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WHEN Hanpai Abe and about 16 other explorers happened upon Kutchan in the year 1892, it was the dense, lush forest wilds of the area that possessed promise for settlement.
As it turns out, these settl...
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By Shukin, Cafe Kaku
AS a long-time resident of Kutchan it always disheartens me to hear people complain 'there is no culture in Hirafu, Niseko, or Kutchan!' Or; 'It just doesn’t seem like Japan...
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MANY of you have come to the area for just a ski holiday, and to experience a bit of Japanese culture.
If you have made your way down to Kutchan and wandered around the restaurant district, you have p...
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THE Japanese love a festival and February sees the winter festivals throughout many of the alpine regions. While most people will have heard of Sapporo’s world-renowned snow festival (see p.36 f...
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IF you thought Hirafu had a great selection of charming and affordable restaurants then wait until you head into K-town. As the typical Japanese house is not suited to entertaining the tradition is to...
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MANY tourists visiting Niseko to explore its reputation as the ‘land of powder snow’ may be forgiven for thinking they are about to embark on a traditional Japanese holiday experience. The...
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THERE is a ‘must do’ list when visiting many countries, and Japan is no different. Take a hot spring bath – check; take a bullet train – check; eat lots of Japanese food...
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WALKING into one of Kutchan’s many pachinko parlours is a feast for the senses to say the least. Pachinko has a gigantic cult following in Japan and is all about being over the top. Tasteless de...
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The world’s first online English teaching show – attracting a massive 5000 hits a day – is broadcast out of a small, nondescript, Japanese-style apartment in Kutchan. At first, The D...
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Would you leave the love of your life out in the cold? If you’re wondering why there’s a massive $20,000, 150 horsepower snowmobile inside the door of Kutchan izakaya Nami-chan Chi, it...
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It’s a well known fact that Japan’s population is ageing at a rapid rate, and nowhere else is it more apparent than rural Hokkaido. Young people in areas like Kutchan not keen on taking ov...
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The Japanese love a good festival. Festivals the length and breadth of the country mark all sorts of occasions, most often to celebrate the seasons. Perhaps the biggest celebrations happen across the...
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Fujii Confectionary houses a love story so sweet it has literally rotted teeth. The 60-year-old family-run business was started by current manager Chiaki Fujii’s grandfather, possibly as sweet a...
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Hokkaido people like their food strong. They use a lot of salt and flavouring to really make their dishes go zing. But Kutchan restaurant Bleu Cielo’s chef Shinji Kawaguchi says there’s en...
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A REBELLIOUS, offbeat personality definitely seems to be a common character trait of talented chefs - Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, those two fat ladies - to name but a few well known examples.
Much le...
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The Loaf Lounge is so cool. The Japanese are known for being at the cutting edge of innovation, and most often it surfaces in the form of the high tech gadgets that, for a long time now, have been sta...
