FIRST TIME SKIING IN NISEKO, JAPAN

Konnichiwa!! This marks my third visit to Japan, and I can proudly cross off “Japan in winter” from my bucket list. I once manifested to experience Japan in four seasons back then. My initial visit was in 2015 during Cherry Blossom season (Spring), followed by a return in 2017 for the Autumn. Now, it’s time for winter!

Actually the intention to visit Japan this time was for some winter sports, either Skiing or Snowboarding. Japan is clearly the closest place to my country to do such excursion. I quickly popped the idea to go to Niseko-Hokkaido simply because I had not explored this northern part of the country before. I know Nagano could be a good option, but they said that powder snow in Niseko is one of the best in the world. Uhh, sounds a big yes to me.

I traveled with my girl gang, that decided to prefer Skiing over Snowboarding, which I easily agreed on too. I suck in managing balance, don’t think Snowboarding will be a good idea for me. Though I really keen to try it one day.

We landed in Sapporo after a day transit in Tokyo. Before making our way to Niseko, we did manage to visit some cool places along the way that worth to highlight for winter reference in Hokkaido :

Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival
It is located by the Lake Shikotsu in Chitose, a town 10 mins from the airport. The festival displays piles of tall ice pillars that are made from lake waters, hence it radiates diamond blue color if you came in the day time. They crafted the ice piles to giants sculpture that people could enjoy.

What makes it interesting is the view of Lake Shikotsu itself, renowned as the second deepest lake in Japan, surrounded by a handful of mountains from every angle. Although it was very windy and cold, so glad I came.


Sapporo Snow & Ice Festival
We stayed in Sapporo for the night before catching the train to Niseko the next day. All I can recall about Sapporo is the hardship of dragging my suitcase around on snowy sidewalks. I swear the struggle was real! We were tired, cold, and starving all at the same time. To make it worse, by the time we arrived at the hotel for check-in, we were rejected right away by a weird hotel staff who said that we had come to the wrong hotel even before checking my booking confirmation. Holy Moly Potato!

After an effortful protest due to the language barrier, we succeeded in getting the room. Apparently, they had mistaken us for another group. Our room booking was clearly legit, and the check-in process could actually be done through the machine, not with the reception staff. What a waste of time and energy, indeed.

In the morning, we explored the city and visited the Sapporo Snow & Ice Festival. It was nice, but if I may compare, the Snow & Ice Festival in Harbin clearly wins in terms of everything. So, if you ever wondered, Harbin or Sapporo, I am 100% down for Harbin. Of course, there is a price to pay for choosing Harbin – you have to endure the evil cold! But if you’re looking for more comfortable winter weather to walk around, then Sapporo is your answer. Check my Harbin snow festival post here!

En Route to Niseko
From Sapporo, we took a train to Niseko, which I believe became one of my favorite train rides so far. The snowy view was epic and dramatic, instantly making me feel like a character in a Ghibli film about to return to my hometown. All I could see through the window was a huge pile of snow blanketing the village’s houses and trees, creating such a dreamy scene!

Our train was supposed to stop at Niseko, but for unclear reasons, it made stops in two cities before Niseko, so we had to take a bus. Fortunately, it was the last bus operating that day; if we hadn’t caught it, we would have needed to take a taxi, costing hundreds of USD. Phew!

Niseko Station
Is Totoro coming to pick me up?

We booked a beautiful lodge located not in the downtown area, quite far from the center but still covered by the bus route. Upon getting off the bus, we (again) had to drag our suitcases for about 500 meters that feels like more than 1 km due to the snowy path. Despite the heavy stroll, I enjoyed the view along the path – literally in the middle of nowhere with giant snow piles covering almost everything. Our lodge was hidden behind those piles, looking so pretty, like a place I had always dreamt of staying in during the winter in Japan.

The lodge is called Niseko Higashiyama Ski Lodge. If you book directly on their website, you’ll get a much better price compared to travel platforms – thank me later! It’s a simple wooden lodge that offers a magnificent view of Japanese’ countryside and the surrounding forest. We booked a Tatami room with a lovely sight from the window. Oh I loooove it!

Look at this dramatic snow fall!

Since it’s a ski lodge, they practically arranged everything for the ski activity. They took care of all our ski needs, including gear rental, transfer to the resort, amazing private teacher, etc. All in all, so convenient for ski first-timers like us.

I definitely recommend this lodge; we had a really good time and a lovely stay!

Our first day of SKI
We are sooo lucky to have Roisin, the loveliest ski guru who was assigned to teach us. She taught very patiently, every basic move—how to walk, slide, stop, turn right or left, and even how to fall safely. I still remember the funny terms ‘Pizza’ and ‘French Fries.’ No, I’m not talking about food. Pizza is the ski position you need to make to slow down or stop when going down the slope. You need to move both ski tips in towards each other until it forms a triangle, like a slice of pizza.

‘French Fries’ is where your skis are positioned in parallel to each other to gain speed. So, if you use the Fries position while cruising, you’ll definitely glide faster.

Fries is easy, but Pizza is definitely not. When I tried it, I was pretty sure I made the best Pizza, but I still could not stop. Roisin would never get tired of screaming ‘Pizzzzzzaaaaaaaa!!!’ every time she saw me gliding uncontrollably. Of course, I fell countless times, but luckily, no bruises, injuries, let alone broken bones – something that I am so much afraid of.

We spent the entire day skiing until sundown, with an hour break during lunchtime. By the end of the lesson, we had covered all the basics. I even did a long slide with a smooth ‘Pizza’ stop. So proud of myself! The lesson will continue tomorrow for half day; there’s a chance for us to try the higher slope using the lift. Uhh, so exciting and scary at the same time! considering my fear of height, riding a ski lift with legs hanging is definitely my greatest enemy.

I never thought skiing would be that exhausting. Putting on all the gear and trying to be in sync with every move was really hard work. Even if we did nothing, just standing still required bending our legs a little in order to flex forward the ski shoes. We could not stand with straight legs because the ski shoes were not made for that. For a first-timer, it was hella uncomfortable.

As expected, the night after the first ski was a real torture. I had never felt that sore all over my body. Even moving my hand an inch caused so much pain. LoL. I was not sure how I would survive another ski on the next day though.

2nd day of SKI
We signed up for half-day skiing today because we needed to move to another city later in the afternoon. It was snow-storming really bad when we arrived at the resort. I was ready with all my gear on, but when I wore my shoes, something felt so wrong. I could barely walk, not even move my legs. My shin hurt so, so, so bad. I was pretty sure I got bruised on it. I needed a fit shin to stand firmly, especially in bad weather like that. I did not want to force it, so I decided not to join the session and waited inside the resort. One other friend of mine joined me, while the other two continued the lesson.

Two hours later, they came back with huge smiles, showing off that they were very happy they could hit the slope and cruise down successfully without any issues. Glad to see them happy, and no, I was not envious at all. I think deciding to drop the lesson that time was a great decision, even though I had already paid for it.

Around 12 am, we headed back to our lodge to prepare for check-out. So sad that we had to leave the lodge so soon; one more day to laze around would have been perfect. Unfortunately, we did not have that luxury of time.

Just for your tiny but super useful information: If you plan to go by bus to or from Niseko or any of Japan’s countryside, it is highly recommended to buy the bus ticket in advance (a week before at minimum) because they have limited service, and apparently tickets sell out fast.

So our initial plan after Niseko was to visit an onsen town called Jozankei that can only be reached by bus. Little did I know that the bus service was limited, and I did not buy it beforehand, leaving me with a sold-out ticket when I checked on D-3. The only alternative transport we could do was to rent a taxi that cost USD 350 – which we think a bit ridiculous. After a long discussion, we finally opted to drop the Jozankei plan and went back all the way by train to Sapporo and Chitose.

So yeah, overall, my first ski experience was super fun and satisfying as I had the best companions tagging along. I certainly want to ski again, but maybe next time in Nagano or somewhere in Europe 🙂