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Oct. 2004, Xene #42
Niseko: The
Next Aspen ?
By Vanessa Fortyn |
It was in a bar in Hirafu that I heard the prediction.
Damon, the Australian bartender, said he was looking
forward to a time ten years in the future when he'd
be able to say he was at Niseko when it was still
a little town - before it had become a huge resort
like Banff or Aspen.
If this sounds fanciful, consider what's going on
here. Last year Niseko drew 700,000 ski visitors,
many from China and South Korea. Also in the mix
were about 4,000 Australian visitors on skiing packages.
Things are about to get even bigger. The number
of visitors from Australia is expected to more than
double in winter of 2004/2005. By November 2004,
sale of the Niseko Hanazono ski field to Harmony
Resorts Niseko (HRN) will be complete. The Australian
company has ambitious plans for the area. In the
next ten years HRN intends to invest between AUD$300
million and AUD$400 million to create a ski resort
of international calibre that is geared to Australians,
ex-pats throughout Asia, and the local Japanese
market.
Perhaps Niseko's greatest attraction is the snow.
Its scant water content (8%) ranks it with the best
powder in the world. But it's also a beautiful area.
Situated within close view of Mt. Yotei, Hokkaido's
spectacular answer to Mt. Fuji, Niseko has funky
restaurants and bars, steamy hot springs, and warm-weather
outdoor activities that give it an allure in every
season.
I visited for a weekend getaway in September. A
two-hour drive from Sapporo to the Niseko Hirafu
district took me through open country and farmland
and past the majestic Yotei. Niseko is an easy drive
from Sapporo, but if you don't have a car and don't
want to rent one, then you can get the train to
Kutchan and a bus onward to Hirafu.
Our first stop in Hirafu was Niseko Adventure Center
(NAC), where we spoke to the founder, Ross Findlay.
The most striking thing about Findlay is the energy
he radiates. From the way he bounds up stairs to
the passionate way he speaks about his work and
new ideas for the area, there's no doubt he has
spirit. In the early '90s when he first started
coming to Niseko as a skier, he realized it was "more of a ski ground than a ski resort,"
and that to be a true resort, it would need other
activities beyond the winter. He launched NAC as
a rafting Company with two rafts. Over the years
it has expanded to offer adventure sports of every
kind.
From spring to autumn NAC runs tours of white water
rafting, duckying, kayaking, mountain-biking and
outdoor education. In winter they'll take you skiing,
snowshoeing and on backcountry trips through lesser-known
ski terrain. NAC is all about having fun in the
great outdoors, and Findlay and his team have worked
hard to establish a reputable company that obviously
embraces the nature of the area.
You can't miss the NAC building as you come into
Hirafu. It's a gymnasium from Otaki Town that was
dismantled and reconstructed here about six years
ago. Its raw timber, big windows and large terraces
blend with the natural surrounds. Downstairs is
a shop selling outdoor clothing and gear, which
also has indoor climbing and bouldering walls.
Upstairs is the restaurant Jojo's, which serves
hamburgers and smoothies and has a magnificent view
of Mt. Yotei. NAC has led by example, and since
its conception many other adventure companies have
set up business in the area. Findlay says he welcomes
the competition, positive effects and new ideas
that the other businesses bring.
In Hirafu, we stayed at an apartment owned by Hokkaido
Tracks. From the outside the building is unexceptional,
but the interiors are beautiful - Australian-designed
and distinctly Western, from the contrasting wall
colors and high ceilings to the tiled and practical
kitchens (including full-sized oven!). These stylish
apartments were built by West Canada Homes. The
furnishings are tasteful: a comfortable sofa, a
chaise lounge, subtle lighting and a table for eight
fill the living area. The beds in the sleeping quarters
are singles that can be zippered together to create
luxurious king-sized beds.
That night we ate dinner at the izakaya Slwif across
the road from Hokkaido Tracks. The menu is bilingual,
the staff are welcoming to foreigners, and the food
is typical izakaya fare, with sensational fried
pumpkin chips. We chatted with Matt and Satsuki
Denning from Hokkaido Tracks, who are looking forward
to Niseko's development. The company has been renting
its apartments to Australian visitors for only one
ski season, but they're already booked out for the
coming winter. Indeed, they're building more apartments
to meet the demand. The apartments are open to local
guests the rest of the year, and Japanese patrons
have said that staying in these rooms makes them
feel as if they aren't even in Japan. Satsuki Denning
says she's noticed how when couples stay there,
wives tend to leave with bigger smiles than when
they arrived (possibly the effect of all that soft
lighting and those king sized beds).
After dinner we walked to Pow Pow's, a local bar,
where we were immediately drawn into friendly conversation
with Australians who were living and working in
Niseko. They all told us about how they enjoyed
living in Niseko because the people are so friendly
and the area is beautiful. Rita, who photographs
people on rafting trips, told us about one of her
favorite attractions.
"Instead of talking about the weather, people
talk about what Yotei's doing," she said.
I knew just what she meant. We'd been in Niseko
for only a day, and our eyes had constantly been
drawn to the huge volcano and the changing formations
of clouds gathered at its peak.
 The
next day I decided to try duckying with my friend
Kerri. A ducky is an inflatable canoe, and on the
Sunday morning we met up with the very friendly
Marty Young and Par Dahlin, who have recently created
their own rafting company, Blue Sky. Between them
they have more than twenty years rafting experience,
and Dahlin has been living and rafting in Niseko
for more than a decade. They took us each in our
own ducky for a couple of hours of paddling down
the river. Under the tutelage and encouragement
of our guides, Kerri negotiated the rapids like
a natural, and the experience was even more fun
than we expected. The rafting season goes from April
to early November, and if you don't have a chance
to catch the last few weeks this year, then don't
miss it next year.
After any exertion, a soak in a hot spring is the
perfect way to relax and recover. The area is famous
for its hot springs and the best way to find one
is to ask a local or get an onsen map from any business
in the area. We went to the Niseko Grand Hotel,
about ten minutes' drive from Hirafu, which has
large single-sex baths and a huge outdoor tub that's
mixed-sex, making it perfect for couples. If you're
coy about being naked in a bath with strangers of
the opposite sex, bring a big towel to protect your
modesty.
To fuel us up for the journey back to Sapporo, we
stopped at Cafe Gentem for an afternoon sugar fix.
Just out of Hirafu, Gentem is a funky cafe in a
round tent. The tent is Mongolian in design, and
the circular space is intended to give an atmosphere
of relaxation and comfort. The interior is warm,
with a central Asian theme, and patrons sit on cushions
around low tables. In the winter the cafe is open
for dinner and serves Asian fusion cuisine. (The
menu is bilingual, as are some of the staff.) Sometimes
they have live drumming, and if you ring they'll
come and pick you up locally. The rest of the year,
they keep daytime hours and offer homemade cakes
and delicious teas and coffees. We settled on masala
chai, pancakes, and chocolate cake. To the side
of Gentem is a small shop selling Gentemstick snowboards.
Designed in Hokkaido and perfect for powder, they
just might be the perfect souvenir of a trip to
Niseko.
 On
the way home we stopped to buy fresh eggs from a
smiling farmer, while his daughter sped around us
on her hot pink bicycle chanting "Hello-howa-you?
Hello-howa-you?" At a roadside stall down the
road, we picked up some pumpkin and potatoes, famous
local products. (The Niseko Town symbol is a smiling
potato man on skis.) The friendly stall owner was
keen to chat and even threw in some corn for free.
The weekend was wonderful. The area and the people
living there are really special. Niseko is definitely
worth a visit.
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