THE votes are in, the people have spoken, so here are the winners of Powderlife's 2009/10 Best of Niseko voting poll.

TO most, Green Lantern is Spiderman's arch-nemesis. Here in Japan a green lantern is the symbol of a new food movement where restaurants use local products.

THERE are hundreds of dishes worthy of mention in this column, but here's just a small selection to get you started... enjoy!

NISEKO is going off! The snow has been amazing and visitor numbers are way up on the slow season last year. It's a great time to be in Niseko...

There are plenty of places to get a great big brekkie to fuel up for a day on the slopes... here are five of the best.

DENNIS Van Den Brink is one of those great guys everyone in town seems to know. It may be the dreadlocks and tattoos that make him stick out, but Powderlife got to know this local Dutchman a little bit better...

OTARU Beer's brand new Christmas brew at J-Sekka will surely be on many beer lovers' Christmas wish lists this winter.

THE original Sekka restaurant was one of modern-day Niseko's first really chic eateries. Now a brand name encompassing everything from delicatessens to uber-luxury property developments, Sekka’s new restaurant, in the stylish new J-Sekka complex, has helped take the local restaurant scene to new heights. Now it’s not only very elegant,

While 2007/08 was a great season for a whole range of reasons, once again Hokkaido’s default abundance of fresh, fluffy powder snow was the star. If you look at the stats it won’t go down in the record books but there were periods, especially the whole of ‘White January’, which will be etched in the minds of locals for years

JP Auclair is one of the best freeskiers in the world and he just spent three weeks in Niseko throwing everything he could at his Armada quiver. Together with Julien Regnier they created this superb all-rounder. “Super light, wide, low side cut, twin tipped... it’s the ski that suits best my style of riding backcountry - my favourite,”