Long before five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants, Hong Kong’s Lady Ivy Wu and husband Sir Gordon happened upon Niseko’s quaint villages in the mid-1990s.
After skiing at several resorts across Hokkaido, it was Niseko that captured their hearts.
They’ve been coming back here ever since, recently opening boutique hotel Chalet Ivy on Hirafu’s main street (Hirafu Zaka) in order to help contribute to Niseko’s modern development.
It’s a fitting sentiment given Sir Gordon’s powerhouse contributions to infrastructure development across Asia.
Dubbed “the man who turned the lights on” by former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, Sir Gordon’s company Hopewell Holdings led the charge as China opened its doors to the world in the 1970s and 80s, quickly becoming the largest single investor in China through infrastructure creation.
Lady Ivy was heavily involved in the construction and design of opulent Chalet Ivy, incorporating ideas she had garnered from hotels across the world.
Chalet Ivy is within a snowball’s throw of Bang Bang and other top restaurants, however upon returning to Niseko each time, Lady Ivy most fondly looks forward to eating chef Kato-san’s sushi at Snow Castle – Chalet Ivy’s in-house restaurant – as she will do several times again this winter.