Blast your heat for the whole drive (specifically, set to blowing directly on the windshield) if you’re windshield is frosting! That’s what I do driving up to the mountain.
Awesome video! Curious about the reasoning behind moving to Niseko (or Hokkaido) in particular, is it because the snow season lasts a long time? From what I've read online, it lasts from late November to May, what about the other months in the year? Asking because it would be amazing to ski year round, if you had a plan, I'd be extremely grateful to hear if you plan on skiing year round, and if so, how you plan on doing so.
Hey mate, thanks for watching. Niseko is my favourite place to ski and has been for quite some time. The area has likely the best powder snow on the planet which is the biggest reason why I love it so much. It's also reasonably close to Australia which is where I'm from and the time zone is also similar which is good for the work I do online. Originally, I did a ski season for the 22-23 winter where I worked for a Japanese company there. I moved back home for 6 months after the ski season was over and it made sense to go back again the following winter to see my friends while my visa was still valid. I have since moved back to Australia again due to my visa being finished. The ski season tends to run from the middle of December to early May depending on the snow conditions. However, the deep snow is usually only around from the middle of December to the start of March. The last half of March, April and May is spring skiing which is completely different but still fun. From the middle of May until December, there's no snow in Niseko but there are still plenty of activities to do (mountain biking, hiking, cycling and any other summer sport). If you want to ski all year round, you'd have to look at coming to Australia, going to New Zealand or South America for the Southern Hemisphere winter. I haven't done this before, but it may be something I do in the future. I usually use this downtime from skiing to reset, see my family and work out my plans for the following winter.
@@blissblitz thanks man, I really appreciate it. Make sure to check out my other vids which have heaps more skiing in them. I'll be there next season too. Hit me up if you wanna ride together 🤙
Haha I'd say I'm halfway between a data entry specialist and a database engineer. Basically I'm building a database for an automotive company. Highly recommend the ski lifestyle if you can. It isn't cheap but definitely worth it!
Kool video. Before you first moved to Japan how were your language skills; how are they now? How much was was your car, 700cc a real highway burner.😄, Cheers
Before I moved there my Japanese was almost non-existent. Now, it's still pretty poor. But I can say what I need to in small interactions and understand a lot more (most of it is conveyed and understood through body language in all honesty. It's hard because Niseko is a predominantly English-speaking town with how many tourists and seasonal staff that live there. I paid about 250k yen ($2500 AUD) for the car. 660cc, 4sp auto gearbox and AWD. Same size engine as my motorbike back in Aus, but it honestly did the job perfectly. You can really only get up to about 60km/h in the middle of winter with how much snow is on the roads. I did get it up above 100km/h in spring and it felt like it was going to fall apart haha!
@@masonomalley8692 I was a Japanese resident at the time on a working holiday visa. So basically the same process as a regular Japanese person. Heaps of paperwork and fax machines haha. Not sure what the process is if you're on just a standard holiday visa. I may have to find out this coming season as my working holiday visa is finished now.
@@BlaizeKelly I mean buying an Akita and fixing it up - think this would be a good town? Looking for 1. Great skiing 2. Easy to get to slopes 3. Easy to live there / life is good
@@cole1 Hard to say considering I don't know you. But I mean if I had the funds and a permanent visa, I would certainly be doing it. Real Estate prices over there are wild at the moment and only going to get more inflated with the amount of money coming in from China, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. But yeah, you'd have to like Japan in general before considering it in my opinion. It's very different to Australia where I'm from. There are some things that I think are better, and then a bunch of quirky things that you'll only ever experience in Japan. Part of the charm though I guess.
⭐If you have questions about Niseko or Japan, feel free to message me on Instagram ➡ instagram.com/blaize2k
Great vid. Keen to see this series evolve!
Thank you bro, some cool content coming soon!
LFG. Still haven't seen snow yet, need to make sure I do sometime soon.
I highly recommend it... but I am a bit biased, I do love it.
Amazing broooo, can't wait to see the next episode
Haha yeah you'll see yourself a fair bit more in the next few vids!
I'm currently in Melbourne and thinking about doing the same! Thinking about moving to Nagano. Best of luck sir.
@@HiKelvin You won't regret it man. Australia is a nice place but a change of scenery just shifts your perspective on things a bit.
Blast your heat for the whole drive (specifically, set to blowing directly on the windshield) if you’re windshield is frosting! That’s what I do driving up to the mountain.
Haha yeah, I was doing that but took a break because I was sweating inside the car. Big mistake!
Soooo good love the video!! 😁
Thankyou! Some cool stuff coming in the next few.
Living my dream❤❤❤ congratulations
It can be your dream too. You just have to put your mind to it! ❤
Awesome video! Curious about the reasoning behind moving to Niseko (or Hokkaido) in particular, is it because the snow season lasts a long time? From what I've read online, it lasts from late November to May, what about the other months in the year? Asking because it would be amazing to ski year round, if you had a plan, I'd be extremely grateful to hear if you plan on skiing year round, and if so, how you plan on doing so.
Hey mate, thanks for watching.
Niseko is my favourite place to ski and has been for quite some time. The area has likely the best powder snow on the planet which is the biggest reason why I love it so much. It's also reasonably close to Australia which is where I'm from and the time zone is also similar which is good for the work I do online.
Originally, I did a ski season for the 22-23 winter where I worked for a Japanese company there. I moved back home for 6 months after the ski season was over and it made sense to go back again the following winter to see my friends while my visa was still valid. I have since moved back to Australia again due to my visa being finished.
The ski season tends to run from the middle of December to early May depending on the snow conditions. However, the deep snow is usually only around from the middle of December to the start of March. The last half of March, April and May is spring skiing which is completely different but still fun. From the middle of May until December, there's no snow in Niseko but there are still plenty of activities to do (mountain biking, hiking, cycling and any other summer sport).
If you want to ski all year round, you'd have to look at coming to Australia, going to New Zealand or South America for the Southern Hemisphere winter. I haven't done this before, but it may be something I do in the future. I usually use this downtime from skiing to reset, see my family and work out my plans for the following winter.
@@BlaizeKelly Thanks for your reply! It makes a lot of sense :)
Badass - heading there in January 2025, so thanks for a great vid!
@@blissblitz thanks man, I really appreciate it. Make sure to check out my other vids which have heaps more skiing in them.
I'll be there next season too. Hit me up if you wanna ride together 🤙
haha the rust on the zuki before the season even begins
Yeah it didn't get any better over the winter hey... Hokkaido rust is a proper thing.
What do you do WFH for? I'm a mech engineer and this lifestyle needs to happen at some stage haha
Haha I'd say I'm halfway between a data entry specialist and a database engineer. Basically I'm building a database for an automotive company.
Highly recommend the ski lifestyle if you can. It isn't cheap but definitely worth it!
Kool video. Before you first moved to Japan how were your language skills; how are they now? How much was was your car, 700cc a real highway burner.😄, Cheers
Before I moved there my Japanese was almost non-existent. Now, it's still pretty poor. But I can say what I need to in small interactions and understand a lot more (most of it is conveyed and understood through body language in all honesty. It's hard because Niseko is a predominantly English-speaking town with how many tourists and seasonal staff that live there.
I paid about 250k yen ($2500 AUD) for the car. 660cc, 4sp auto gearbox and AWD. Same size engine as my motorbike back in Aus, but it honestly did the job perfectly. You can really only get up to about 60km/h in the middle of winter with how much snow is on the roads. I did get it up above 100km/h in spring and it felt like it was going to fall apart haha!
@@BlaizeKelly Have you considered the time honored tradition of getting a local girl friend to improve your Japanese?
What month is this?
This was all filmed in December 2023.
what was it like getting a car in Japan as a foreigner? insurance etc?
@@masonomalley8692 I was a Japanese resident at the time on a working holiday visa. So basically the same process as a regular Japanese person. Heaps of paperwork and fax machines haha.
Not sure what the process is if you're on just a standard holiday visa. I may have to find out this coming season as my working holiday visa is finished now.
how's it going? im considering getting a house there to ski
@@cole1 If you love skiing and can find a place to stay, I'd highly recommend it.
@@BlaizeKelly I mean buying an Akita and fixing it up - think this would be a good town? Looking for 1. Great skiing 2. Easy to get to slopes 3. Easy to live there / life is good
@@cole1 Hard to say considering I don't know you. But I mean if I had the funds and a permanent visa, I would certainly be doing it. Real Estate prices over there are wild at the moment and only going to get more inflated with the amount of money coming in from China, Hong Kong, Singapore etc.
But yeah, you'd have to like Japan in general before considering it in my opinion. It's very different to Australia where I'm from. There are some things that I think are better, and then a bunch of quirky things that you'll only ever experience in Japan. Part of the charm though I guess.