Photo: ＠tomokiaoki
Born in 1981, from Nozawa Onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture. Riding the rise of the freeski movement, Yudai Ueno has been a powerful driver of the Japanese freeski scene, competing in the W-Cup in ski cross, and later becoming the first Japanese to participate in the halfpipe world championships. In 2010, he launched the Compass Project, started a business, planned and managed sporting events, managed shops, directed the ARMADA brand, and has demonstrated his shrewdness as a businessman. The multi-talent finally goes to the administrative stage.
In 2021, he will run for the Nozawa Onsen village assembly election. At the age of 39, he was the youngest candidate to run for office and was elected. What kind of world does Yudai Ueno have seen, the present he sees, and the future beyond? I asked him about his life and thoughts.
- Mr. Yuudai, you are finally a member of the Diet!
Yudai Ueno (hereafter, Yudai): Yes, I love Nozawa Onsen from the bottom of my heart. I want to raise my children here. was The current situation of Nozawa Onsen, my current position, my experience, my physical and mental health, and the world situation all overlapped, and I thought, "This is it!" and decided to challenge the election. rice field.
―Professional skier, businessman, father of three, and member of the village council! It's a very colorful story, so I definitely want to follow it from the beginning.
Yuudai: That's right. My life is filled with so many things, so it's very stimulating and moving, and sometimes painful, but it's also full of fun (laughs). I'll sort it out.
From everyday life to the world as an athlete
―When did Yudai, who was born in Nozawa Onsen village, start skiing?
Yudai: I have been going to the mountains with my grandmother since I was two years old. Grandma pulled it for a lift and let me slide a lot of them. It's my starting point. I joined the junior ski club in the village when I was in the 4th grade of elementary school and started competing in alpine skiing.
Now my eldest daughter belongs to a ski club, and she coaches with the guys I competed with at the time. I am very deeply moved. I am once again grateful for the system that has been passed down from generation to generation and the structure of the village.
―What did you find interesting about alpine skiing?
Yuudai: Before I started alpine skiing, I was skating around the slopes with my friends. I was playing with what we now call freeriding, and I was just having fun and skating. With the addition of alpine skiing on pole-controlled slopes at a certain age, I didn't really think about it too much (laughs). There were a lot of competitions at that time, so I think I felt the joy of losing and being happy when I won. But the enjoyment of skiing itself has been around since I was little, and I think it's always been a part of my everyday life.
-You've skied a lot so far, haven't you?
Yuudai: From the first year of high school, I went on an expedition to Europe aiming for the Alpine FIS World Cup and the Olympics, and studied skiing for about half a year. But when I went to Europe, the home of the world's top skiing competitions, it didn't go as well as I had hoped, and I lost my temper. I ended up wondering why I skied...
In a way, this was a turning point in my life, and it also changed my way of thinking. When I was looking for an answer for a long time, I happened to see a team member selection poster for the ski board "Team One day" in my hometown. My brother and I said, "Hey, there's something like this. Why don't we go?" From there the world of free skiing began.
―At the time, it was a ski board that SALOMON put a lot of effort into selling. There was a feeling that the ski world was a little new with the taste of inline skating.
Yuudai: There are short skis at the ski school in Nozawa Onsen, and I wear them for fun. So I went to the selection without even knowing what Team One day was (laughs). He won the championship and was selected as a member of the team. So, my brother and I became members of Team One day and started activities.
I was inspired by meeting people who have lived in a culture different from the ski industry, including the One day team members (mainly inline skating professionals who grew up in street culture, not skiing). I feel that my sensibilities have been refined little by little by coming into contact with art and creative aspects such as skating and music. For us, who grew up with simple competitive skiing where the fastest time wins, the world view that pursues originality and style is very important was very fresh.
―After that?
Yuudai: I went on to college and continued alpine skiing, but at the same time I started with skiboarding and started to see the world of skiing. I even went to the ski cross World Cup. Ski cross is a combination of alpine and park jumps, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I was really excited and addicted to the fact that there was such a competition. On the other hand, I was enjoying playing in the park as one of my hobbies, from ski boards to long twin-tip skis.
―After that, was there any reason why you moved to the half pipe?
Yuudai: When I traveled around the world in ski cross, there was always a park at every resort in the world, and there was a wonderful halfpipe that I had never seen before. Back then, I used to skate a lot on crossboards (laughs), and it was so much fun. It was fun to be able to fly higher than anyone else, and to be able to experience the feeling of weightlessness for as long as time stopped. While doing so, I want to bet on the halfpipe for the rest of my time as an active player.
―You were active as a freelance athlete after graduating from university.
Yudai: After graduating from university, I competed in halfpipe World Cups for about six years until I turned 28. I had a lot of beautiful big pipes that I have never seen in Japan, and it was a lot of fun. More than anything else, the fact that I was able to meet so many people with similar sensibilities in the world and spend time with them has become an asset to this day.
In this way, Yudai Ueno became a pioneer of the halfpipe in the Japanese ski world.
He won the 2004 New Zealand Championships.
In January 2006, he became the first Japanese to win 4th place at the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in France.
-Who was the world's top winner at that time?
Yuudai: It was around the time when key figures in the freeski movement like Tanner Hall, Candide Thovex, and Simon Dumon were winning the X Games. While the overseas competitors were good at high rotation, my weapon was height. I flew in the one-hit session of the competition held in Whistler in the spring, and it was an opportunity for many people to evaluate and recognize me, from charismatic riders at that time to kids who would later become star athletes.
Compass project start
―What direction did you take after becoming an active halfpipe athlete?
Yuudai: In the fall of 2009, we launched an activity called the Compass Project to direct and guide the enjoyment of new skiing. The concept is to make skiing more fun and free. At that time, freestyle skiing was still not well known in Japan, and rocker skis were finally coming out as powder skis around that time, but there weren't many people in Japan who still wore boards. There was a famous machine called "JJ" in ARMADA, and it was a wonderful board, but it was a time when no one generally approached it because of its distorted shape. I wanted to propose such tools and games.
―And to establish COMPASS HOUSE?
Yuudai: Underneath that project, there are ideas to make skiing more fun and free, such as planning and managing events, training athletes, and selling original products. launched in the form of a store called COMPASS HOUSE.
I envisioned the role as a place where "people, things, things" gather. Thankfully, people gathered like a magnet, and it was a blast. In order to let people enjoy skiing more freely, I set up the shop as a suggestion that "you need the right equipment," and held events there to teach you step by step how to play. .
―Entrepreneurship drawing a big overall map. Was it difficult to get started?
Yuudai: That's a really good question (laughs). Just dreaming big, young and energetic, no assets, no credibility. I can't borrow money. Therefore, I had no choice but to start in a limited environment, and all the store building was done by my friends and family. ARMADA's test drive station also negotiated with the manufacturer, managed the test drive skis that were sleeping in the warehouse during the season with COMPASS, and rented them out to users and test drive events for efficient promotion. I was doing that kind of ingenuity.
After five years, I decided to open the store in a better location so that more people could have the same experience. For rentals, we opened Mt.Dock near the Nagasaka gondola station five years ago, and COMPASS VILLAGE was opened three years ago on Oyu-dori because it's a hot spring town. Opened before.
―How do you feel about the expansion and response?
Yuudai: More people are using the rental service, and with the VILLAGE shop in the hot spring town, it is now possible to deliver goods and information to people who have not been able to visit before. I have a real feeling. Also, as the number of stores has increased, the number of core staff who want to work together has increased. Now, we have three full-time employees, and over 15 winter staff. Not only the customers, but also the number of friends who can share their thoughts while working has increased, which is very rewarding.
Speaking of spread, YouTube channel "COMPASS TV" too.
I've been doing it leisurely for about 10 years, but due to the corona crisis, I started live distribution and became more active so that I could continue to show my face and provide information to customers who couldn't come to Nozawa. As a result, the number of new customers who came to the store increased significantly, saying, "I always watch YouTube live." It seems to create a sense of intimacy. There are quite a few maniac questions, and it's worth answering. I also do how-to videos of skiing techniques and equipment, and the number of viewers increases significantly at that time. This was an unexpected by-product (laughs). https://www.youtube.com/user/CompassHouseTV
-Speaking of further expansion, COMPASS actively offers backcountry tours and training sessions, right? What is the background?
Yudai: Backcountry (BC) has also become a disaster, and it has become easier to put more effort into it, and customer needs have risen sharply. Those who originally accessed COMPASS HOUSE to play the slopes and powder more comfortably have taken the next step to go to BC and have been able to propose new fun.
In addition, by inviting new people to the unknown natural fields around Nozawa, we believe that we are helping to develop a new customer base, where new people come to experience the charm of Nozawa. I would like to propose how to use the product safely and happily, rather than just selling the product. We have made the shift from "selling things to selling things" a slogan within the company.
―What kind of fields are you expanding?
Yudai: I often guide BC beginners to areas that are easily accessible from the summit of Mt. Kenashi. When everyone says BC is the first time, they are worried that they will drag their feet, but it is like a training field with a wide space between trees. The hike takes less than 30 minutes, and the slow climb back up takes about an hour.
On a tour called "Tabisuru BC", you can visit Nabekura and Myoko on a day trip. It is for intermediate and advanced players who have a solid set of BC gears.
― What is the appeal of BC around Nozawa?
Yuudai: The charm of Nozawa's BC is that it is not a steep mountainous area, so it can accommodate a wide range of people. Even if the powder on the slopes is already slippery, or if the temperature rises and the conditions worsen, the snow is always good there. Until mid-March is particularly good and recommended. There are also dedicated tours for women. Enjoy the whole month of April.
―There is now a special gate at the top of Mt. What is Nozawa Onsen's stance on backcountry skiing?
Yuudai: It's just a personal feeling, but I feel that there are fewer people blindly passing through ropes than before. I think it's easy for customers to recognize that they are going to BC after submitting a mountain climbing notification and thinking that they are climbing. I feel like I'm gradually suppressing things that I couldn't collect before because there were people passing through the rope in front of me. I also try to share real-world information as much as possible at each meeting. I think it is also important to change local perceptions and behaviors.
BC is still unknown, and some people have a negative perception that it's just dangerous. We are working with the desire to make proposals that can be enjoyed safely in nature by firmly enlightening activities on safety while supporting .
its values
―What is Yuudai-san’s most important thing right now?
Yuudai: I think family comes first. I have 3 children, 12 years old, 5 years old and 2 years old from the top. When I see my children growing up, I want to cherish the time I spend with my family, centered on my family. Especially in the first few years after the birth of my eldest daughter, I had no family time at all. I'm currently a member of the Nozawa Onsen Ski Club, and I'm a junior coach, so spending time together on the snow is a very precious time. My two children, who were born after that, try to find time to go skiing in the mountains.
―How do you train your children to become athletes?
Yuudai: Last year, I became the chief coach of a junior ski club. Children are obedient and absorb everything like a sponge, so it's really interesting. If you do it, you will get back more than you did. I really feel that I am entrusted with an important period in which people's values and personality grow.
―“Values” are important, aren’t they? What are Yudai's values?
Yuudai: It may be the attitude of constantly seeking change. I think that not changing is the same as going backward in the evolution of the times, so I always want to seek better changes. Rural areas are particularly conservative due to their tendency to value traditional culture. There are many cases where we don't want change, but when it comes to sports and leisure, which originally came from overseas, the equipment changes day by day, and the ways we play diversify. I want to continue to maintain a calm sense of values that allows me to determine what should be changed and what should be changed.
No matter how busy I am, I always make time to ski at one of Japan's top 100 mountains at least once a year. Although the essence has not changed, the world is becoming more complicated. It's going to be a good reset time that can capture things widely without change.
I never thought, "I'm fine with this." A strong will to constantly look "beyond" and seek evolution has become Yudai Ueno's way of life. From a world-class athlete to a businessman who doesn't mind working overtime, a father who wants to spend more time with his children, and a politician who loves his hometown. The change is astonishing.
Continue to " Sequel
[Profile]
Yuta Ueno Yuta Ueno
Born in 1981 in Nozawa Onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture Graduated from
Juntendo University Sports and Health Science Department
Member of Nozawa Onsen Village Assembly Director of Nozawa Onsen Tourism Association Director of Nozawa Onsen Ski Club Father of 3 children
Dream Co.
Ship representative. Based in Nozawa Onsen Village, we operate 3 sports-related stores and 1 restaurant tenant under the slogan of "more fun and more freedom". Regenerate and utilize vacant houses in the village. Contribute to regional revitalization by developing businesses that lead to measures to deal with vacant houses and promote employment, which are issues in rural areas. He is also involved in human resource development as the chief coach of the Nozawa Onsen Junior Ski Club elementary school team.
Snow photo provided by: Descente
@descente_ski_jp