One of the most common questions visitors who come here to ski in winter ask me is: “What’s it like here in summer?”
There’s a short answer, and a long answer to that question. The short answer is – awesome. In many ways it’s “cooler” than winter!
The long answer is that at 42 degrees north of the equator, it’s a hidden oasis in Asia – a place where there’s no rainy season; where the average temperature in the hottest months is 25C (77F); where most of the food you eat is fresh from local farms; where you can collect pure mountain-filtered drinking water from local springs; where there’s no crime and no such thing as a traffic jam.
Niseko is a spectacularly beautiful place in summer. After months of relentless snow, the sun finally dominates. The air is crisp and clean and people revel in the natural warmth of the sun’s rays.
Within days of spring beginning, tiny plants emerge along the roadsides. After hibernating beneath metres of snow for almost half a year they seize their chance and reach skyward. Over the coming days and weeks these little plants will shoot upwards and outwards faster than the snow can disappear. The barren white landscape of winter will rapidly be replaced with a dense, lush green.
Water from the melting snow inundates the rich volcanic earth and life is everywhere. The vegetation is thick, from the undergrowth to the tree tops. A richer green is hard to imagine, exuding a natural energy. People are drawn outside to take in the environment, breathe the sweet air and enjoy the great outdoors. Niseko’s natural assets – its rivers and streams, mountains, forest and lakes – offer endless opportunities for warm-weather outdoor activities. Hokkaido truly is a summer paradise.
Niseko is made up largely of people who weren’t born here – of people who moved here from other parts of Japan and the world. There’s a saying around these parts that many people came for the winter, but stayed for the summer.
If you’re here for a ski holiday, I hope that after reading this magazine you’ll think about coming back to experience the summer too.
– Kristian Lund
Read online here