Niseko on Nanikore

Niseko in 2025

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 04:02:00 +0000

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.

2025 Niseko trip

Snowboarding Niseko Again

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 11:31:00 +0000

As we landed at Shin Chitose airport in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on the first weekend of February 2020, I remembered that this is my 20th season of snowboarding. Niseko seemed like a great way to start the next decade of boarding to me, especially since it’s been a few years since my last visit.

It’s been a low snow year seemingly all over in Japan so far this season, and recent reports from friends who’d been up in Hokkaido weren’t great either, but as the bus wound its way from the airport to Niseko whilst it was good to see the snow, it was clear it wasn’t a bumper year.

Niseko itself has changed a lot in the two decades since I first went up - gone are most of the small hotels on the narrow road up to Hirafu, as it’s now a broad street with more parking on either side to serve more cars for the many new hotels and hotel apartment buildings. It all looks very nice to be honest and the evolution of the bars and restaurants now cater to most international tastes and budgets and extend far from the slopes as a continuous urban stretch.

Many people also comment on how few Japanese people come here any more. Maybe that’s true, but the local economy must be doing well.

However, when we talk about Niseko, we should really be talking about the snow.

The Saturday we arrived we got the kids sorted with rental gear very swiftly at the Base rental and ski school, so we could get down to business.

Spending the first day just on Hirafu, there was a good covering of snow, with a few thin areas, and some ice patches, and really not much of anything you’d call powder. I did’t see any tree branches on piste poking through as friends who had been here just a few weeks earlier had reported, so that was something. Then, on Saturday night, as we had some food in the Three Trees Cafe (it was OK, a bit overpriced for what you got, even in Niseko), the snow began, and it stayed that way for most of the trip.

We stayed in the Niseko Park Hotel. It’s got more of an old school Japanese ‘ski-jou’ resort hotel feel, but it was quite nice and if you’ve never seen or done that aspect of Japan, it might be worth it. We had a tatami room for the family, a toilet and basic shower, a fridge and TV and that was about it. We put out our own futons, and that was about it. The package we got through Expedia included bed and breakfast, and the latter was a good example of a generic buffet ’ viking’ breakfast of fruit, rice, bacon, eggs, bread and all the classics. It wasn’t a bad way to start to start a day boarding to be honest.

Next morning was the first full day on the mountain, and my partner surprised me by suggesting we take that top traverse over to Annupuri Sure, why not, how bad could it be? As could be easily anticipated, the weather was clear on the lifts up…until that last stage and then cloud, snow and wind closed in, making the traverse do-able, but more by touch n feel than any visible land marks. When the clouds broke though the view of Mt. Youtei was as stunning as ever, and as the snow continued, the increasing amount of powder made it a joy to board.

For a bit of a break, we headed down to the cafe for some hot cocoa and a rest. This is the first time outside of some odd Tokyo cafes where there was a tip jar on the counter, as n\anything more than an ornament. Service wasn’t as good as it used to be either, which was a bit disappointing.

One thing I notice when I go to Annupuri is that every year there seem to be fewer and fewer trees on and around the piste, and whilst this makes for a wide gelande, there seems to be so much more wind on there, and drifting snow. For the cafe in question, years back it would be possible to miss it as it was buried in a copse of trees, which made it a nice little nook - especially on night runs - whereas now it’s almost completely exposed. All that said, Annupuri continues to a be a fun area, and we did quite a few runs until going back up top for the traverse back, which thankfully was a lot clearer.

After an afternoon doing yet more runs and relaxing with the kids, I took them out for their first nighter, starting on the lower Hirafu runs, then we went higher up - great powder but it was pushing minus 17C at times, but the kids loved having fairly empty slopes, and the novelty of all the nighter lighting, and some continued good snowfall. The low temps also highlighted that my GoPro 7 struggles at these temperatures, and whilst I could get photos most of the time, the battery constantly reporting low values and likely performance, meant video was limited.

Off slope, I took a walk down to the local super market to make a s\quick snack for dinner, and I was quite impressed at the sheer amount of foreign products, and for the first time in a long time, managed to pick up some Weetabix of all things (not for dinner).

The hotel had an onsen which wasn’t bad, and was decently clean, and even had a rotenburo (an outdoor hot spa bath), which was well maintained too. As anyone who has travelled Japan can attest, this is not always the case.

So for three of the four days we had great snow, powder, and I did the required ploughs down the side of the Super Course through deep powder, watched family members nodding off next to the heater in the cafe, and generally had a great time.

Whilst there was quite a few people there, it was obvious the number of Chinese visitors was down, and around the bus and airport, more people than normal were wearing facemasks, as by this point the COVID-19 was well known around Asia and restrictions were beginning to come into effect.

What else to say - a great trip to Niseko, where hours and hours just disappear into smooth run after smooth run, and apres ski is up there with the best of them, and as I always say, if you havent done Niseko, you really should, especially now they’re offering more snowmobile and guided off piste runs.

Niseko Down?

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 09:13:15 +0000

This time last week a group of us went up to Niseko in Hokkaido for some snowboarding for four ays. It sounds almost repetitive (eight times on this site) to say that yes, the boarding was fantastic. for two of the four days it snowed light power which meant great smooth runs in deep, deep snow. However, even on the other two days, boarding was still quick and smooth, and of course, nighters in Annupuri went until that last bus, or the last hot wine, whichever came first.

Last year, the most noticeable thing was the increasing number of Australian tourists on the slopes and in the restaurants, whereas this year, at least for the days we went, was the complete lack of local tourists. I’ve never seen Niseko so empty with the exception of really bad weather days (when I’m usually still on the slopes).

I don’t want to draw any conclusions from just one trip, especially before a pay day, but after a national holiday weekend, but I wonder whether overall ski/snowboard numbers are up or down this year. Certainly from 2000, the trend has been down, but this seemed down more than I expected.

Of course, the good side is that there are less people on the slopes, but the bad thing is that in the medium term resorts increase lift and hotel prices, and in the extreme long term, they go bankrupt. The Ozzie arrival is certainly a good thing to keep short term numbers up, but I wonder how that will affect the long term. A couple of older Japanese skiers in the restaurants complained that some local meals had been taken off the menu in favour of foreign fare (that was true), but is that affecting numbers? Hard to believe someone would miss out out of big Hirafu runs because of it, but certainly Niseko has changed over the last 3 years in many ways. More news as I read it.

Niseko - Feb. '05

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:07:09 +0000

As I mentioned before, this was the second trip to Niseko this year, and as usual, the 3 sides of the mountain all proved to be in great condition, and a fair challenge. During the whole trip I made very few runs on prepped slopes, with the lion’s share being on tree runs though high banks full of powder.

The single most abused course for me on this trip was the Super Course at Hirafu. It’s often overlooked, being a fairly steep valley with wooded sides down the back of the main run, and from the top, it doesn’t look very hospitable (it’s rated black diamond which doesn’t help it’s public image for many).

What this means in reality then is that powder just sits there and builds up so boarders can do huge powder runs on the sides, waist deep in fine powdered snow, charge through the trees into the valley proper, then shotgun down a short track to the rest of the resort lifts. There is a picture of the course here. I must have run that course a hundred times (probably more), and every single run has been different.

The weather was pretty good for most of the trip, with it snowing for 3 of the days, and the wind stayed low, which can be an issue on the Hirafu side. We even caught some sunshine! If you’re a fair-weather only kind of boarder or skier, then you might want to give Niseko a miss.

We also spent time on the Annupuri side of the mountain, but once again I never made it to Higashiyama - it’s a good set of courses, but not good enough for me to want to spend time there instead of the other two slopes.

Annupuri has a slightly gentler set of slopes than Hirafu, and they’re often wider, with sparse trees and lots of short chair lifts. I spent a bit of time running the jumps they’ve constructed in the middle of the lower slope and I think I might actually be getting better at them now - certainly I was hitting them with a lot more speed by the end of the day.

That said, Annupuri does have a great steep slope at the end of it’s main run for about 80m which is great for just barrelling down after the snow prep machines have run on it, otherwise it’s a seat-of-the-pants affair, where you might want to take it easy if your legs are a bit tired after the previous run from the snow fields at the top of the mountain which are steep, with fabulous powder, but often with virtually no visibility, which just adds to the fun.

Off the slopes we stayed at the Yamada Onsen Hotel again - they have fairly big warm rooms, and even though the breakfasts aren’t great, it’s pretty cheap and relaxed. It’s also next to the slope, so in the morning you can board virtually away from the door, and at night slide to in front of the same door, which is a real benefit if you’re a bit weary!

Over the last year, various Australian companies have bought into the Niseko area and so we’ve noticed an increase in nightlife (and English language menus), though we spent our evenings at our old favourite Jingis Kan yakinikuya, and the Yurt, just outside of Niseko village which serves all manner of Asian food. Personally, I quite like to see a few more people out there, because the numbers have definitely gone down in the five years I’ve been making the trip up there.

I have to say though that the chap I spoke to on the chair lift who said he’d been skiing for six years in Australia, but was having problems in Niseko as he’d never skied powder before definitely gets my sympathy.

The full set of photos are available here. Movies to follow soon.

2005 Trip to Niseko

Niseko Update

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 23:27:50 +0000

There’s been a lack of updates here, so sorry for that. it’s been a busy week all told, but let’s just recap those four days in Niseko last weekend: fantastic.

The weather was pretty good the whole time, except for when fog settled in on the Monday morning, yet it was still probably the best Niseko trip so far. Really, the powder was deep and plentiful, if a little heavy, and the great thing about Niseko is that there’s something for everyone, of all styles. I spent hours on unprepped courses at Hirafu, before going over the top to Annupuri and doing some speed runs, and a few tree runs down that side of the mountain. Excellent. It snowed for pretty much the whole time we were there, and despite Niseko’s famous rapid change weather, it was fantastic to spend whole days on the slopes.

Off the slope, we stayed at the Yamada Onsen hotel again, and went to the Mongolian Yurt in the evenings for some great food. It’s moved location, but now offers a free minibus to pick you up from your hotel and drop you back again. We also spent a bit of time in GengisKhan yakiniku, which is just amazing.

We also met quite a few Australians, and it seems that an Oz company has bought a lot of real-estate in the area, bought into the chair lift company, and Australia Airlines now run Cairns to Sapporo direct flights. Apparently Niseko is being heavily pushed down there as the ‘Summer’ ski resort of choice.

Anyhow, pictures and a movie are here.

Niseko a go-go!

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 14:41:09 +0000

We’re here in Niseko where the weather today is ‘character building’. This photo was taken when we got halfway down and could actually see further than our gloves. グラハム :)

ニセコは？

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 14:39:26 +0000

Last boarding of the season

Thu, 18 Mar 2004 00:34:39 +0000

Yes, that day had to come, but last Monday was officially my last snowboarding day of the ‘03-‘04 after 3 great days in Niseko Annupuri. Sunday especially was great - and believe me when I say that the Niseko snowfields after a huge amount of snowfall is a wonderful place to be - steep, deep powder runs ending in great tree/powder runs, and a real great nighter slope. I’ve got some new pics here.

So, I need make sure there’s no rust on the rim, put a fat amount of summer wax on my board and stick it in the B1F trunk room for the Summer.

It’s also time to think if I need to buy any gear for next year in the end-of-season sales. I think all I need are some new gloves, and unfortunately a new jacket; after 5 years, it’s wearing a little thin, and getting a little wet. I’ll make sure it gets a decent send off.

But what about the equipment I bought for this season? The Flow bindings worked out very well after an initial period of adjustment, and I really would recommend them to all-mountain boarders. They are faster to get into, but I think their best assets are the repeatability of the fit (as the settings are always the same), and the ride comfort - the load is spread out over your whole foot.

Just waiting for December…unless of course I can make it to New Zealand again this summer, for a bit of their winter.

2004 Niseko Trip

First snowboard trip of the season

Sun, 21 Dec 2003 02:32:19 +0000

Well, despite a low snow fall rate here in Japan so far this winter, I managed to get three days in at Niseko in Hokkaido (15/16/17) for the first snowboard trip of the season.

Conditions were a little difficult - the snow was hard, and a little bumpy, but the visibility was perfect, and not much wind (rare in Niseko in my experience!) which made for 3 good days on the slopes, and a chance to try out my new bindings, and generally get my body back into snowboarding mode. Had a great time, and got some great long runs in.

Off the slopes, I tried out another hotel - J-First, which was OK and did a decent cup of coffee. Niseko is made up of three areas: Hirafu (where I was this time), Higashiyama and Annupuri. In Hirafu we found a great yakinikuya called (we think) “Jingiskan” which is also the name of the type of yakiniku it specialises in - raw lamb, onion and a special sauce. It also had some great pumpkin (kabocha), and some great fried potato (no, not the normal French fries, these were more like potato quarters fried with some salt). It was small - 15 people maximum, but a pretty cheery place, and nice cold Sapporo beer. It’s behind a car park near the crossroads at the foot of the mountain road - if you’re really stuck give the owner a call: 0136 22 2138.

If you’re over in Annupuri, check out “Barbecue House”, but be aware, it closes at 8.30pm right now (but I think it opens later, later on in the season). We missed it this time, turning up as they were switching the lights off. It was quite fun getting there - we thought we’d get a taxi over, get some yakiniku and get back for a bit of an onsen. Ironically, even though Niseko was empty due to a fear of no snow, the taxi driver who came to the hotel complained when I asked to go to Annupuri , “it’s on the other side of the mountain!”. I never will understand taxi drivers in Japan - he complained about the distance even though he had no other customers, and then complained to me that he didn’t know where this place was. Ah well.

All in all though, a great trip, and now the season is open - in 6 days, I’ll be in Hakuba - home to up to 40cm a day of new powder snow! Bring it on!

2003 Niseko Time!