Niseko

Niseko has long been famous for its skiing and hot springs, and was once called the “St. Moritz of the East” (St. Moritz is a world-class tourist resort in Switzerland where winter sports thrive), but this is a bit of a stretch.

Apologies are in order for offending the Swiss people by lumping the two places together.

However, Niseko’s powder snow, which is well known to be praised by skiers, can be called “the best in the world” without objection.

Carried by seasonal winds the cold air from Siberia carries loads of moisture to the Sea of Japan, so that during the winter season it dumps powder snow practically everyday, there is a lot of powder snow.

There is no other place in the world where powder snow falls every day. (*That’s right…)

Niseko offers more than winter sports though.

Outdoor activities such as golf, canyoning, rafting, trekking, cycling, and hot-air balloon rides are available from spring to autumn.

Niseko’s appeal is that you can enjoy a variety of activities throughout the year, but if you are an “urban yuppy” who is not interested in such things, do not come to Niseko.

You won’t find the city life here and you’ll quicky run off to Sapporo.

Now, Niseko is also famous for its hot springs.

There are so many hot spring resorts with different views and spring qualities.

Below is a brief history of Niseko and it’s current state.

Brief History

Niseko’s history is surprisingly old.

Many remains from the paleolithic age (120,000-14,000 years B.C.) and the Jomon period (14,000-1,000 years B.C.) have been discovered, indicating that Niseko has been a place of human habitation since at least that time. 

Still, there is a stone circle “Soga Hokuei stone circle” Address: 252-5 Soga, Niseko-cho, Abuta-gun, Hokkaido which is an approximately 4,000-year-old ruin in the town of Niseko.

There are almost no written records of Niseko in the Middle Ages, but Ainu and Japanese began to settle in the area around the 15th century.

In the 1890s, settlers from mainland Japan began to migrate to the area, and after the railroad opened in 1904, the area began to develop moderately.

In the 1960s, a number of large-scale ski resorts were built and the area was very busy until the early 1990s, but when the ski boom in Japan ended, the number of tourists to Niseko declined significantly.

But then “the Savior” from the Southern Hemisphere appeared.

In the mid-1990s, several Australians who visited Niseko were attracted by the skiing and natural environment and moved to Niseko, spreading word about the wonderful powder snow in Niseko.

This brought in many Australian tourists, and from around 2000, skiers and snowboarders from all over the world began to gather in Niseko.

Since then, many condominiums have been built by Australian companies, and the redevelopment of Niseko has progressed rapidly.

In recent years, the number of tourists from China and other Asian countries has increased rapidly, and a number of ultra-luxury hotels and condominium facilities for the wealthy have opened.

The Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono opened in January 2020, and the Ritz-Carlton Reserve in December 2020. In 2023, “Aman Niseko” by Aman Resorts, an ultra-luxury resort company, is scheduled to open.

Other Marriott-affiliated top-end brand hotels, such as the ”W” and ”Edition”, also seem to be eyeing the opportunity to enter the market.

These profit-wise (keen, wide-awake) international investors are also taking into account the 2025 extension of the expressway and Hokkaido Shinkansen to Niseko, which will bring the number of hotels in Niseko to a new level. 

The Hokkaido Shinkansen line will directly connect Tokyo to Niseko in about 5 hours, which is expected to increase convenience so much that Niseko’s real estate values will rise even higher than before.

Even today, Niseko’s land prices are almost the same as those in central Tokyo, which is quite unbelievable.

The Australians, who are the “leading figures” in Niseko’s rise to world prominence, are disappointed with Niseko’s overdevelopment and the fact that it has become so crowded with foreigners that it has lost its Japaneseness that they are now flocking to other ski resorts such as Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture and Furano in Hokkaido.

Sounds like a fable, doesn’t it?

Incidentally, Niseko is relatively close to Lake Toya, so make the trip to the lake if time permits.