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On the plane ride back from LA, I was reading the Asahi Shimbun version of the hearald-tribune. Full page article on the 'Aussie Avalanch' invading hokkaido and how it has created a bubble and is driving locals out. The locals don't know how to market to foreigners, don't have the language skills, and are increasingly unable to affort to buy or run a business in the region due to the skyrocketing prices! Interesting stuff - I was going to bring it home to scan and post - but after 10 hours on the plane - i forgot.

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I did hear some locals were happy to unload bad positions they had bought during the bubble era but then relized they may have sold a bit early...

 

About a month ago I saw on TV some program talking about the foreigners in Niseko. It was funny because they were talking about the cultural experience many were looking for in Japan. They went to an Onsen and filmed the people in the rotenburo: they were all red-faced friendly-looking australians with a can of sapporo in their hand. Not a single japanese person in the onsen. It looked really weird. It's kinda like they never left home.

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I guess switching the VB for a Sapporo and sitting in an onsen rather than on somebody's patio is a major cultural experience for some...
i think you need to give that some perspective... ive been skiing in jap a number of times now and i dont think ill ever forget the first onsen i had... sitting in an outdoor onsen with an asahi, while its dumping snow all around you and swapping stories with your mates from a days riding. cant beat it. so yes, for aussies this is something which is very foreign. especially, when sauna's are probably the only thing you would find in aussie ski resorts unless oyu have shelled out for a place with a hottub. and even then its not the same as having an onsen. thats my 2c anyways
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Originally posted by SerreChe:

About a month ago I saw on TV some program talking about the foreigners in Niseko. It was funny because they were talking about the cultural experience many were looking for in Japan. They went to an Onsen and filmed the people in the rotenburo: they were all red-faced friendly-looking australians with a can of sapporo in their hand. Not a single japanese person in the onsen. It looked really weird. It's kinda like they never left home.
I think most Japanese people would say that an onsen is a Japanese cultural experience. And so what if there weren't any Japanese in the onsen, Does that make it not a Japanese experience?
Remember we live here every day and things like that may seem normal to us now, but like freerider said, I too remember my first onsen, outside, snow dumping & enjoying a beer with mates. Gaijin or not it was a very different experience from maybe sitting in a spa bath at home.
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I've only seen gaijin with beer cans in onsens though.. And the atsukan floating in onsen thing seems to be purely fictional as well. Then again, only drunk oyajis and gaijin drink on commuter trains, so why worry..?

 

Asahi article provided a nice local twist to the usual Niseko article. So, how was Gold Coast after the Japanese bubble burst?

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Originally posted by SerreChe:


About a month ago I saw on TV some program talking about the foreigners in Niseko. It was funny because they were talking about the cultural experience many were looking for in Japan. They went to an Onsen and filmed the people in the rotenburo: they were all red-faced friendly-looking australians with a can of sapporo in their hand. Not a single japanese person in the onsen. It looked really weird. It's kinda like they never left home.
What do you want mate? A bunch of Aussies paying homage at a Shinto shrine???.Aussie women wearing Kimonos?
They are in Japan, in a Japanese Onsen, drinking Japanese beer, in the Japanese snow.
Yes, compared to the average Japanese, the average Aussie is a big loud clumbsy goof. So what. The Japanese don't seem to mind ( god knows I've asked so many).
So who's the loser?
Japanese ski town revivied,
More jobs for locals,
Aussies get great snow holiday,
A new generation of Aussies get to experience Japanese people and culture first hand instead of just hearing of war time atrocities from our grandparents.

Given our countries past relations it sounds like a win win to me.
Niseko is still very Japanese, just as Bali is still very Balinese, it's just buried a little deeper
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We're all different, that's makes the world turn. I also love being in a roten when it is snowing outside, do not get me wrong, but somehow a few Japanese people in the Onsen to remind me of where I am is also nice.

 

Mantas, you should try the shrine, it'll bring you good luck.

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Mantas, he's got a point there.

I go to the "business" shrine often to pray for money tio come my way. Everytime we go good things come that week! I just can't get there enough!

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I heard that there's a lot of international investment up there in Niseko so (apart from jobs) the local businesses are not take much of the boom profits as all the businesses are foreign owned.

 

Is there anyone looking out for the local interests?

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It's a similiar sitch back home with Japanese investment particularly in Cairns, Gold Coast and Sydney I hear...

Japanese tours, Japanese hotels and Japanese souvineer shops, restuarants, a package deal in one for the Japanese visitor/tourist to OZ with Japanese companies operating in Oz. I reckon it's just global investment, I'm here in Europe at the mo and you should see how many Japanese companies and American companies operate here, it's how it is is these days, and yep the world keeps turning SerreChe, you're right.

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Originally posted by flipside:
I heard that there's a lot of international investment up there in Niseko so (apart from jobs) the local businesses are not take much of the boom profits as all the businesses are foreign owned.

Is there anyone looking out for the local interests?
It's up to the Japanese business owners to adapt to the new market and market their business to suit it. Those not wanting to change are the one's that miss out and are probably the one's complaining.
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Too right Indosnm, If they miss the boat it's there prob. Business is booming there and that's what it's partly about, making money from tourism. Some companies I reckon are in it also because Japan means something to them and they want to make it more discoverable for foriegners who have never been. I haven't been to Japan yet, and I never heard much about it until a travel expo I went to in Oz showed me all the cool places, resorts you can ski/board. I'm going to check it out this year, can't handle Thredbo anymore.

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If you were a keen Aussie skier/boarder and you were comparing OZ with Japan. It's a no brainer.

My personal opinion is that this is just the beginning of a huge wave.

 

Brace yourselves Japan eek.gif

 

Indo's right on the money. People will make a windfall from this if they are switched on. bulb.gif if I had a lazy half a million I'd buy a lodge over there myself.

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