With outstanding snow and scrupulously honest citizens, Niseko is enticing Aussie skiers, writes Sarah Nicholson (Sunday Times, 21/8/11)
After the quake
If you’re thinking about spending your next overseas ski trip at Niseko, or one of Japan's other ski resorts, don't let the country's recent natural disasters put you off. Last year, more than 225,000 Australians visited the Land of the Rising Sun, with a good portion travelling during the coldest months to hit the slopes. Before the earthquake and tsunami hit Honshu Island's northern provinces on March 11, the numbers were looking like jumping and while 50 per cent fewer international visitors headed to Japan in March and April, the Japanese National Tourism Organisation says there's no reason to stay away.
"Popular destinations for Australians remain unaffected and there is no major disruptions to infrastructure,'' JNTO's Sydney executive director, Yukio Yamashita, says.
Skiing there
Niseko resort is on Hokkaido Island. See niseko.ne.jp
Niseko Village, see nisekotourism.com and click on "English''
More: Japan National Tourism Organisation, see www.jnto.go.jp
Are you one of those skiers or snowboarders who tend to lose stuff when you're in the mountains? Have you left your wallet on the table in the restaurant where you ate lunch, your shoes on the floor at the rental shop, your gloves in the bathroom, your board bag on the road beside the car, your jacket on the back of the door in your room at the lodge, or your goggles hanging on the chairlift's safety bar?
Then fret not, I have just the place for your next snow holiday, and it's a destination considered to be so safe there's a good chance you'll return home with all your possessions.
Japan the country that's become a haven for Australian powder hounds, with resorts such as Appi Kogen and Hakuba dragging snow-seekers north during our summer has earnt a reputation for being one of the safest places on the planet, with a population that's so honest they surrender even the most insignificant items to lost-and-found counters.
The most recent figures from Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department reveal more than two million ``found items'' were handed back to the capital's lost-and-found attendants during 2008, including almost $36 million in cash, as well as umbrellas, clothing, ID cards and mobile phones.
Japan was ranked the third most peaceful country in the world on last year's Global Peace Index, which is compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace using 23 indicators, including safety and security in society, civil liberties and hospitality to strangers.
I have been to Japan a few times, and skied some of the country's best mountains, and I joke that the place is a bit like the jumping castle at a children's party, where you can bounce and bounce because you know you're not going to get hurt.
During one visit I sat next to an Aussie guy on a train who had left his wallet at a station cafe and, when he returned a few minutes later, found a local standing guard beside his money.
If you like the sound of that you won't be alone, as more than 52,200 Australians visited Japan during the first two months of this year there's a swag of mountain villages to choose from and more than 500 ski resorts sprinkled across the country.
One of the best is Niseko, the resort on the southwestern tip of Hokkaido Island that was the first to break into the Australian market more than a decade ago when investors from the Victorian and NSW ski fields started pouring big bucks into developing the region.
According to Deep Powder Tours, an Australian company with 16 years' experience booking Japanese ski adventures, Niseko is ``the most popular and well-known ski resort in Japan''.
"Niseko receives an average of 12m to 14m of the driest powder snow and is regarded as one of the Top 10 international ski resorts in the world,'' the company's website proclaims.
"The entire area is made up of four interconnected ski areas, including Grand Hirafu, Hanazono, Annupuri and Niseko Village, with 48km of serviced runs, 38 lifts with common lift passes, runs of up to 5.6km, and a vertical drop of 1000m between the highest and lowest lifted points.
"There is always a variety of uncrowded quality skiing to be had.''
If that's not enough to tempt you, consider these vital statistics. The ski lifts are open from 8.30am to 8.30pm every day, snow sits on the ground for around 130 days every year, Niseko boasts one of the largest illuminated night-skiing areas in the world, as well as a half pipe and terrain park, and there are 17 restaurants and cafes on the mountain.
There's also a variety of terrain 30 per cent of the mountain is suited to beginners, 40 per cent appeals to intermediates, and 30 per cent is set for advanced skiers and snowboarders and, on a clear day, you can stand on a Niseko slope and look across the peaks to the snow-covered farmland below and the sea in the distance.
So, with so many resorts to choose from, why has Niseko become a firm favourite with Australians? First, the snow is bloody good, with the winter storms that brew in Siberia dropping all their moisture on the water as they blow cross the Sea of Japan and saving only the driest powder snow that rivals the famous powder stashes in the Colorado ski fields for Niseko's uncrowded slopes.
Then there's the fact it's easy to get to, with regular services flying between Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Sapporo, and a coach ride completing the journey to the mountain.
And Australians don't suffer jetlag because there are only a couple of time zones to jump during the relatively short flight up from the southern hemisphere.
Because Niseko's been a popular destination for Aussie travellers for a decade, there's also a lot of English spoken around the village, unlike in other parts of Japan.
And there's a good offering of Western-style food available, which means it's an especially good spot for younger Australians taking their first ski trip abroad.
It's also the sort of place where you can strike perfect conditions a blue-sky day, fresh powder, long, empty runs. And that means you can have one of those special snow days that you remember long after you've returned home.
