The lightest snow on earth, and hot water to end the day in.
Snow falls here the way sound is absorbed, endlessly and without argument. Mornings are spent in birch glades above Niseko where the powder comes up past your knees; afternoons in a bowl of miso ramen that costs almost nothing and fixes almost everything. Then the onsen: outdoor, steaming, snow settling on your hair while the rest of you forgets it's winter. Eight nights, two bases, and one very long dinner of Hokkaido crab.