As I near the end of my winter stay in Niseko, I am left with a nagging question: Has Niseko been ruined by tourism?
Niseko was first discovered by brown bears and later settled by the Ainu, the original inhabitants in Hokkaido. In the late 1900s, Niseko was discovered by Australian explorers who were making their way north looking for an overland passage to Canada to go skiing.
After limited success, they gave up and jumped on an airplane and flew to Japan.