SAPPORO-It started with a smattering of ``G'days'' and a trickle of discarded Vegemite jars in the early 1990s.

Then came the occasional English-language billboard.

Soon the number of Australian faces in and around Hokkaido's Niseko ski resort had snowballed from several to scores to thousands.

Now, tourists and investors from Down Under are gradually making some of Japan's most popular ski hills their own.

Hard on the heels of skiers, Australian businesses and private investors are financing construction of condominiums, resorts and commercial complexes that promise to transform Niseko in the coming years.

With 1,308-meter-high Niseko Annupuri mountain at its center, the ski resort encompasses the towns of Kutchan, Niseko and Rankoshi. Two-and-a-half hours drive west of Sapporo, the area attracts about 700,000 skiers and snowboarders in winter.

Word of mouth and media reports about the great snow gradually attracted more winter revelers from Australia.

In the last two years, the influx of Antipodean powder-lovers spiked sharply. The number of such tourists who stayed in Kutchan, where three of the seven ski slopes in the Niseko area are located, reached 2,924 in fiscal 2003, up from 214 in fiscal 2001.

The figure is expected to grow to 5,000-6,000 in the current fiscal year, according to Hajime Sekiguchi, director of the commerce, industry and tourism section of the Kutchan municipal government.

Australian Airlines started direct flights between Cairns and New Chitose Airport near Sapporo in November. The seasonal operation of the two round-trip flights a week will continue until March 26.

In November, Harmony Resorts Niseko Pty. Ltd., a resort development company based in Melbourne, purchased the Hanazono ski field from Tokyu Land Corp., a major real estate company, in partnership with a Tokyu Land subsidiary. The field is part of the Niseko Hirafu Ski Resort, the largest skiing facility in Kutchan.

Nihon Harmony Resorts KK, a joint venture 99.55 percent owned by the Australian firm, plans to spend 24 billion yen to build a resort complex, comprising a hotel, apartments and commercial facilities, in the ski field. Construction will start in 2006 for completion in 10 years.

Colin Hackworth, president of the joint venture, said the complex will accommodate 8,000 to 10,000 guests.

Hokkaido Tracks, a developer of Western-style apartments for holiday rental and investment, has built 12 condominium units in two buildings in Kutchan since it was set up in August.

Company President Simon Robinson said all the units in its third condominium building due to start construction in March are sold out.

For Australians, Niseko has the advantage of being closer and cheaper than European ski resorts.

A two-week package tour to the area from Australia is typically priced at about A$3,000 (about 240,000 yen), roughly half that to North American and European destinations.

Australians are in a spending mood thanks to a strong economy and the rise in the Australian dollar against the yen, which has made it cheaper for Australians to holiday in Japan. The currency rose to about 80 yen at the end of 2004 from about 64 yen four years ago.(IHT/Asahi: February 22,2005)