Tomamu: Hotel Villa Sport

For those who have a chance to head up to Japan's northernmost island, I highly recommend Tomamu in Hokkaido, the largest prefecture in Japan. The picture above is the hotel we stayed at, which had lovely pristine views of snow clad pines and snowscape wintery spruces.

But, be forewarned this part of Japan is not a hot spring paradise, but more like a die-hard ski resort with excellent powder. In the picture below is me and in the backdrop are the famous Tower Hotels, the true symbol of Tomamu Ski Resort. For onsen I recommend Niseko

As you can see I was enjoying snowmobiling for the first time. I think if you have a chance to ride around on this thing you'll love it. Lots of activities can be enjoyed day or night. Hands down, for me, night skiing is the best! Especially with all the illumination and night views from the top of the slope and silky snow just below your skis, makes it the best activity before a big dinner of all-you-can-eat Hokkaido crab.

For the both of us we paid 5000 yen each and had a blast.

The neat thing about this crab was that it was steamed, not boiled. A lot of locals prefer their crab steamed rather than boiled. Unfortunately, a lot of vendors boil their crabs because it's cheaper than buying specialized machines for steaming. Is there a difference taste? Yes! It cannot be argued that steamed crab retains more of the natural flavors of crab whereas boiled crab kills a lot of juiciness in the crab meat.

Our accommodation was very comfortable, the staff came at our every beck-and-call. The ski buses were frequent and on time. If up this way I recommend Hotel Villa Sport because it's cheaper than the Towers. You may need to check that out for yourselves as prices change.

How could I forget the sake, after a couple of these I couldn't focus properly.