Neil Riley is up to his eyes in snow. And he's delighted.
"We love snow -- the kind of powder snow that's perfect for skiing and snowboarding. Snow means we're in business," he explains on a flying visit to the Kanto area from Niigata Prefecture, where WeLoveSnow.com (holding company name Japan Worldwide KK) is putting the village of Yuzawa on the map.
From Derby, Neil majored in Japanese at university in Newcastle -- another fine northern English city -- and as part of his studies spent a year in Fukuoka. After graduating he worked for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London, progressing to the Japan desk of Deutsche Bank. "Everything fell into place and continues to fall into place," Neil says. "The bank sent me to Tokyo in October 2002, where expat life bubbled along until I bought a 'bessho.' " This rural retreat was no traditional Japanese house, however, but an apartment in a condominium. "It's 30 meters square with a gym, pool, jacuzzi and cost me just 2.5 million yen. Why so cheap? Because it's in Niigata, Japan's snow country."