new year

Japanese television across the country has been reporting that this is the snowiest start to a winter season in Niseko for 50 years. There has only been two days where it hasn’t snowed in all of December, and the forecast predicts even more to come before the New Year, which may see all records shattered.

IN Japan, Christmas isn’t widely celebrated, but New Year’s Eve (shougatsu) is the most important holiday, and a spectacular cultural experience.

WOW. Only Mother Nature could deliver a better Christmas present than the thermal undies my own mother sent me – the first sustained period of solid Niseko snowfall this season (sorry Mum!).

EVERY year, people across the world dream of a white Christmas. In Niseko that white Christmas is guaranteed in spades – usually spade-loads of powder snow you have to shovel off your front step on Christmas morning. This amazing snow that falls from the sky nearly every day in winter is just one thing that makes Niseko so great.

THE Japanese love a good celebration, and because Christmas is not such a big deal here, New Year (shogatsu or oshogatsu) goes off with a bang. It’s perhaps the most important holiday in Japan and families typically get together to celebrate. In Niseko there’s no shortage of events, so check out our events calendar on p21 for a few