Ah Niseko. I first went there…er… quite a while ago shall we say. Since then Niseko‘s four main areas have been bought up by various waves of investors great and small, some which have brought commendation, and some have brought condemnation. Now I’m back to Niseko in March 2025. The area is world famous for its slopes and for its abundance of Japow.
Those four Areas
An’nuppuri – from its windy top into an ever widening gelande with a gondola and various other lifts which has easy access to some tree runs on the peripheries. Some have complained about how many trees have been removed over the years (it is a lot), but this area seems to have seen less changes than others.
Hirafu (also marketed as Grand Hirafu) – has some of the steeper slopes and just seems to get an unreasonable amount of powder. It was the scene of the Great Australian Investment boom a couple of decades ago, meaning ‘better’ restaurants, a lot of new vacation apartments near the slope, and winter jobs for English teachers to teach skiing. This is probably where I’ve spent the most days in Niseko.
Niseko Village (formerly known as Higashiyama) – this aspect of the mountain has seen a lot of investment in the last few years, along with that name change. The variety of slopes isn’t as high, and you’ll be traversing one one of the other areas (especially those two above) on some days, but there are a few more hotels, apartments and shops now, which I suppose is why they rebranded. This is actually where we stayed on this trip.
Hanazono – Last but not least. I never came here as much as the other areas- often moguls, a bit flat, and previously there wasn’t much here. This has probably seen the most development in the last five years – massive new apartments, hotels, restaurants, sponsored drinks tents and all that brought in by Chinese developers – it all looks very cool, and if I was a bit younger I might have come here for apres ski for sure.
It’s been literally a few years since I was last in Niseko, and on that trip we were mainly in Grand Hirafu with a little bit of Annupuri. This time was Niseko Village and Annupuri.
Days on Mountain
Day 1
We met up at Haneda airport early on a Sunday morning and just about made the plane, as one of our number had gone for a Starbucks run only to massively underestimate:
a) the distance in the terminal to Starbucks, and
b) how long it can take a coffee shop to actually make coffee oriented beverages.
Anyway, we apologetically got on and it was a decent enough flight. Then it was on to the bus to Niseko, that required stop to buy any food and drinks, and then back on the bus for a 3 hour in total journey.
We were staying at the Niseko Village Hilton as my friend had secured a very decent value-for-money deal and it was as nice as expected when we arrived – very nice lobby waiting area, but that’s for people who wish to wait, and we did not – so I went to find my takkyuubin’d board and gear, and we got down to the serious business of snowboarding.
It was a bit icy despite blue skies, but I was on my board with my friends, having a laugh on the gondola up and listening to 90s EuroPop tunes like Pump Up The Jam.
Because that’s what people do.
Also, it began to snow a little before we came off the slopes in the dark so it was a pretty solid way to kick off the trip.
Day 2
The next morning we ate a hearty breakfast, washed down with a heroic amount of caffeine and made our way onto the slopes, traversing across to Grand Hirafu. It was overcast but snowing heavily at times, and that’s what we like, when you do a run and the snow has thoughtfully covered your tracks by the time you get back up there. It’s never a bad thing.
It was another night finish and at dinner we discovered that as a part of our package we were entitled to a free beverage, so I said hello to a gin and tonic. Thanks!
The hotel was very decent, though we were somewhat reliant on having discount vouchers for each meal, bringing the prices down to slightly overpriced or perhaps Tokyo levels. To be fair, it’s a captive audience, and it’s been the way in ski resorts the world over for a long old time. At the Niseko Village area there are some shops and other restaurants, but the price range are pretty much the same.
I should also point out the fish we had that night was potentially off. The result of which I’ll mainly leave to the reader’s speculation, but one of our party spent quite a lot of time on the great throne, and another just feeling bad. Fortunately my gin n tonics seemed to have cushioned me.
Day 3
Beautiful blue skies and a decent covering of powder overnight made this a class day! We headed over to Annupuri – the top end traverse is always a lot of fun, and sometimes confusing if there’s a whiteout, but actually this wasn’t too bad for us.
Not only does Annupuri have a wonderful, wide gelande, it also has some tremendous tree runs at the side of the piste. We found there was also a natural halfpipe that’s been curated, and was actually a lot of fun.
Tree runs are always good. Until they aren’t of course. We were lucky; one member of the team did do an unexpected back-flip off some branches, but he made it look fairly natural and no injuries were incurred.
Day 4
On the last day, we consumed a large amount of breakfast; or at least two of us did. One decided to skip breakfast unfortunately.
It was another overcast day, but the snow wasn’t bad thanks to a decent overnight dump, so to speak, though after a few hours around Niseko Village some of the ice was showing. We did manage to stop and snap a photo of the large blue polygon bear and speculated on how long it would take to 3D print it.
This was also the first day we saw some high school student classes – fortunately – they’re mostly beginners and the teachers don’t seem too concerned about where they stop on the courses, so you have to plan ahead a little bit to navigate all the groups all over the place. It didn’t really spoil anything for us as it was near the end of our day, and they seemed confined to the lower beginner slops.
So that was Niseko for another year or two. The trip back to the airport, gently bouncing around in a mostly empty coach, all the way back to Shin Chitose airport to track down omiyage, was relaxing. It’s always a good end to a trip – just listening to music, and having someone else do the driving for a change.
Always a great time up in Hokkaido, so thanks to AM and SMC for a fun few days. Have to do it again at some point.
