Just wanted to let our loyal readers know about a couple of special dining events coming up over the next few weeks here in Kitanomine, Furano.

First is the Naturwald Restaurant’s all-you-can-eat Steak Lunch Buffet, featuring steaks cooked up teppan-yaki style right before your eyes. The buffet is rounded out with soups, salads, pizza, fresh baked bread, and a selection of desserts. At 1300 yen per person it is hard to beat this value. This restaurant can be found just two doors down from Fresh Powder Furano, and the special lunch will be run on the weekends of 20th & 21st Feb, and 27th & 28th Feb. 11:30 to 14:00.

Also on the upcoming dinner menu is Sri Lanka Curry Night at the Furano Brewery Yama no DOXON on Saturday 27th February. Kicking off at 6:00 pm, the curry will be prepared and served by a visiting exchange chef from Sri Lanka. Live entertainment will include local bands such as Coffee Beans Band and DOXMASU (actually thought to be a stage name for Mr Miyata, the owner of DOXON.) Advance tickets 1500 yen, at the door 1800 yen include all you can eat curries. Yama no Doxon is also home to a variety of microbrews and just 4 blocks from Fresh Powder.

Speaking of which, did you know that the 22nd of each month is “Furano Curry Day”? Special menus and discounts await at the many mouthwatering curry shops throughout town. If you ever needed an excuse to stretch your legs and go exploring, here it is!

Tempura lovers are in for a treat in March. Every weekend and holiday lunch at Naturwald will feature an all-you-can-eat Tempura Buffet, with each piece cooked right before your eyes and served sizzling hot. You can have yours with a little green tea powder and salt, as “ten-don” on a rice bowl with sweet sauce, or alongside a bowl of udon noodles. Also 1300 yen for all you can eat, what a way to take a lunch break from the slopes! 11:30 to 14:00.

Happy skiing, boarding, and dining! - Blog Boy

This just in from our friends at Kuro-Dake… things are looking good for their plans to open on Nov 6, once again aiming to be Japan’s first ski lift in operation for the season. They are reporting 40 cm accumulation at their base with temperatures locked below freezing at the base station (1100 m ASL). This picture from their staff says it all:

Kuro-dake Base Station, 2 Nov 2009: 40 cm!

The news you powder hounds have been waiting for! All Hallow’s Eve has become bitterly cold, with the mercury at -2 C and dropping. At 5:00 pm we saw the first specks of white and within 20 minutes later it is coming down non-stop.

Update - check the photo gallery below for daily updates.

Many of you probably know Asahidake as a back country destination. The highest mountain on the island of Hokkaido, it features a single cable car from 1150 m to 1600 m. To give you some idea of the snow quality at that height, take the best snow from the top bowls of Niseko and Furano and put that at the lift base. Sure enough they had an amazing story of their own to match our Typhoon report - 10 cm of ACCUMULATION at the base on the morning of the 11th.

Christmas in October?

This picture is from Asahidake Onsen, at the BASE. Of the ski runs. In early October. You can see the news with video feed through the link below.

Doshin News - 10 cm Accumulation at Asahidake Onsen, Oct 11

Bitterly cold rain swept through the Furano valley yesterday evening, and this morning rain clouds lifted to reveal snow on Nishi-dake. The snow line is now just over 1000 m, which means that the next flakes to fall are likely to land on the upper ski slopes. I was hoping to get up with the Furano Mountaineering Club and hike the traverse to Nishi-dake’s peak next weekend, but it looks like the climb may be called off due to early winter. You can see last year’s hike here.

The view from our front steps this morning. From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

Clouds are stubbornly sticking to the Tokachi range, Taisetsuzan seems to be getting even more snow! You can also check our weather page for a live webcam of the ski hill, just in case we get a surprise dump at ground level here.

Snowfalls on the moutains are very early this year, hopefully we have a great start to the Furano ski season in store.

As promised, photos of the early snow! Here is the Tokachi mountain range, a popular back country destination including Mt Tokachidake, Mt Asahidake, and Mt Kurodake.

Tokachi Mountain Range - From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

First snows on Mt Ashibetsu - From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

As evening temperatures dip into the low single digits, the mountains are bursting with reds, oranges, and yellows. The elusive “yuki-mushi”, or “snow bugs”, considered to be harbingers of the first snows, have already been sited at ground level.

The nearby highest peaks of Asahidake (Hokkaido’s highest) and Tokachidake (home of the highest drivable point on the island) have received their first dustings of snow weeks ago, but Typhoon #18 has given us something even better. We don’t get many typhoons up here in Hokkaido and I’ve always wondered what would happen if one of those warm, wet masses of air passed through our chilly autumn skies. Yesterday morning we had a brief break in the cloud and I was able to witness the result: snow covering the upper third of nearby Mt. Ashibetsu-dake. Ashibetsu is 1600 some meters, and our ski hill on Nishi-dake is just over 1000 meters, so I would estimate the snow line is only about 200 m above the upper slopes. Not bad for the second week of October!!

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photo and the rest of the typhoon effect has resulted in heavy cloud cover today. Will update you shortly. In the meanwhile, here are some shots of the autumn foliage I got last week. Click the photo for more!

From Furano Autumn 2009 Scenery

Great news for international visitors to the Furano ski resort: Furano finally gets its dedicated English-language snowsport school, Furano Snow School. Best of all, the school will be located in the Kitanomine Gondola Terminal, just 30 m from our front door.

Repeat visitors to Furano will find many of their favorite English-speaking instructors such as Kei and Meg putting their skills to full use in English-only lessons. Furano Snow School also offers the resort’s first and only dedicated English group lessons. These are a great and economical way to improve your technique and make new friends on the way.

The private lesson program has also been fully overhauled to cater to overseas visitors. Among other things, the starting times are now flexible, allowing you to have the first shot at fresh powder with your coach or spend an hour or two warming up on your own first.

Meg leads the way for an anxious first time skiier using the "Magic Carpet" conveyor lift.

Last but not least, we are now able to offer discounts for multi-day private and group lessons. If you have already booked a stay at Fresh Powder, please contact us to reserve your lessons in advance. You may also contact Furano Snow School directly through their website for bookings.

From first-timers to experts looking to improve their enjoyment of Furano’s amazing slopes, the Furano Snow School is a great way to get the most out of your holiday.

It’s an overnight miracle, as the +20 daytime temps over the last week have at last coaxed the delicate cherry blossoms (sakura 桜) from their buds. It also happens to be the last day of the ski hill operation. Your dedicated blog boy has escaped from the front desk and gotten some shots from the top! The hill in the very center of the photo below is Asahi ga Oka Park. You can see the little pink puffs of all the cherry trees doing their magic.

Snow and Sakura, Together At Last! (Click for bigger)

Thanks to the kind liftie who snapped this one of me at Downhill #2. You can see quite the contrast between winter and spring! [EDIT: No, that is not a codpiece, I lashed my cap to my belt to keep it from blowing away. Thank you to those who inquired.]

Half Way Down Furano on the Last Day

The park next to our Furano Chalet is also filled with cherry trees. Simon is on site, we’ll see how he does!

SWEET UPDATE: Check out these sakura photos from around Furano.

Furano Golden Week 2009 Scenery

If we’re lucky, the sakura season will last about 2 weeks, but the delicate blossoms are often destroyed by high winds or heavy rains. If you’re in the area it’s worth a trip to check out Asahigaoka Park (near the Sorachi River) or the Highway 38 Jukai Pass (southeast from Furano towards Obihiro.) There are over 1000 cherry trees at each location.

Check out some of these shots on Chuck’s blog. Cycling is a great way to experience the blossoms up close and get great exercise.

Hokkaido culture fact: Our “Hana-mi” (cherry-blossom viewing party) is normally BBQ + beers. Apparently in the rest of Japan they have some other kind of crazy tradition?

It has literally been snowing all day long in Furano. Never stopped, just alternated between light and heavy snow fall. Huge fluffy flakes. It looked like we were in one of those snow globes. The kids were in heaven. Even our dog has decided he likes to play in the snow, though he was quite hesitant at first.

Just went out and measured the day’s total:  35 cm! Not bad for less than 24 hours.

Only 17 days left until Opening Day! I can hardly wait.

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas! … Christmas in October you say?  Well, we received a very early present this morning at about 5:00 am in Furano.

Ground temps in the ski village were just below freezing and heavy cloud cover blew in. Minutes later the first fluffy flakes of the season started to fall… and I have photographic evidence this time!  An hour later left the ski hill 80% covered with the white stuff.

At about 7:00, I was snapping a few pictures from in front of our office and was feeling immensely satisfied with myself, when I noticed a familiar dark blue Mitsubishi Delica Chamonix rumbling up the ski hill access road in low-4! Sure enough John had also been awakened by the snowfall and, as always, had to be first to the top.  We decided to split the difference and put all the photos together into one snow report.  Please enjoy!

Update - Looks like the Yukimushi were only one day early. Science prevails!

The fall leaves began changing about 2 weeks ago, and now they are almost finished. That can only mean one thing…snow is just around the corner. The Furano Ropeway (the fastest 100-person gondola in Japan!) is closing summer operations this Sunday, October 19th. I’m thinking of going up tomorrow with my new digital SLR, hiking around a bit, and snapping a few pics of the ski runs without snow on them. Once the snow hits it hits hard.

The Yuki Mushi or Snow Bugs were out in full force yesterday. According to local folklore, these are a “reliable” predictor of the first snow fall. After seeing the yuki mushi, the snow will reportedly come within 7-10 days. Stay tuned, and we’ll report back with scientific accuracy to verify this for you.

Yuki Mushi!

I’ve just finished participating in a local drama production of King Lear. This was a modern, Japanese adaptation, full of rock music, and Lear dressed as a biker. I played the Fool, got to dress in a kimono, and pretended to be a traditional Japanese comedian. Had a great time. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

On Furano Ropeway

We planned our holiday to Furano in summer for a mix of relaxation, fun for our two year old daughter Sienna, and showing my mother the local flowers. We were blessed with beautiful weather that woke us up (at 4.00am, or should I say woke up Sienna our daughter) with sunshine every morning. Coming from Hong Kong we appreciated the clear fresh skies, and low humidity. Our regular morning walks had us saying hello to the locals, smelling the fresh bread for sale at the farmers market, and hearing the rush of gas as the hot air balloon lifted up high to capture a view of the township below.

Braving the single track with Chuck

We had a week to enjoy the flowers that make Furano famous, taste all the yummy food and appreciate the magnificent scenery around. Well we accomplished all! My husband even snuck in a cheeky mountain bike ride under the guidance of Chuck the local instructor. The single track looked amazing in his photos, passing by rivers and through forests.

The girls set off to tour the local farms, in search of lavender along with the bus loads of other tourists also in the area. Farm Tomita was our first stop, and by far and away the best of them all. My mother wandered off to marvel at the colours and smells of the lavender (really the main reason everyone is there, there are other flowers too but these aren’t rated as highly). Sienna (our two year old) and I went straight to the ice cream vendor. Ice cream is highly decorated in Japan in summer, and in Furano they make lavender flavoured ice cream to celebrate the lavender season. We stuck to vanilla, and thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the bench overlooking the fields of flowers with ice cream melting down our faces and hands. There are plenty of souvenir stalls also selling everything possible in lavender (soaps, pens, cakes) and this is where we found my mother, a bag overflowing of lavender perfume, notebooks and pencils.

Flowerland was another farm we found that’s worth a visit. It had a little petting farm for Sienna to play with a few animals, and a tractor pulling a train around the area for people who wanted to save their legs. Mum rated the flowers there pretty highly, and once again they had a farmers market to buy corn, potatoes, pumpkin and ice cream.

We got excited on one drive just out of town when we passed Lake Takisato. It was fabulous, a huge lake (actually a dammed part of the Sorachi River which passes through Furano). There was a massive campground right beside this gorgeous lake and we stood there planning a camping trip there next year. It seems on further research that you can only camp during August, quite strange since the summer months of June, July and September would be great for camping too.

Our food tour of Furano took us to the best sushi train going round. The freshest, most tender and delicious sushi is available there at super reasonable prices. Masaya’s was our second restaurant stop another night for unforgettable okonomiyaki. Ordering the flame cooked spare rib was a treat as Masaya cooks it up on hot plates right before your eyes. The radish salad was also a knockout.

A highlight of our week was the Heso (or Bellybutton) Festival. It’s an annual event where locals form teams (usually corporate or sports teams) and paint their chests to represent a face. All sorts of faces appear, some smiling, some poking their tongues out. Participants then cover their heads with a big hat and do a dance in unison with their team mates while walking down the main street of Furano. The town stops for this event, which is held over two consecutive evenings. Music, food and local produce stalls make the event full of excitement and colour.

We had the pleasure of cheering on my husband who joined a local team and had a great time mixing with the locals for an evening (and dressing up in body paint!) The international team, sponsored by the Furano Tourist Association, also made a big appearance with dozens of visitors from overseas joining in the festivities.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are open for business!

The Lim family in Furano!

It was a great pleasure to welcome the Lim family, Anne, Kenneth, Krystal, and Kristin, to Furano. Already familiar faces from our Niseko apartments, the Lims are our first ever guests at Fresh Powder Furano, which has ben re-opened as Furano’s first and only self-contained accommodation designed specifically for international guests.

The construction went smoothly thanks to the professional and dedicated efforts of our local construction contractor, Karumai Construction Ltd. Our owners and our new guests both agree that the crew at Karumai have done an amazing job adapting the timeless look and feel of Fresh Powder apartments to the new environs in Furano.

Opening Night - that's a lot of snow!

Our guests are even more delighted to find that our location is even closer than Niseko, literally across the street from the ski fields and just 30 m from the gondola terminal. On top of that the early snowfall means that almost every run is open - only Kumagera is closed due to unstable conditions. (According to the ski patrol, the cause is too much snow!)

The moment is not without a little sadness as we forever say goodbye to part of the building’s past. With the complete renovation of the building, the Pension Ginrei and B&B Fresh Powder Lodge are now part of local history. We have retained a number of decorations from the original pension, including a set of antique wooden telemark skis and numerous vintage prints of the ski hill. Expect to find these artefacts decorating the halls and rooms of Fresh Powder Apartments. We’ve also made a point to retain the original common bath from the ground floor. The bath has been completely retiled and retained as a private deep soak Japanese bath in our 1 BR apartment suite.

Here are a few shots from around the apartments.