Last year, I spent several weeks of summer caddying for Aaron Townsend on the Oneasia golf tour. Aaron managed some great results including 10th at the Volvo China Open, an event co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

Aaron was  sponsored by our neighbours, The Vale Niseko for the previous season, and he had hoped to stay there, but as they were full, we found a room for him.

Aaron turned out to be a very accomplished skier who loved the powder snow of Hirafu and his wife Sally enjoyed a great lesson with veteran instructor, Mike Richards. They equally enjoyed Niseko Pizza downstairs. The picture below came from Takanori Nakanishi, a professional photographer who was travelling around Hokkaido with Porter Fox from Powder Magazine. Porter is writing a story for the mag to follow up his Niseko story 6 years ago which you can read here.  It was good to see my old friend back in Niseko after the successful launch of his literary travel magazine Nowheremag.

Back to golf, and we will also be hosting some of Aaron’s fellow pro’s in June so watch this space for more details of the Niseko WOW Golf Event and be sure to follow  The Course Report.

The British Open will be held from July 19-22 at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s in northern England and we wish him the best of luck!

Remember that for all our loyal customers there are all sorts of specials available. Just contact us anytime!

And this year we had a staggering 15m+ of snow.

The Ace Pair lift this morning was buzzing with little people in ski suits, getting ready for lessons.

J Sekka is offering a number last minute specials so feel free to contact us for details. Lots of people around and still lots of snow to ski!

J Sekka Ski Tip: If you book a lesson with NBS at the Family Pair Lift, you can use their lockers for 500 yen per day to leave your ski gear. You can also get a coffee at ‘Fresh’ right outside. That makes the short walk from J Sekka even easier!

There is also music as well as yoga demonstrations.  The markets are on today in Niseko Village and will also be on again September 24th.

Get on down and support this wonderful local event!

We are now serving a range of soft cream & parfaits at J-Sekka Cafe & Delicatessen.  Soft cream is available in a cone, or cup, and is just ¥250.  We have a range of flavors available, including green tea, vanilla, cookies & cream and our delicious limited Summer flavors including pineapple & sakura.

We can also add a shot of vanilla soft cream to any iced drink, to make a delectable soda float, or decadant iced coffee or chocolate.

Lunch started out with some yellow & green zucchinis, that were lightly grilled and then marinated with olive oil, lemon zest, sea salt & pepper and served on a slice of toasted baguette with smashed edamame.

Next up, a Summer salad with local watermelon, a range of mini heirloom tomatoes, celery, hidaka mozzarella & fresh herbs.  This dish went down so well on the day, that we had to put it on the Summer menu at in the Cafe.

Carpaccio…. of zucchini.  The beautiful colors of green and yellow, sliced super thin and dressed with a little olive oil & lemon and topped with roasted pine nuts and very finely shaved Shin Sapporo blue cheese.

Niseko Green Farm is growing some really interesting lettuces this year, including the usual romaine, or cos lettuce, but also a stunning red variety of the romaine family.  We used both red & green lettuce and made a ceasar salad.  A house-made dressing with parmesan, lemon & anchovies lightly coated each leaf and there were crispy croutons, fried bacon, an onsen egg & parmesan cheese wafer.

The Omega3 for the day was found in the form of beautiful flaked Hokkaido salmon.  The salmon flakes were dressed with a spicy soy dressing with NGF herbs and green & red onion.  Nestled on top, a couple of pieces of soft tofu pillows from the Makkari spring water tofu shop, dusted in a salt & szechaun pepper and crispy fried.

The last dish for the day was a hand-made Niseko Green Farm Danshyaku potato gnocchi, with cured lamb bacon, dried mini tomatoes, edamame & mint.  Another dish so good it featured on a Summer menu for a few weeks..

A great day was had by all, and it was a pleasure having you all at J-Sekka!  See you again soon ….

A nice shot of the group, just a shame Dennis didn’t manage to keep his eyes open for the shot;)

The Niseko Green Farm stand is set up again outside the front of the J-Sekka building, and houses a range of locally grown, organic produce.  But upstairs in the Deli showcase, we now have a partition dedicated to the Green Farm ….  Fresh herbs including basil & corriander (I know, so exciting!) as well as lettuces, kohlrabi, broccoli, garlic shoots, white cucumbers & more.

You can’t get any fresher that this, with Dennis regularly stopping by to replinish the stock, and items starting at 100yen it is hard to beat!

They enjoyed a nice, spicy ginger ale on the balcony this warm Friday afternoon.  We really hope to see them again before they head home to Tokyo!  Chekhov was very inquisitive around the firewood pile …  and although a little timid, was very friendly and certainly got plenty of attention from the customers, and staff.

The Cafe & Deli opens today, Thursday 14th July for Summer.  We will be open from 8am, Thursday through Sunday serving up hot & iced coffees, teas & chocolates with a selection of iced Summer Drinks as well as an all-day menu showcasing local, Hokkaido ingredients.

We will also open on Public Holidays, which means right through this weekend including Monday 18th July.

A range of sweets will be on offer, including daily-baked Hidaka Buttermilk Muffins, brownies, cookies & cakes.  Here’s to another fantastic Niseko Summer ahead, hope to see you all soon!

From the orange and gold of fall to the pink cherry blossoms of spring, Signatures follows an entire winter deep in the hardwoods of Hokkaido, Japan. Deliciously deep January blower to April corn, we bring you a film about expression and the art of riding on snow. Every turn has a personality, and every personality has its own unique style: the air, the smear, the spin, the grab, the laid-out cutback carve. Shot in HD, Signatures is 100% human powered riding in all snow-sliding styles: board, noboard, ski, and drop-knee.

Signatures, shot around beautiful Hokkaido, Japan – including some great footage around Niseko and featuring local legend Taro from Gentemstick is a must see film!  The team at Sweetgrass Productions have captured the serenity & beauty of the place we are lucky enough to call home …

The Signatures DVD is now available for purchase at the J-Sekka Cafe & Delicatessen for just ¥3,000 each.

The fundamental principle of Royce’ has been, and always will be, to painstakingly source for high quality ingredients.  This is a vision that J-Sekka shares, to source and provide high quality, local ingredients.

We are now featuring a ROYCE’ chocolate plate at Sekka Dining & Maki Lounge, where you can sample a range of their delicious chocolates.  For just ¥700 you can try Caramel, Honey & Coffee Prafeuille, which are a thin chocolate disc containing a molten liquid centre; Caramel Milk & Creamy White button; Hazelnut & Cacao nib cookie, cacao nibs being the roasted & shelled cocoa beans, giving the cookie a nice crunch; Kokutoh black sugar molasses chocolate and Gianduja which is a sweeter, creamy chocolate containing hazelnut paste, coated macadamias.