Dont know if I am opening up a can of worms or not.

Now I am a proud Aussie as most are. However I have heard pretty bad stories about how the Aussies act especially in Niseko. I am quite keen to head up there maybe next season, but if the stories are half true, I would hate to have to put up with them, as I am sure the locals do. So are they really as bad as I hear? I also heard the Japanese dont go there so much now due to the influx of gaijin, is that true?

Maybe I should just head up to Nozawa instead!

I've never witnessed any of that 'ugly Aussie' stuff up there, but that's not to say it doesn't happen. I wish some Aussies would just stay home and don't embarass us but you cant control that. I have witnessed a lot of drunk Japanese staggering around at night though.
I would say that the few incidents that happen probably get more attention than they deserve.

GN will tell you the real deal. He lives there.

you senn that Niseko Probs thread? You're from 2004, so you must've

I think on the whole the Aussies were very well behaved this year. It's getting more and more expensive which may have something to do with that. Considering the amount of Aussies that are making the journey over each year the number of incidents are very, very few. I got to know the gaijin guy who worked in the police box this season and his main complaint was the job was so boring with nothing to do.

Now are Aussies going out and getting drunk and loud? Yep sure they are. Is this a bad thing? That's a subjective thing. As Mantas points out there sure are plenty of Japanese doing exactly the same thing.

Are Japanese not coming to Niseko because of the amount of foreigners? Hard to tell really. The domestic market throughout Japan has been on the decline for years (hence why so many resorts close every year). Some may not come because of the foreign presence but I'm sure many also come because of it. Regardless of any decline in the domestic market here, it has been more than made up with the foreign market (and the foreign market is a hell of a lot more profitable for all the businesses here)

Dean Niseko is a really fun place with amazing snow. If you came here and didn't have a great time then frankly there'd have to be something seriously wrong with you. Are there bars where Aussies congregate? Yep there are. If you don't want to hang around with a whole lot of them there are many other options.

If you are wanting to come to Japan for some deep cultural experience then Niseko aint for you. If you want to come here for a ski holiday then it's truly awesome.

i met two aussy guys who were the proverbial when i was in niseko this year. the rest of them were good fun, friendly and happy drunks (well i met them all in bars) out to have a good time, very respectful of the locals (most of them were doing seasons there) and alot better than the drunks you get in scotland. Although, to be honest, that isnt hard.

yeh, you get a-holes everywhere in the world, but its easy enough to know who they are after a few minutes in their company. The good aussys far outweighed the bad ones for me!

although they probably thought i was p*sshead.

Wholeheartedly agree GN and al from scotland.

The 'Aussie problem' pales into insignificance in comparison with the UK holidaymaker and seasonal worker at European ski resorts.

As a very general observation:

1) drunk westerners are more aggressive than drunk Japanese.

2) A number of altercations arise from the Niseko area (read most ski resorts) being a 'sausage factory'.

Personal experience (and I too am sensitive to how our countrymen and women portray us!)told me that the vast majority of Aussies in Niseko in January 08 were minding thier own business.

Can be loud...yes, like calling across the street - but that is part of the holiday atmosphere one gets at a ski town. Alcohol consumption - hmmm - some play hard and drink hard, but some are more interested in being able to get up in the morning for First Tracks without a hangover (and I think they are in the majority).

Lot of families - families tend to be more sedate/well behaved particularly with regard to drinking behaviour.

I was hit from behind by an out of control Aussie Skier who was swearing and cussing - my guess - a young buck who had been on the sauce for hours already, was going too fast and not paying any attention to the trajectories of people riding in front of him. It ended my day (but not my trip thank god!), but it could have been worse...The reality is - it is the odd one who behaves like this that gives us as Aussie this reputation. The 1% of visible hoons/morons that taint the perception.

Niseko is great.

I guess a lot of it is a matter of perception, which itself depends a lot on your background or culture.

I do notice that quite a few anglo-saxon countries seem to have a culture of binge drinking. Not everybody reacts the same way when drunk, but the more drunks you have the more likely you are to have problems.

It seems that in Australia, in order to be respected you either have to be really good at some kind of sport or be able to absorb vast quantities of alcohol (or both). This is obviously a over-generalization that is not always true but this is what people who live there have told me.

I have had some non-australian friends go to Niseko this year and tell me it was great. They were mostly interested in the skiing and not the drinking. They said they went to bars but that they full of australians and that not many locals ended going either as they seemed to be a bit uncomfortable. They eventually gave-up going.

I think if you are australian and want to bring along with you a piece of your favorite Melbourne pub with you while on ski vaca, then you will enjoy Niseko. As others said, for a cultural experience you may want to have to look somewhere else.

I have had australian friends (who live in Tokyo) go to Niseko this season. They told me that the place was "full of dumb obnoxious oz knuckle draggers and red necks and that it was really shocking and painful" for them to put up with it. So they basically told me that they would never be going there again unless it changes a lot despite the good snow.

Whether you like it or not, the number of problems in Niseko and Hakuba have sky-rocketed with the arrival of an ever-increasing number of australians and other foreigners. A lot of these problems have been swept under the carpet and never made it onto these forums which is a good thing as they tend to also tarnish the names of hard-working foreigners based in these places who end-up being collateral damage from a reputation standpoint. They usually involve assault or theft. I will stand by this despite what I have read about the foreigner working in the Koban in Niseko who seems to be bored.

Unfortunately, in the case of foreigners heading to N & H, it seems that some countries seem to have a lot more than 1% or hoons/morons over there. They are still a minority making all the others look like s**t, but that's reality.

Anyway, this has been debated to death already I guess, so not much new material here, but at least one should know what to expect before going to these places. As Al said, you can quickly notice which ones are out of control and hopefully you can avoid them unless as in the case of Mamabear you end-up being wiped-out by one of them from behind. It is clear that these people are a pain for all to put-up with, not just the locals.

I heard about a real idiot from down-under who decided he would take a snow plough for a joy ride when he was drunk. The Japanese police locked him up for almost a month and then deported him. It's an extreme case, but the cops here can be brutal if you push them.

Most of the Aussies I've met are concerned about the bone-heads. The majority are good people.

You are right there SerreChe!
And those of us who are respectful, decent people just wanting to have a great holiday find this kind of behaviour from our countryfolk even MORE upsetting than others for the most part. It reflects badly on us.

But you gotto know - the knobs who behave like this in a foreign land ...behave like this at home - maybe not every day - but regularly. People do not tranform into arrogant morons just because they landed in another country therefore all bets are off - no, they have practiced how to be such losers!

From the discussions over the years on these forums I've found that much of the mud slinging at Niseko has been from those foreigners that live in Japan.

The vast bulk of those coming from OS have the absolute time of their lives. Hence the numbers coming here have grown and grown year after year. This growth is occurring because most go home telling stories to their friends of one of the best skiing experiences to be had on the planet.

So why would those foreigners living here be so critical of the place? One reason may be that they left their home countries to immerse themselves in a new and different culture and they find the very western nature of Niseko to be the complete opposite these aims. Many definitely seem to have a problem with Niseko purely because a lot of foreigners come here. Maybe, just maybe they are turning a little too Japanese themselves
Then there are those that just can't seem to understand why a place so devoid of extreme terrain could possibly appeal to the masses! I mean if there are no 50+ degree slopes why would anyone want to ski there? It just doesn't make any sense....
And of course there are those with business interests in other resort areas that have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. They definitely don't want their little town to turned into a westernized playground like Niseko but by god they wouldn't mind a bit of the old genkin that's being thrown around up here.

There's no doubt that Niseko has some problems but I believe they will sort themselves out easily enough. Lets remember that pretty much all the hype and development here has only occurred within the last 5 years. All new things have problems that get ironed out with time.

GN are you still skiing cause you sound grumpy!
Had some girls down from your way and they were
shocked that we were still skiing! They said all the
locals stopped skiing in Feb cause of the lack
of fresh snow. That would make me grumpy! Grab
a backpack and head up something high and enjoy
some elevation. You might just find a bit of
Fresh as well!

I fall into the 50 degree segment but 40 degrees is a
more realistic number.

I had a ski on Mt Youtei on the weekend and it wasn't too bad. I'm just hanging out for summer now. Can't wait to hit the beach!

And I thought my post above was fairly lighthearted, no grumpiness here I can assure you

How close is Kutchan to the beach GN?
I'm right in that mode now as well. Recently the weather has been good (not today though), nice warm sunny days. I've been down the beach a couple of times, not swimming like, but we are having our 1st BBQ of the year next sunday!! quality!!

The nearest beaches are at Iwanai (although they aren't that great) about 40 mins away. Within 1 to 1.5 hours away there are many really nice beaches, especially around the Shakotan peninsula.

not saying that kiwis　aren`t bad abroad but aussies in niseko are a disgrace to the human race imhao - I was in wild bills bar one sat night end of season and there was a massive dust up in there that involved at least 6people not including the staff - who I must say did very well in breaking it up-there was one guy who would just not stop for love or money - the japanese bar staff looked a bit shocked but I got the feeling they had seen it all before - a friend from work was riding the gondola up there and heard an aussie guy (he did the accent very well ) say `can`nt wait to get back to the hotel and rack up a few lines ! `- its just plain cringworthy I reckon

Get up to kurodake or asahidake

Aussies getting drunk and fighting! Who woulda thunk it!!

I'm just glad I live down in Kutchan.

Answered my question everyone...cheers! Asked the question really because I have just been to Europe and seen just how disgraceful my fellow countrymen and women can act.

The sking only has just hit 2/3s done!