by glen on September 27, 2010
Autumn only means one thing to the Hirafu Football Club – The Shiribeshi Autumn Soccer Tournament.
Shiribeshi is the name of the region Hirafu is part of – which also includes Kutchan, Rankoshi, Niseko Town, Rusutsu and others.
As defending champions the title was on the line but HFC never looked in doubt, stamped their authority over proceedings and cantered into the final.
The final saw HFC up against old sparring partners Kyogoku. In a repeat of last years final it again came down to a penalty shootout.
HFC held their nerve and came though with the win – CHAMPS
To view a larger selection of shots please visit this gallery.
Tagged as:
cultural,
Hirafu,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
Kutchan,
niseko,
people,
Photography,
soccer
by glen on September 26, 2010
With all the excitement about the recent snowfall it’s easy to forget that we still have a while to enjoy the great outdoors before winter transforms the landscape and snow shoveling begins. Until then, a few of my favorite things to do, like mountain biking, hiking and golf are still good to go.
Here are a few pics from a game of golf I had at the Hilton last Wednesday.
This pano was shot a year ago on the 1st of Oct from the tee of hole # 17.
The round finished with an amazing Bento which was included in my local neighborhood association monthly friendly golf competition, after the presentation of prizes and a few laughs I hit the onsen…ahhhhh.
Tagged as:
golf,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
niseko,
panorama,
Photography
by pablo on September 24, 2010
Another cold night and frosty morning wasn’t enough to stop Glen getting out early and taking some more weather related photos. This first one is on the road from Hirafu Station to Route 5 where there’s always a majestic view of Mt. Yotei.
Also good to see that Annupuri got some attention last night too. This photo shows the Hirafu side of Mt Annupuri – the two lift houses you can see are the top of 6C [I think they call it the hooded quad or something now] and Hanazono 3. The peak has a slight dusting.
I like these next two because they reminds me that during the winter you’re lucky if you get to see the top of Mt. Yotei once in a week – so seeing the mountain disappear into the clouds is somehow reassuring.
Tagged as:
Hirafu,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
niseko,
Photography
by pablo on September 23, 2010
It’s not much, but enough to get the Niseko hype machine started. Glen sent through these snaps of the first snow on Yotei for the season.
Tagged as:
Hokkaido,
Japan,
niseko,
Photography
by glen on September 21, 2010
The dust has just settled on Niseko Cycle Week for 2010 and my recovery will be a long one. Lots of people worked really hard to make this event the success and to everyone involved, nice one !
3 years running and it looks like Niseko Cycle Week is here to stay. For the last 3 years of NCW I’ve only really photographed the events, but this year I participated in most of them.
Last Saturday during the final weekend of NCW the TOUR DE HOKKAIDO juggernaut rolled into town ran a stage which started and finished in Hirafu.
I have only recently got into cycling, mainly mountain biking, but road cycling is completely different – lycra and grueling 100km + races are the norm where as I basically cruise along old back roads on my mountain bike looking for something cool to photograph.
Anyway the big boys set off at 9:30 and it was amazing to watch the pro’s and their teams in action – their race was a 186 km !
NCW held the Niseko Mountain Tour at 11:00 which was a 45 km loop around Mt Annupuri.
Hirafu > Hanazono > Goshiki > Annupuri > Higashiyama > Hirafu. I struggled.
If you would like to subject yourself to 552 unedited shots from the NCW event you can view them in this gallery.
All of the shots are sequential if you are looking for a particular event. Prints and digital copies are available – please contact me at glen@studio343.jp if you are interested. Hmm lycra……
Tagged as:
cycling,
hanazono,
Hirafu,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
Kutchan,
mtb,
niseko,
panorama,
people,
Photography
