What is Pension Accommodation?
Japanese Pensions are generally family owned and family run. They are not hotels. Guests should not expect 24 hour services and should understand that there will be time limits on services, especially in relation to Check-In and Check-Out Times and Breakfast Times.
If you have been lucky enough to have travelled to France then you have been to the birth place of the Pension. Pensions are bed and breakfast accommodation with shared bathrooms and toilets. Breakfast is served in a common dining room and is generally a hybrid buffet. Niseko Pension Woody Note is not five star, but it is always five star friendly.
Pension Woody Note is a Non-Smoking establishment. Smoking in Japan is still prevalent but there has been a marked improvement in health education in the past ten years. Guests understand the non-smoking rule and responsibly smoke outside the buildings.
At Pension Woody Note the bathrooms are Japanese and clean. Every toilet has a built-in bidet. Someone once commented that civilization is a hot bath and a clean bottom, the Japanese have nailed that.
Each bedroom has a TV plus there is a common TV room, more a lounge room, where apres-ski drinks and nibbles are always in fashion and where the televised Tokyo Sumo competition brings howls of delight from relaxing guests. There is a guest fridge in the dining room where guests may store their beer, wine and cheeses.
At Pension Woody Note the dining and TV rooms create a large open connecting space where guests may relax at any time of the day. In the evenings most guests meet in the dining room for a relaxing drink prior to going out to dine at one of the many great restaurants in Hirafu, the surrounding resorts, or Kutchan. Toshio and Rie will arrange restaurant bookings and will often arrange for the restaurant to provide transport. First time guests find Toshio's recommendations helpful as it allows them to dine with confidence. Returning guests are often keen to try a new dining experience with Toshio's recommendation.
The Pension building and the Cottages have been constructed from timber logs in the style of a North American cabin or a Russian Dacha. The timber construction creates a warm environment enhanced by the warmth of your hosts, and the friendliness of the guests. Here Rie cleans the chimney of the stove in the dining room, in the frantic rush, that is early winter.
Rie The Chimney Sweep
Chim Chiminey - Chim Chiminey - Chim Chim Cher-ee! - A Sweep is as lucky - As lucky can be. (Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman)
The Pension Woody Note breakfast (included in your accommodation price) is a hybrid buffet with hot and cold dishes and a mix of Japanese and Western foods. Hot coffee, a selection of teas, cereal, home made yoghurt, eggs, toast, Rie's home made apple jam (don't miss out), salads, pasta (you will need those carbs), cold meats or fish, and fresh fruit, make up some of the dishes. Breakfast is served in the Dining Room from 07:30 to 08:30 each morning.
Below the Faulkner family enjoy a great meal in the dining room. Hector and Gina have been coming to Pension Woody Note for so long that Toshio San and Rie San have watched the Falkner children, Lola and Hugo, grow from very young children into young adults. Hector and Gina now book their next season's accommodation prior to returning home.
On the Left: Hugo Hector Gina On the Right: Lola Charlie & Jill