founded the snow culture magazine "Stuben Magazine" together with photographer Yoichi Watanabe. In 2020, she moved from Shonan to Iiyama City, Nagano Prefecture, where she is currently living a natural lifestyle close to the snowy mountains and nature.
