Japan - Niseko

The map shows the west side of Hokkaido Island north of the main island of Japan. The marker is the Niseko resort.

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2 January 2017

I traveled to Japan by myself and spent the first week touring some places on the island of Hokkaido. I flow to Tokyo and then onto Chitose where I rented a car. It was back to driving on the left hand side of the road with road signs in Japanese and snowy roads.

I drove to Lake Toya where I spent a couple of days touring. A morning was spent at Jigokudani (Hell Valley) a place with steam vents and hot water springs. The adjacent town of Noboribetsue was pretty much shut down for the season. A restaurant had a queue out front so I lined with them. A shoe rack at the entrance invited me to take off my shoes. I sat at the 'bar' which was close to the floor with a trough underneath to hang your legs into. The food was delicious. I traveled onto Skikotsu a collapsed caldera. I stayed at the Marukoma Hot Spring Hotel. I enjoyed a couple of amazing meals in my room and enjoyed the hot springs at the lake's edge with snow all around. The views across the lake while enjoying the hot springs were wonderful. The entire experience was magical.

I returned the rental car and traveled onto Sapporo where I connected with Bill Rivers. We spent a couple of days touring the city and the seaside town of Otura before proceeding onward on the train to Niseko.

We met up with Larry, Dylan, and Dylan's cousin staying in a dormitory style accommodation at the base of one of the Niseko ski areas. We spent the next couple of days skiing the resort. Snow coverages was unusually poor. We managed to find a number of powder covered slopes. Some were through the trees. Many of the tree runs had three foot high single stalk small bamboo like plants that we learned we could ski right through.

We enjoyed some delicious meals throughout the trip.