Niseko’s name is always spoken together with snow — yet for more than half of each year, this is a green country. What is Niseko like from summer into autumn? Here it is, in the order of climate, play, and the farm landscape.
Niseko’s cool summer climate
Climate first. Summer in Niseko is another thing entirely from summer in Honshu. Daytime temperatures rise to around 25°C but humidity stays low, and mornings and evenings dip below 20°C — cool enough to sleep with the windows open. Hokkaido famously has almost no rainy season; July and August bring long runs of clear days, with Mt. Yōtei standing out sharply against the sky. For escaping the steaming heat of Tokyo, Hong Kong or Singapore, it is hard to find a climate better suited to a summer stay. (See our note: Accommodation Tax in the Niseko Area.)
Rivers, mountains and onsen
Play centres on the mountains and the river. The Shiribetsu River — which curves around the southern side of Mt. Yōtei and passes near the towns of Kutchan and Niseko on its way to the Sea of Japan — is known as one of Japan’s clearest rivers, and from the season when spring snowmelt swells its flow through the summer, rafting flourishes. In the mountains: climbing Mt. Yōtei and Mt. Niseko Annupuri, trekking on the lower slopes, cycling and mountain biking, golf. The gondolas that carry skiers in winter carry climbers and sightseers up the mountain in summer. And the day ends with an onsen. Hot springs of differing character are dotted around Niseko — a treasure of this land in every season.
Farmland and the potato blossoms
The other face of this land is farming. Kutchan is known as a premier potato-growing area, and the mainstay of its plantings is the Danshaku variety. An inland climate with a wide swing between day and night temperatures, and soil steeped in the snowmelt of the heavy winters, produces potatoes rich in starch. From late June to mid-July, the potato flowers open all at once across the broad fields. Danshaku blossoms are a pale reddish-purple, and the sight of whole fields at the foot of Mt. Yōtei coloured as if carpeted is something that belongs to this season alone — a sight we would especially recommend to those who know only the Niseko of the snow.
Autumn and the harvest
When the flowers finish, the harvest runs from late August into October. Freshly dug potatoes and other produce fill the farmer’s markets, and the town reaches its richest season at the table. This is also when the autumn colours climb the mountains: summer green, autumn harvest and foliage, then the first snow — the scenery turns over every few weeks.
If winter Niseko belongs to the world’s skiers, Niseko without snow offers cool air, mountains and a river to play in, and the landscape of the fields. Not only in winter — Niseko in its green season, too, is well worth the visit.
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