the [url=http://www.nisekoguide.jp/]Niseko Winter Guide Association website[/url]
looks like marketing for Japanese guides plus a link to the [url=http://www.niseko.ne.jp/rules.html]local rules[/url] ([url=http://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/rules.html]english[/url]). no mention of how to join, get certified, or any other regulations.
here is some answers for you and we can link this forum the the guide bashing that was going on in the blow in forum.
The NWGA was set up as a governing body to guarantee clients that they were paying for a certified guide that has a registered japanese company with insurance.
How do you become a guide?
This takes years of hard work and lots of certificates and not the ones you get running around the airport with the rubber stamps. but it is the time you spend out there that really counts as the certificates are only good for cleaning the mess out of your pants when things go bad in the back country.
There are lots of different types of guides and the blow in ski bum needing beer money is not the one you want. a good guide is there for the client and their needs not just deep powder lines. a good guide can say not today the condition aren't good and not think about the money they just missed out on.
When you take money from a person or even say come with me I will show you the way you have just signed a contract with that persons life, this is something the the bar guides do not understand. With the way the world is and the internet bad news travels fast and what Niseko doesn't need is bad news about our back country. We are very lucky with what we have and it can easily be taken away.
This is whey we need the NWGA
the NWGA is an excellent idea in theory- the problem is to be a member requires certification and language skills beyond most potential guides in the area- yet there is a demand in the area for English language guiding, hence a black or grey market.
Japan is a country that requires 11 seperate certs, before you can become an aerobics intsructor, so one can imagine the efforts required to become an alpine guide. All power to those that do and they should be at the top of the ladder in terms of guiding and decision making- however there numbers are simply unable to keep up with demand.
Expanding the governing body to include all ski schools and those operating as guides, and banishing those without a mutually agreed level of certifcation would be a big first step in removing these dangerous operators on the mountain.
SkiJapan for example does a good job of enforcing its instructors to stay on course and obey resorts rules within lessons- they and others like them should be rewarded with a clear cut definition of their operation parameters. Guides like Pro Powder - that are NWGA members- should be able to operate in an arena where "scabs" aren`t undermining their qualifications by operating without having done the leg work.
One governing body- expanded somewhat- that encompasses and grandfather clauses those operating now and sets standards
and business practices for the future is the best way to ensure niseko grows into the resort it is meant to become and that everyone that puts their efforts in here are rewarded with the ability to support themselves and develop their community.