Today we’re going to take you to a sleepy pocket of Japan’s countryside called Myoko. Located about a three-hour train ride from Tokyo, Myoko was said to be one of the oldest ski areas in Japan, where it once saw young skiers streaming along its neon-lit streets.

That was, of course, during the economic boom back in the 1980s and 1990s, before ski-lovers swapped Myoko for other popular destinations like Niseko in Hokkaido and Hakuba in Nagano. 

But one Singaporean company is hoping to inject life back into the area by buying up ski resorts in Myoko and the nearby Madarao, and building an integrated township out of them. And that company is called Patience Capital Group.

Founded in 2019 by the former head of Japan at Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Ken Chan, Patience Capital Group manages assets on behalf of institutional and private investors worldwide. 

The firm says it currently manages two close-ended funds. The first is a hospitality fund focused on unlocking value in the Japanese tourism sector, and that’s where the ski resorts come in. 

The fund, in particular, was said to have raised 39 billion yen from institutional investors ranging from sovereign wealth funds to a university endowment fund. The other close-ended fund, meanwhile, is a residential fund investing in mid-market residential assets located in the Greater Tokyo Area. 

Beyond that, the firm also has a lifestyle vertical that aims to create a suite of consumer experiences and businesses to complement its portfolio and encourage placemaking in its destinations. But how will the various business operations under Patience Capital Group come together to create viable recreational townships in Japan?

Meanwhile, the firm says it is tapping into the Japanese tourism and residential markets given a rise in investors’ interest in the country amid relatively low cost of capital. 

But how much money is in the Myoko and Madarao areas exactly and what are the risks of pulling off a transformation project of this size? How sustainable is the tourism boom in Japan for long-term infrastructure projects in both the recreational and residential space?

On Under the Radar, finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ken Chan, CEO, Patience Capital Group.