Welcome to all the guests in Niseko currently celebrating Chinese New Year. May the year of the horse bring you much luck, fortune, prosperity and powder snow!
Apart from spending the day enjoying the mountain, there are a few other things around town that you can do today (and the rest of the week).
Cultural
To celebrate the year of the horse, Nisade has organised FREE pony rides for children at The Vale from 4PM. They have also organised a scavenger hunt, face painting from 3PM and later on local taiko drummers, Yotei Daiko, will be beating their drums from 5PM. There will also be goodies for children and saké for adults after Yotei Daiko.
Festival of Japan is still running, with one of the prime events occurring tonight – Banquet of the Sumo! This banquet gives guests the chance to join some elite professional sumo wrestlers over a traditional Japanese banquet. They also have events on Zen Meditation, Geisha and Maiko Doll Origami Making and the Closing Ceremony, featuring Japanese music and dance. Have a look at their website for more information of the events – http://festivalofjapan.com/
Moiwa Ski Resort is celebrating the Lunar New Year with a fireworks spectacular from 6:30PM. However, do to the wind today, it has been shifted to tomorrow evening, Saturday February 1st. More information here – https://360niseko.com/event/2014-moiwa-ski-resort-fireworks-spectacular
Horse – Nikki Nairns
The Green Leaf has a collection of Sapporo-based artwork on display – https://360niseko.com/event/rocca-exhibition
The 65th annual Sapporo Snow Festival starts on February 5th. More information here – https://360niseko.com/event/65th-annual-sapporo-snow-festival
Snow Sports
A new and very unusual (though arguably natural progression) fusion sport is happening in Otaru – the Red Bull Freeze, mixing ice skating with terrain parks. Have a look at the event information here – https://360niseko.com/event/red-bull-freeze
Cuisine
As mentioned last week, The Oyster Shack is operating until Saturday February 1st. More information here – https://360niseko.com/the-oyster-shack/
Also mentioned last week, Bistro Côté Jardin Niseko is having a special six-course saké degustation course until February 5th. However, on January 31st (tonight) for one night only, they will be joined by Yamato-san from Takara saké company, who will explain about Japanese saké.
Party
Wild Bill’s is bringing the party this week, with Tokyo-based punk rockers ONC set to light the place up. ONC have been rocking in Tokyo since the early 2000s and have played 100s of gigs, including support for Guttermouth and Strung Out. Supporting them are the perennial crowd favourite hard rockers, the Sapporo-based 3 Skins. Tickets are ¥1000 and include a drink voucher – https://360niseko.com/event/beers-reign-live-punk-reggae-and-rock-and-roll
Keeping with the lunar new year theme, Splash Bar is having their bi-monthly Full Moon Party on February 3rd. They celebrate like it’s a Thai beach party – bucket-sized lethal alcoholic cocktails! Info here – https://360niseko.com/event/full-moon-party
Half Note have their weekly live Jazz performances, this week Natsuki is performing Gospel and Jazz on Saturday from 8:30PM, and Miyaka Matsuda, from Honey Vee, is performing on Sunday from 8:30PM.
As always, check 360Niseko.com/events for a comprehensive list of what is going on around town.
