Jump to content

Recommended Posts

pancakes are you kidding? every thread here needs a handful of salt.

 

trouble will find you if you are looking for it.

 

The best part of Niseko is the snow, so just enjoy the snow and leave the rowdiness to the rowdies.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 562
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

 Quote:
pancakes are you kidding? every thread here needs a handful of salt.
Don't think so at all. There is a vast amount of practical and useful info on these here pages. Helps us and I'm sure lots of other people no end. No need for large quantities of salt only on a select few threads.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes lets try to forget about it i can not win a war of words with anyone anyways.

 

Too be honest I havent met a person on this forum that I didnt get along with in person. Most of us have the same set of goals or the same type of interests. Its easy to get along with those types of people.

 

This thread does pop up quite a bit though. IT goes down then just pops back up. CB wrote a great little footnote in here and it sums things up quite well.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I remembered this event on the weekend.

 

About 4 years ago I was waiting in line for a gondola at Niseko with another guy (American). Two Japanese girls in the line got talking to me, their opening line was how much they like Burton Customs. I had a rather old one at the time. Anyway, the four of us shared the gondola and continued to talk. They asked where we were from. When I said Australia the air changed as though I can farted and followed through with a lump of warm poo. One girl said in Japanese how she doesn't like Australians because of the bad behaviour etc. They continued to talk to my American friend quite happily. I was offended and wanted to make him unpopular by mentioning the bomb, but I doubt that would have helped, such was their dislike of Australian men in Niseko.

 

No one spoke to me for the remainder of the ride up.

 

As for bad drunken behaviour, in one night I saw two heated exchanges by drunk Australians, one exchange came close to blows, with physical contact being made between two guys. I was involved to some degree in both of altercations so I suppose I am a victim of my own crimes. In fact, all people involved in the conflicts of that night were Australians. I feel pretty ashamed at my verbal outburst and would apologise to the guy if I saw him again. Too much angry.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 8 months later...

OK I have spent a while reading this and there are some interesting things said. I still want to go there just to find out for myself. I'm quite new to the discussion and would really like to be able to taste both and tell you what I think.

 

Seems that the rivalry between the two main places will only get more!

Link to post
Share on other sites

cos it was highly entertaining, and also (and the main factor) is that so many people (read "Aussies") come on here looking on info for Niseko. This thread pops up in a search and away they go!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • SnowJapan Admin

Well, the thread started off with 386 page views when we started the new forums a month ago. Why 386? Well that was the number of posts in the thread at that time. As the page view data did not exist in the old forums (or at least in a form that could be displayed), all threads started life on the new forums (25th Apr) with the page view number equal to the number of total posts in the thread on that date.

 

So the extra nearly 3000 pages views for this thread until now have come in the last 4 weeks since then - quite a few from search engines & the Forums search function I would imagine (because the thread wasn't on the first few pages of the forums and pretty much buried).

 

I find the page views data on the new forums to be really interesting actually. Even now it is fun to see which threads are getting the views and it will be even more interesting during the winter months I'd imagine.

Link to post
Share on other sites
 Originally Posted By: Creek Boy
As I think back to when I first started skiing (first day was 6 years ago in Hiroshima) the image I had of skiing was Niseko. My first year I skied roughly 30-40 days in Hiroshima with a 10 day trip to Niseko. I was so overwhelmed by that mountain. The size of the mountain, the snow quality & quantity, and overall terrain that was offered was nothing like I had ever seen. (remember first time was in Geihoku)

After that first season I was so hooked. Headed to Niseko 2xs a season for about 7-10 days a trip. Just loved the entire feel of the mountain and felt every trip that I became a better and better skier.

To date Ive spent roughly 130-150 days up at Niseko which includes my one season spent up there. I never got bored of skiing Niseko day after day after day after day - woke up early for first tracks of powder and even cord in the Spring. Seeing Yotei with bluebird skies was just sick.

There truly is something magical that made me go back there again and again. Dont know if its cuz my mates went there (live there) or the snow, but I couldnt stop myself heading back.

I finally made the decision to ski somewhere else last season because I wanted to take my level up a notch and knew that Niseko just didnt cut it anymore. Thats where Hakuba comes into the scene.

Hakuba has some of the sickest terrain in Japan as many of you know. It also gets enormous snowfalls every year which continually surpass Niseko. Eventhough Ill be the first to admit, and have said it many times, that Hakuba doesnt consistently have the same dry and light snow as Niseko, Niseko isnt any better when Honshu is going off though...

What Niseko truly lacks though is the terrain to take serious skiers/boarders to a new level. For those who go there seeking only powder you will find some of the best on the planet. But in terms of terrain it just doesnt compare with the resorts around Honshu. Not even close.

In the 60+ days Ive skied in Hakuba now Ive noticed a huge difference in my skiing ability. Something that Niseko couldve never done. Sure, I would be a good skier if I continued going to Niseko and only skied there but I wouldnt be able to handle chutes, tight & steep trees, and 40-50+ degree slopes that I love skiing now.

You wont find anything like that at Niseko. Is there a problem with Niseko - Not one. Everybody on this forum has a different perspective on skiing and boarding. Thats whats so cool bout the community here.

But for me, what Ive found is I like to keep pushing my limits and the terrain I ride which is why I rave so much about Hakuba valley, Shiga Kogen, Nozawa, etc... and why I continue to go back there instead of Niseko.

Different strokes for different folks.

My 2 yen worth.


Still feel the same way.... Too bad I couldnt ride much this past winter and wont ever get up about 20 days for quite some time I imagine. Sucks but thats reality.

Will most likely hit Hokkaido this Xmas if Ian's up for the trip. You lurking mate?
Link to post
Share on other sites

We should do an experiment to see what subject titles get the most attention.... it is interesting to see which are the more popular threads in terms of views.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I can't believe I just read this entire damn thread, start to Finnish.

 

I need beer.

 

(That line circa page 4 was classic though: "Niseko: Just like football, but with fewer goals" HA!)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, actually I thought this summed up the situation precisely.

 

 Originally Posted By: Rag-Doll
It seems to be that a lot of complaints about there being too many Aussies and the overall increase in popularity of Niseko come from two distinct groups of people.

 

Type 1 - Those who don't live in Japan and seem to think that skiing in Japan must also include some sort of cultural experience. Many of these people will have booked themselves a package deal offered by a tour company making its money from economies of scale. They then get to Niseko and bemoan the loads of (other) Aussies doing exactly the same thing. Many of these same people won't be familiar with the typical Japanese ski resort that has zero night life and so when they go out at night looking for something to do all they see are other Aussies doing the same thing. This creates a distorted impression of the general number of Aussies in the place. The locals still out number Aussies by a large margin, they're just not visible at night because they're all sitting in their rooms. These people are often want it both ways – cheap and easy trips with local infrastructure to accommodate non-Japanese speaking visitors to places that retain their cultural uniqueness. If you want to be a trail blazer, go some place else no one else is going, don't go to Niseko because everyone is talking about it and then bitch because it is over run by multitudes of unimaginative tourists.

 

 

Type 2 - Long term residents in Japan who for a variety of reasons (few of them particularly flattering) like being the only foreigner in the village. There is a strong parallel with that Little Britain sketch about being the only gay in the village. These people resent the influx of foreigners because it means they are no longer as exotic or as unique as they once were. This group of people (comprised almost exclusively of men) would rather remain the only foreigner in the village and bitch about slow lifts, crap safety patrol policies and dreadful food rather than share Japanese ski resorts with visiting foreigners who might enable the resorts to actually make a profit or improve the facilities/policies and, dare I say it, force them to face some uncomfortable facts about themselves.

Link to post
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...