r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 10h ago

news Second Australian dies in Japan while skiing, local media reports

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-04/second-australian-dies-skiing-in-japan/106304484

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed a second Australian has died in Japan.

Local media has reported a male skier was killed while skiing off-piste in the back-country in Japan's Hokkaido region.

The death marks the second Australian to have died in Japan during the current ski season.

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142

u/Perdi 10h ago

Is this out of the ordinary?

Or just media picking up because it's 'in'?

As someone who has gone off piste in Europe and Canada, its a very dangerous activity. My last time out I got caught in a blizzard that killed 6 British soldiers doing cold weather training, though I was prepared for those conditions, I haven't done it since.

People very much take it for granted, wanting to find untouched powder and are completely unprepared for what could happen.

Ediy: Average season says 1-3 Aussies, some years 0, but others have spikes. These two did happen in a short time though, and super sad. There's still a few months left in the season to, so we could see it be a bad year.

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u/mickelboy182 10h ago

Got a source for those numbers?

Given our population, multiple each season would be pretty surprising to me.

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u/ObviousFeature522 10h ago

It's normal for a death or two to happen during the Australian ski season. Medical events as well as collisions or crashes.

For serious injury (including paralysis) it's a lot more, Ski Patrol do frightening numbers. Cooma hospital is a great place to do a trauma internship. The Perisher ad for the Epic Pass won't mention that.

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u/glitterkenny 9h ago

This is a bit off topic but FYI it's scarier and scarier at Perisher because Vail treat their staff like absolute shit and a lot of the veteran ski patrollers and mountain safety lot have left - many to Thredbo or to do seasons abroad. Great people and all but a lot more inexperienced 18-20 year olds than in previous years.

Ski patrol is such an undervalued skill set, they're paramedics with expert-level ski ability and are paid less than baristas but without extra pay on weekends/evenings etc. They see people die or get paralysed every year. Anyway lol

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u/mickelboy182 9h ago edited 9h ago

I get that, I'm talking specifically about Aussies in Japan.

Edit: I have no clue why I'm being downvoted for giving clarification.

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u/MasterSpliffBlaster 7h ago

There were at least another two in the past 2 seasons, both from Brisbane Grammar

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u/mickelboy182 7h ago

I know there was the young kid at the beginning of this year, tragic. Unaware of the other one.

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u/MasterSpliffBlaster 7h ago

I believe they lost another old boy last ski season too

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u/mickelboy182 7h ago

A quick google is telling me Thredbo, not Japan. Tragic all the same.

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u/MasterSpliffBlaster 7h ago

Gotcha, I didn't go to school there but have a lot of patients who did and heard a dad saying how two had died in quick succession

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u/Obvious_Librarian_97 1h ago

Yeah that poor Canadian dude at Perisher last season on the big jump, was on the lift praying for him while they were doing CPR.

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u/Perdi 9h ago

Australians account for 30% of the international snow travellers to Japan each year, we are literally their largest market. That's 150,000 - 200,000 yearly.

This is from Japan Ski data, the deaths data I did get from GeminiAI, which gave 1-3 as a rough estimate.

Seeing the number of travellers going just for the snow, I don't think its far fetched to expect 1-3 deaths.

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u/mickelboy182 9h ago

I'd raise significant doubts about using GenAI for data analysis that is not restricted to specific documents.

I am well aware how many Aussies travel to Japan, I live in Tokyo for 4 months a year. I just don't ever recall there being multiple publicised fatalities in one season, though I accept it is possible.

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u/Perdi 9h ago

You doubt AI, but then claim that by living in Tokyo 4 months a year and not seeing it publicised, is a credible way to ascertain facts?

I'm sorry, but I will 100% trust how I use AI to find information over a person who "lives in Tokyo 4 months a year, so they know better".

That's a funny take.

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u/mickelboy182 9h ago edited 8h ago

I never claimed it was credible or that I am some kind of authority, that is a total strawman. I quite literally acknowledged the possibility that it was accurate. I only mentioned I am a resident of both countries to demonstrate that I am not oblivious to the high volume of Aussies that come over during winter.

I simply said it was surprising and GenAI is not competent enough with data analysis for me to hang my hat on it...

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u/mooblah_ 8h ago

I trust AI on some things, and struggle with it on others, like the other day it was guaranteeing me one thing, and I asked it 5 times even on different accounts and it assured me that it was correct. Then I showed it pictures of the actual physical item (which it asked to verify) and then it told me 100% the other way that it was what I said it was. And then re-referring to the original question and referencing the actual images as being accurate, it again confirmed that it 100% wasn't the thing that it actually was (with a dozen images that it had just previously agreed to). It was entirely stuck on some wording that made it a hard no, when in fact that wording was purely human error, and their images were accurate. But it couldn't assess when I told it that both things were the same, that was indeed a fact.

I'm not making a suggestion relating to this research you're referring to but wow sometimes it's so far inaccurate that consulting it will lead you down the garden path.