Tag Archives: Japan

Hirafu – our last hurrah

On our last night in Hirafu we decided to venture into Kutchan and go to the highly recommended Torimatsu yakitori restaurant. This is a real local joint and as soon as we walked in were the talk of the restaurant – we even got sent a few sakes just for amusing the crowd!    There is [...]

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Rakuichi Soba

Just outside the ski town of Annupuri is the Rakuichi Soba restaurant. This quaint chalet is home to a fantastic noodle experience. You enter and remove your shoes  and don slippers before entering the dining room and sitting at the counter with the menu in Japanese cut into a timber plank. With us speaking no [...]

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Ski Snacks

How lucky are you when you can find great snow, fantastic conditions and amazing food, right there on the mountain. Boyo-so is a little hut 400 metres up from the base of the gondola at Hirafu, this quaint little place is definitely not run by any large catering organisation employed by the village operator like [...]

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Sekka Dining – Japan

Hirafu, not happy with having the best snow on earth, has to have the best produce and amazing restaurants to serve it too. We have had great food this week and Kaminura is a terrific meal in any place but amazing in a small ski village.  Then we had dinner at Sekka Dining, with very [...]

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Japan – on and off the slopes

Took a few hours off the slops today as it was pissing down with snow, tomorrow should be a cracker. We decided to get a taxi to Niseko and go to the Hilton’s Rera sushi bar . Rumour is its the best Sushi bar in the area, it is true. We sat down at the counter [...]

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Bang-Bang, Hirafu

Last night was great at Bang Bang, Hirafu’s best yakitori place. You can sit at the counter and watch the master at work over the grill.  The seafood is amazing and we had the best tuna sashimi to start – the fish sang with freshness and flavour. It is a cosy place with a great [...]

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Ski Japan

Hirafu and Hanazono are two of the best places to ski on earth. They are on the Island of Hokkaido. The winds blow off Siberia over the sea and dump crisp dry snow on the island almost nightly. The view from the plane landing on snow-covered Sapporo was spectacular. I had never seen blue ocean giving [...]

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