Yama Shizen — Local services in Kutchan

Back for 2nd time. Not our first choice tho. But since we booked pretty late, Sansui, Maples, Aya, skye are sold out, fully booked. Had no choice but to choose Yama Shizen. Mostly because of its location. Although its not ski in ski out, but Near to gondola. Also near to kombini, restaurants. Lots of nicer newer better and cheaper apartment hotel in lower hirafu, but a short distance away. I prefer yamashizen, its right in the middle. Interior wise is ok. Not luxurious. But Clean and neat. We booked 2 bedroom for 3 people. Kitchen is equiepped with cutleries, pots pans, utensils. Oven, dish washer machine, microwave, coffee machine, hot water kettle, are provided. Complete kitchen with appliances.

Bathroom is spacioud. But shower floor is too cold to step on tho. Not a big problem. But annoying and uncomfortable. They should've used fiber glass material for comfort. Hot water is shared for each apartment. Be cautious not to use them all. Or you'd end up showering with cold water. Never actually seen how big hot water tank is but im guessing not very big since they stick an announcement on the wall to ask us be aware of the situation. Must have lots of tenants complained about it.

A complete guide book on how to operate the whole apartment and its appliances are included in a black leather folder.

Ski locker provided in Basement. No cleaning service. We stayed 7 days. Had to clean it ourself which is no big deal. But we are on holiday. I expect no cleaning chores. They used to have cleaning service before covid. Rubbish, need to clean it out everyday and bring to basement 2, parking lot 8. If you dont cook, there wont be any food garbage at all, so it wont be a problem. Use your key card to open the door.

Laundry room is equipped with wahing machine and tumbler dry. Detergen provided. And some clothes hanger, vacuum, mop.

Front desk speak fluent english, there wont be any problem at all. They are helpful.

Uploaded some of the food that i've cooked during our stay. Simple and easy to prepare...

The huge benefit of working with Niseko Central is the planning ahead of time. They are great with communication and they can help you to sort every aspect of the trip, from equipment rentals to lessons, from actives to babysitters. Everything was nearly seamless, and we really felt like everything was sorted and taken care of once we got there. They work with GoSnow who are fantastic, and Rhythm rentals who are a short walk away and super well-stocked and full of people who know what they're doing. ||||The facilities at Yama Shizen are clean and pleasant. The ski storage is convenient, the restaurant downstairs is actually surprisingly good, the rooms are super clean and get lots of natural light. We were very comfortable cooking breakfast every morning, and we all slept perfectly, You should know that it's a short walk to the lifts, so it's not ski-in-ski-out. But, it's not more than a 10 minute walk even with a small kid in the snow, so it's not a big deal. And, the location puts you close to some great restaurants, and there's a great market on the corner. So really, the location is pretty ideal. ||||One comment I would share is that the girl who checked us in did not seem familiar at all with the shuttles and buses, and she didn't have any suggestions when we asked where we could get a coffee (it was very early in the morning and we'd arrived very late the night before). This wasn't a huge deal obviously and we figured it out, but it's information that would have been super helpful as we were trying to get settled. That's literally the only criticism I could come up with however. ||||Overall I would highly recommend Yama Shizen to anyone. If you're looking for luxury or super high-end, there are hotels in the area that might suit you better, but if you're looking for a clean, efficient, very comfortable place to stay with the family, you can't beat...

We were a family of 6 aged 2-63. Visited for a week over New Year. Had a 3 bedroom apartment in the east building, on the 4th floor. Had a view up towards the gondola and across to Mt Yotei. The apartment was very well laid out and equipped. Portacot was supplied on request for the grandson. 2 small supermarkets easy walk and we could buy enough to manage our own breakfasts, lunch and evening meals. Restaurants very close and an easy walk. It snowed the whole week we were there, mega snow. very pretty but not so great for the skiers, only one half day of sun. Definitely recommend these apartments. If going again would ask for one that faced the ski field so to watch the night skiing. Everything was very well organised from the bus at Chitose airport to pick up in Niseko and delivered to our apartment. Any queries well quickly sorted. The staff were great. Having a washing machine and drier was very helpful, and clothes dried during the day just hanging the laundry room in the apartment. Wifi worked well. The walk to the Gondola from the apartment is not as easy as some say, up hill and a bit of a trek, because there's a stream dividing the route you need to walk around a few streets, and it's actually much quicker to walk to the Base chairlift by the Alpen Hotel and use that to get up the mountain. Our team didn't use the valet service at the gondola, just used the drying lockers and storage in the basement of the apartment block. That worked well. Niseko was fabulous and we were very happy at Yama Shizen and congratulate them on their very thorough...