Hikobayu Essential Oils
Can’t get enough of the Niseko environment? Take home the “scent of Niseko”. When not managing Niseko’s forests and parklands, local forest management company Hikobayu produces a range of scents and essential oils made from materials extracted from the leaves, branches and trunks of local trees. Founder Kento Sawada says one of his products – Scent of Niseko Ethereal Fir – is an air freshener extracted from native todomatsu fir trees, providing sweet, Niseko-scented air and a relaxing “forest bathing” atmosphere wherever it’s used. Using bark from fallen shirakaba (silver birch) trees he also creates various arts, crafts and jewellery.
Hikobayu products are available from View Plaza in Niseko Town, and the Westin Hotel in Rusutsu.
Niseko Honey
Despite being buried in snow for half the year, making it impossible for bees to survive year-round, Niseko has its own locally produced raw, additive-free honey. How is that possible? Niseko Honey ships in a truckload of bees from Kyuushu (at the southern tip Japan) every summer. When they arrive in Niseko he releases them and sets his hives around local acacia trees, ensuring their honey provides a unique flavour of the Niseko mountains. When summer wraps up he loads them back into the truck to survive another winter down south.
Order online or find local retailers at nisekohoney.theshop.jp or call Sho Azumade on 090-5075-3991.