Despite my unfortunate accident, I must say that I like Niseko over other ski resorts that I've been to in the past. The powder is really excellent, there are a lot of slopes to choose from and they are not too crazy, the food is great and the onsens are heavenly. Not many other places have the whole package quite like this place. No wonder then that property prices here are ridiculously high although I hear that it's seen quite a dip lately due to the strong yen and now it's much more of a buyers' market. Apparently it's much less busy now than in previous seasons.
Our visit here in Japan was slightly tarnished by an unpleasant incident yesterday after dinner (which unfortunately was not that good either). One of members of our group came to pick us up from the restaurant in Kutchan and accidentally parked in the parking lot of the restaurant next door instead (she doesn't read Japanese). She had only been there at most 15 minutes but the owner of said restaurant got so upset that he parked his own car in front of our van in an attempt to prevent us from leaving. He demanded that we pay him 3000 yen for parking illegally in his lot. After getting someone to translate for us, apparently this sign said something to the effect of "if you're not eating at Izakaya Torisho and you park here, it's a 3000 yen penalty". Something we all can understand the principle of except that we don't speak or read Japanese so there was no way for us to have understood that sign. The restaurant owner clearly did not give a damn whether we understood Japanese or not and kept shouting over and over again "3000 yen!". Maybe he's had a few bad incidents in the past (we will never know as he did not speak English and we did not understand Japanese, although we knew enough to know that he was beginning to get vulgar with us) but he really came across very poorly as extremely money minded and lacking in understanding of what it means to be someone in a foreign land. After we managed to dig a way out of the barricade, he sent his wife to stand in front of our van to prevent us from leaving. How crazy is that??? We knew there was no silent escape from this if he was willing to sacrifice his wife (how "noble" of him) in exchange for 3000 yen.
It was an honest mistake on our part and we apologised profusely. There was no sign that any of his customers were turned away as a result of our parking there as it was almost closing time when my friend came to pick us up but clearly he just wanted his money. We tried to negotiate a lesser fee when we realised he definitely wanted money over anything else but even then he rejected our offer insisting that we pay the penalty as written on his Japanese sign.
We then had a brain wave. Since parking was free for customers of his restaurant, why didn't we go to his restaurant and order something for less than 3000 yen. We would then automatically be his customers, in which case our parking would be perfectly within "the rules". Realising that he had been out-foxed, this was when he REALLY reared his unreasonable side and refused to honour "the rules" that he had set out in writing from the start. Recognising that there was no winning this argument unless we had spent at least 3000 yen, we then proceeded to sit in his restaurant to warm up (no point standing out in the snow right?) and order a couple of beers till we reached 3000 yen. At least this way we got something for our money (instead of nothing at all).
I don't know if they have ever been overseas before in a country where they don't speak the language and but I hope that one day they understand the frustration of what we went through when coming across really unreasonable people.
I think people should always be nice to tourists, because one day... you will be a tourist yourself.
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It was an honest mistake on our part and we apologised profusely. There was no sign that any of his customers were turned away as a result of our parking there as it was almost closing time when my friend came to pick us up but clearly he just wanted his money. We tried to negotiate a lesser fee when we realised he definitely wanted money over anything else but even then he rejected our offer insisting that we pay the penalty as written on his Japanese sign.
We then had a brain wave. Since parking was free for customers of his restaurant, why didn't we go to his restaurant and order something for less than 3000 yen. We would then automatically be his customers, in which case our parking would be perfectly within "the rules". Realising that he had been out-foxed, this was when he REALLY reared his unreasonable side and refused to honour "the rules" that he had set out in writing from the start. Recognising that there was no winning this argument unless we had spent at least 3000 yen, we then proceeded to sit in his restaurant to warm up (no point standing out in the snow right?) and order a couple of beers till we reached 3000 yen. At least this way we got something for our money (instead of nothing at all).
I don't know if they have ever been overseas before in a country where they don't speak the language and but I hope that one day they understand the frustration of what we went through when coming across really unreasonable people.
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| Word to the wise people: DO NOT GO TO IZAKAYA TORISHO IN KUTCHAN The owner is mean and unreasonable =( |
