Tom Herbst rents a mini MPV and reports on what it’s like to explore Japan’s northern (and famously snowy) island of Hokkaido by road…
Superlatives don’t do it justice. But stepping off the pizza box-like King Lift #4 in Niseko Hanazono and looking back at Mount Yotei was breathtaking. Last year during my visit, the whole peak was shrouded in clouds so invisible. The weather this time was blue sky picture-perfect, the active volcano punctuating the landscape like a massive snowy barnacle, its presence made even more impressive as the surrounding farmland is pretty much flat for miles around. With trees covering its base, Mount Yotei (sheep hoof mountain if you literally translate the Kanji – pictured below) rises conical shaped to 1,898m – no wonder the Japanese refer to it as a mini Mount Fuji.
I’d flown into New Chitose Airport two days before, taken a JR Rapid Express train downtown and booked into the Sapporo View Hotel in the Odori Park area of the city – a chance to get over jet lag and explore the capital of Hokkaido before cracking on with the skiing. This does make sense. Typical flight routing from London via Tokyo and up to Sapporo takes 17+ hours which, no matter how you cut it, is whoppingly tiring.
With trees and lawns in its centre, Odori Park (pictured below) is a 12 block long avenue in the business district which runs east-west for about a mile, dominated by the 144m high Sapporo TV Tower at one end. I went there first. ¥1,000 gets you to the viewing deck at a vertigo inducing 90m, offering spectacular 360° city views and mountain panoramas in the distance.
Then it was a walk to the popular Susukino shopping and food quarter (apparently home to 3,500 eateries) to find yakitori – my choice being the excellent Kushidori restaurant in the food plaza attached to the Sapporo Tokyu Rei Hotel.
Just wandering about Sapporo is fun – the covered Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade worth a look – with the neon lights and signage at night giving the whole experience a Ridley Scott Blade Runner vibe. And if you tire of walking, try a rattly street tram which does a central loop in 55 minutes. Tickets are ¥230.
Born Freed
My sojourn to Sapporo over, it was a 45 minute trip back to the airport to collect a vehicle from Times Car Rental. I’d planned it like this avoid unnecessarily paying two extra days hire.
Times is partnered with Europcar in case you’ve never heard of them. Preparation is key though. You can’t just rock up with your DVLA photo license and expect to drive off. A 1949-type International Driving Permit is required, available for £5.50 from many convenience stores in the UK which have PayPoint. The rental agent didn’t even look at my UK licence – just the paper international one. So be advised.
Times put me into a 1.5 litre 4WD mini MPV Honda Freed (the same platform as a Honda Jazz but seating seven) and, although it will never win any beauty awards, proved to be very enjoyable to drive. At 118 bhp, the Freed is no sports wagon either, but it was zippy enough and came fully loaded including motorised rear sliding doors and crucially winter tyres. Do not take a car without them. And make sure you’re provided with a snow brush and ice scraper, too. You’ll need them all the time.
As Japan has a pay-to-use motorway system, renting an electronic toll collection (ETC) card also makes sense so you can pass through the barriers without stopping or scrambling about for credit cards or change. This cost ¥330 and was inserted into a reader in the glovebox, with the charges settled up on return.
Mastering driving on the white stuff
On the one hand, driving in Hokkaido is straightforward. You drive on the left like in the UK, roads aren’t busy and speed is in kilometres. No biggie then but do bear in mind the quantity of snow. There’s lots and lots and, while roads are diligently ploughed, the reality is you’ve got to be comfortable with it; rally skills of Ari Vatanen aren’t required but if you’re a nervous or inexperienced driver, then choosing other transport might be better.
So, how best to cope? Think sniper tactics: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Read the road well ahead given braking distances are longer. You’ll be amazed, however, at how grippy winter tyres are so take your time, adjust to the conditions and note the speed limits – 50 kph in built-up areas and 70 kph on motorways (unless marked).
Two other things. First, adjust your vision and look up higher as you drive. In towns, there are numerous four-way junctions with traffic lights hanging from wires or gantries rather than on black poles – take care otherwise you’ll overshoot them.
Second, satnav is an absolute must so check Google Maps will work on your phone. The Freed, of course, had GPS but this was incomprehensible given the Kanji hieroglyphics. At the airport, I bought a 15 day 50GB data SIM from NTT Docomo for ¥8,000 which was far cheaper than my mobile phone provider’s roaming package.
Sapporo Bankei Ski Area
My first ski resort stop was Sapporo Bankei (above) – a 22-minute, 5.5 miles drive from the city centre. It’s small with five lifts and 17 runs (the peak is just 482m), with views of the city in the distance. I bought a four hour pass for ¥5,600 but, on the day I visited, only the Orange and Central lifts were open. Most British skiers will skip Bankei but if you’re itching to explore, do a ski ‘warmup’ or kit shake down, then try a quick two hour visit (passes are available), especially as night skiing is on offer until 9pm.
Rusutsu – the fairground resort
Next day, the road trip proper began. I took Route 230 southwest from Sapporo to Rusutsu – a pretty 44 miles drive taking an hour and half – the snow-banked road wending its way over the Nakayama Pass at 835m (pictured below) offering super views of the Shikotsu Toya National Park.
Rusutsu immediately impressed; no wonder it won the 2024 World Ski Awards’ Best Ski Resort in Japan – the fifth time it’s received that accolade. It’s a large-ish ski area: three peaks, 37 runs, 4 gondolas and 14 other lifts, with the Westin Hotel dominating the landscape. Curiously, another dominating feature is a massive amusement park right in the heart of the resort, complete with Ferris wheel and roller coaster (pictured below). Obviously, it was closed, the wind-blown-compacted snow engulfing the rides. It seemed a rather incongruous structure to find in the mountains.
Pass in hand (Epic is also valid), I started on the West Mountain which is closest to the free car parking. Having skied the main runs, it was over to the second area – East Mountain – on the East No 1 gondola which is essentially a transfer lift over flat areas and a road.
Up to the summit on the East No 2 gondola – you start to get the naming convention – and down the lovely Fuboru piste, it was onto another lift – the Isola No 2 quad – to the third and final peak, Mount Isola. This is the highest of the three at 994m. There I stayed having discovered soft easy-to-turn powder in the trees off the Heavenly View run. I did laps weaving my way through birch and bamboo – it’s exactly what Japanese skiing is all about.
After lunch at one of the food kiosks in the Riders Villa – a semi-permanent tent structure adjacent to the main Steamboat Cafeteria – I headed back. Time was running out and I had to get back on the road. Suffice to say, one day in Rusutsu is simply not enough. It’s a super place.
Niseko – the capital of Hokkaido skiing?
Rusutsu to Niseko is not far – a 20-mile, 40-minute run north around Mount Yotei but the cross country route demanded concentration: a road surface of compacted snow, tricky-to-see edges given the failing light and temperatures indicated at -7°C.
Skiing on Mount Niseko Annupuri – altitude 1,308m – comprises four connected ski areas: Hanazona, Grand Hirafu, Niseko Village and Annupuri. If you make the effort to ski in Japan, you’ll miss the Crown Jewels of Hokkaido if you didn’t go.
Having checked into the Freedom Inn – a no-frills hostelry near the Hanazona lift (that was its attraction) – it was back into the Freed and a 10-minute dash to the JR station in Kutchan to collect my three travelling companions – Jonny, Emily and Mike.
Our first day together was a blast about. Armed with an all mountain pass (IKON is valid too), it was to the mountain top via the Hanazona 1, 2 , 3 and King #4 lifts – it was cold, but the views spectacular.
Traversing across, we popped into the Lookout Café for a hot chocolate and then entered the backcountry Mizuno no Sawa area via Gate 11 which offers some of the best skiing. Steeps, trees and open spaces, the powder conditions were perfect as we funnelled down to the gondola by the Hilton Hotel in Niseko Village – the Death Star as one of my companions referred to it.
Heading back to Grand Hirafu, it was to the Boyo-so restaurant for a set lunch (a wallet friendly ¥1,500), with tables circling a big coal fired stove used by everyone to dry their kit. It’s the antithesis of waiter service and snazzy interior design, the scruffy furniture reminding me of my 1980s school common room. But the food was good.
Afterwards, we tried the Swinging Monkey and Colly’s Folly runs, before skiing down to the Hanazona base to end the day with hot wine in The Edge food hall.
Day two was a mix of skiing in Strawberry Fields, the trees near the G5 gate and then a super run called Miharashi, accessible after a five-minute hike off the top of the King Gondola. Skiing down into Grand Hirafu again, we took the Ace Gondola (pictured above) – a new, fast Doppelmayr lift which opened this season, part of a ¥10 billion multi-year investment strategy to enhance resort facilities. It lived up to its name: each gondola cabin has heated seats, Wi-Fi, takes 10 people (the previous chair only 4) and operates late until 7pm.
The following day was a highlight. Through the G3 gate – the so-called Peak Gate – we joined a procession of others and hiked to the top of Mount Niseko Annupuri, a 40 minute boot packing to the summit (below).
Off piste on Jackson’s Run, we cut our esses, gingerly navigated a cornice drop off and then hit a nicely pitched open descent to wiggle through the trees to connect back with the piste.
The Wall Street of the North and Kiroro
The next leg of our tour was a 40-mile drive to Otaru, a seaside city and port, famous for seafood. Known as the Wall Street of the North because of the number of banks, various ski resorts are nearby such as Asarigawa Onsen, Kiroro, Kokusai and Otaru Tenguyama.
Otaru has a charming canal and warehouse district (above). Huddled under a kotatsu for warmth – think of a quilted heated tablecloth – we putt-putt-putted on a tour boat and listened to how the 1.3 km long tidal canal – completed in 1923 as an alternative to constructing piers – was used by barges to ferry goods from the various stone warehouses to boats moored at sea. Today, only the north canal remains, the warehouses long ago changed to other uses, with 65 gas powdered lamps lining the canal banks, too (below).
Checking into our hotel – Omo 5 Otaru by Hoshino Resorts – it was time to relax. Formerly a Chamber of Commerce office dating back to 1933, Omo 5 opened in 2022, with a modern midrise annex built offering a total of 92 rooms (below). It’s been very elegantly, tastefully and thoughtfully done.
And, in a nod to Otaru’s artisan heritage, the dining room and bar have displays of music boxes, along with oil burning glass lamps from Kitaichi, a local firm who has been making them since 1901.
In reception, there’s a large wall mounted Go-Kinjo map – basically local restaurant recommendations – so we tried Waraku on Route 17, a kaitensushi bar complete with conveyor belt delivery. Think of Yo Sushi on steroids, with quality nigiri and a couple of beers just £11 per head.
Next morning, the hotel’s resident guide (Omo staff call them ‘rangers’) took us for breakfast at the Sankaku Fish Market. Unless you can read Kanji, you’d never have known the market was there given the nondescript entrance, but having sat down in the Takeda Shokudo restaurant, we mistakenly over ordered: scallops in butter, fish donburi (roe, crab, prawns and urchin on a bed of rice), miso soup plus a large sushi set. It was a radical alternative to bacon and eggs but too much – a good thing we could burn it off at Kiroro, the next resort we tried.
About 18 miles south from Otaru on Route 393 – 30 minutes in the car – Kiroro has two main peaks – the Nagamine and Asari – about nine lifts, 27 or so runs and a big Club Med presence. The weather, however, was lousy with viz non-existent, so we stopped skiing after a few runs, admitted defeat and retired to a bar. It was a shame. The piste map showed some good terrain, with five in-bound tree areas and a ‘Powder Ride’ zone for those wanting to improve their deep snow skills, none of which we got to try. Like many other Japanese resorts, night skiing is possible with Kiroro closing at 7pm.
Hoshino Resorts Tomamu – the golden resort of central Hokkaido
Departing Otaru early next day, the Freed fuelled up (£41 for a whole tank), it was a two and half hour, 115 miles drive east on the expressway to Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, the ETC card coming into its own with cashless passage through the barriers. The motorway driving was easy – dual carriageways, filtering into single lanes through various tunnels (below) – with the odd deer spotted hunting for food in the adjacent snowy fields.
Tomamu’s history dates back to gold panning (nuggets were found in the nearby Horoka Tomamu River in 1909), with the ski resort developed in the economic boom of the 1980s/early 90s when four 121m high skyscrapers were built – positioned as pairs – called The Tower and Risonare (below).
We stayed in the south Risonare building on level 21 (out of 32) which has four super big suites per floor. The massive bathroom definitely deserves a plug. Featuring a sauna, separate shower room and the largest jacuzzi bath I’ve ever seen, I guiltily filled it up (yes – it took a lot of water), bunged in some sweet smelling salts and sat looking out at the mountain views, the water jets on full blast.
The four ski in/out towers are connected by a covered walkway so you can get to various restaurants without going outside.
We opted for the Forest Nininupuri buffet (below) for breakfast and dinner (incidentally, there’s an all you can drink beer offer there for ¥1800), although the Hotalu Street shopping quarter has numerous other places to try. Staff are welcoming and there are nice touches like complementary wine and soft drinks in the Risonare library from 6pm every day.
I also visited Mina-Mina Beach (below) – a vast and impressive complex housing one of Japan’s largest wave pools at 30m x 80m. I skipped that and just headed to the onsen for a wash, steam and soak in the hot (outside) pool.
You might think that massive skyscrapers in a resort would be unsightly, but in 2007, Tokyo-based Klein Dytham architecture was hired to reclad The Towers and they’ve cleverly used a mosaic of different coloured panels to help the structures blend into the surrounding countryside. It actually works very well.
On piste we explored everywhere – there’s 29 trails, 1 gondola and five chairlifts. Highlights were the deep snow under the Powder Express lift, lunch at Cafe Sol (the freshly cooked karaage is definitely worth ordering) and, having traversed off the Tower Express lift, we had the Grand Prix Z run (and untracked powder) to ourselves. Put simply, there’s lots to like about Tomamu.
Fun Furano
A 75-minute drive away, my final resort stop was Furano (above) which is split into two areas and has 28 trails. First it was up to the top of the Kitanomine Zone at 943m, a quick picture by a huge Furano sign on the K1 run, a blap over to a link lift and then down to the base of the Furano Ropeway – a 101 passenger cable car built in 2002.
This is the primary lift serving the Furano Zone which we skied, too. We did some hiking to access untracked powder and skied various steep tree runs to keep things interesting. It was great. Like Rusutsu, one day there was not nearly enough.
To sum it up then. Hiring a car offered independence, convenience and flexibility, without the reliance and added complexity of public transport. Rental costs were about £55 per day (an annual worldwide CDW policy an £125 extra which worked out cheaper than buying insurance daily via Times).
Clearly, if you decide to go to just one resort like Niseko – and stay for the duration of your holiday – you wouldn’t need a car. There are free buses linking the four areas and the transfer from New Chitose Airport is easy. Similarly, if you chose to stop off in Tokyo for a few days and then fly or train to Sapporo (and again stay in one resort), then save your money – don’t bother with a motor.
But if you want a more adventurous itinerary, then a car is certainly the way to go. Over a 10 day period, we comfortably visited six resorts, driving about 600 miles – if you look at a map – in a crude figure of eight. The car also gave us the option to scope out and stay in cheaper accommodation, visit places like Otaru on the coast which I’d definitely recommend, plus do some shopping at the Mitsui Outlet Park on the way back to the airport. Here loads of famous brands are on the cheap (take exit 28 for Kita-Hiroshima off the E5 Expressway).
And given Japanese ski resorts are smaller than in Europe (and drive times between them not too long), trying several really does make sense, with ultimately the Honda – excuse the pun – giving us the Freed-dom to explore.
Useful travel background
All pics credit Tom Herbst
