A 38-year-old company executive from Hong Kong has been found dead at a popular ski resort in northwestern Japan. Contact was lost with the Chinese national, a senior executive, on Friday while he was snowboarding at the Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort in Niigata prefecture, Kyodo News reported on Sunday, citing the local Minamiuonuma Police Station. The man was last seen snowboarding alone after parting ways with two friends earlier in the day, Television Niigata Network said. When he did not return by 5pm, his friends alerted staff at the resort, prompting a search by its ski patrol, police and the fire department. The search concluded the following morning when the man, surnamed Lam, was discovered near the summit of a mountain around 7.20am. He was found off the designated course, head down near a hollow area around a tree – known as a “tree hole” – in a forest. Lam was pronounced dead at the scene, Japanese media said. Subsequent investigations determined that he died of asphyxiation, with police reportedly continuing to look into the circumstances surrounding the case. The Chinese consulate in Niigata on Saturday confirmed the man’s “accidental death”, urging Chinese citizens in the region to enhance safety awareness, especially in light of “recent frequent incidents involving personal safety and security in society”. The consulate called on individuals to prepare thoroughly before travel, avoid high-risk activities, handle disputes rationally, and remain vigilant against telecommunications fraud. The Post has approached the Immigration Department for information on the man’s identity. The Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort is located in Yuzawa Town, a snowy region within the Japanese Alps, around 2½ hours by train from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. The area is renowned for its winter sports and famously depicted in the novel Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. The area’s popularity surged further following the 1998 Winter Olympics in nearby Nagano.