Australian man found dead at Niseko ski resort

@Disillusioned

Maybe he was drunk and maybe it was related to his demise, but that is no reason to exclaim all Aussies are piss heads!

Not all, just a very annoying minority. I wrote as such in post that was deleted.

Guy does not deserve to die even if he was drinking though. I can recall some wicked inebriation myself but (and I will be smug about this), I did not make heavy drinking a habit.

RIP dude, at least you can't get deader than dead.

FWIW, I (not drunk) once almost broke my neck literally trying to park a scooter in what I thought was a parking lot. Bright lights, rain on helmet, I see a dark rectangular area that turned out to be a very muddy paddy. In Australia too, I've ridden my bicycle into a drainage ditch (no fence and poor lighting). Only my pride was hurt both times.

From an off-the-record conversation with representatives from Kutchan Fire & Rescue:

It appears the guy took a either a wrong turn or deliberately chose a short cut - perhaps to the local Lawson's - which was also on his way home. This short cut is actually a snow clearing road which empties into the much talked about "river", but for a little over twenty metres it runs literally beside the footpath this guy may have thought he was on...

In the dark, in a snowstorm, and under the influence; he may not have seen the 45 degree embankment that the path ends in until he'd stepped off it. If he'd then tumbled down that slope it would have been a lot of work to regain the 15 or so vertical metres back to path and road.

Since then the snow clearing path has been closed off with a snow bank & bamboo stakes...

According to witnesses he was pretty drunk, and he and the rest of his group had been pretty rowdy all through their stay. And once he'd gotten into trouble it would have been very difficult for him sober to climb out of where he was - only some 20m from the main road through town.

Of three recent deaths in Niseko (two off the hill, one on) alcohol has played a significant part in two, and while two of three is pretty poor; stupidity has played a part in all three. The reality is this guy walked off into the night - by himself - into a raging snowstorm, despite similar past tragedies - and no-one went looking for him or alerted anyone for eight hours.

I feel for him, his family and friends and everyone in the village involved. But it's more of a tragedy because it was preventable at so many points...

poor man died young

As for cause of death, while there is nothing to suggest that he was drunk and froze to death, this is the most common cause of death for ski-holiday foreigners who have been indulging in apres ski.

It's sad that people take this incident, without knowing a SINGLE thing except that an Aussie national is dead, and start labeling all Australians who go abroad as drunkards or what have you. Again, we know nothing about what happened here. As was posted earlier, for all we know he had a heart attack.

RIP.

haha- People, please let AmericanForeigner stop winding you upo. He's not a real person, ignore him, stop giving him thumbs down and he WILL go away.

It says found in a river, and not snow.

Yeah please don't stereotype Aussies as drinkers who can't control themselves after they have had one too many... cuz, that goes for everyone. It's always unfortunate to hear of someone passing away, especially if they are on vacation trying to enjoy themselves. Let's just hope it was only an accident.

I have been skiing in Shiga Kogen, and Aussies are appearing there too this year, lots of them. I haven't seen any of them caus any trouble, so afaic they are doing their bit to prop up the local economy (Japanese ski tourism is way down compared to before).

As for the dead guy, we can only speculate if he was drunk. He might have just lost his way, I don´t think they have many blizzards in Australia.

Loss of a soul make me saddened Prayers and Blessings for this person.

If you can not pray then please stop blame game and let police do their job.

Maybe he was drunk and maybe it was related to his demise, but that is no reason to exclaim all Aussies are piss heads!

been to niseko this year and there are heaps of aussies there, moreso than the last 2-3years. To be fair, the majority were very respective of J-customs (e.g. lining up, boarding by the rules, etc) and took opportunity to experience the local restaurants, onsens etc. Not sure what happened to this guy, but this year the snow has been overwhelming, with some blizzardy conditions, so he could have easily lost his way and taken by the conditions.

RIP

I have an inside connection. He was drunk. While this will surely get pulled, not thinking he was drunk after leaving a bar and falling into the river on his way back from a convience store is like thinking that drugs played no part in Whitney Huston's death.

So there.

A tragic turn of events for an unfortunate tourist.

The man was found in a river behind a convenience store. How do people get the idea from that that the man was skiing, snowboarding or whatever? In fact, there seems to be nothing in the article that indicates the cause of death beyond the fact he was in a river.

BurakuminDes

Well said on both points....

why happened these tragedy!

He has been out drinking at Splash Bar. Confirmed by a friend living in Niseko and Australian news reports. There is a very dangerous combination up there of no responsible service of alcohol and Aussies with no true winter clothes and the harsh weather of the past few weeks.

JapanGal

Why are people saying he was drunk? I did not read that anywhere.

Last seen leaving a bar... Falls over; passes out... Freezing conditions... Dead.

Readers, there is nothing to indicate the man was drunk. Please refrain from posting insensitive remarks.

Rest in Peace. Any number of things may have happened to him. I have met many normal, family people who come over for the ski season here - they are NOT all "pissed Aussies". A great many Aussies own real estate in Niseko and live there year round.

In my experience Australians are generally nice and easy going until they get drunk. At this point they seem to feel that everyone should be dubious beneficiary of their boorish behaviour...

In the Australian press yesterday they stated that he disappeared after leaving a bar...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/australian-skier-found-dead-in-snow-20120213-1t28b.html

Sorry i don't know how to make it clicky...

@JapanGal

Peolple are only assuming the man was drunk. Unfortunately a lot of Australians binge drink and either pass out somewhere or cause trouble.

But unless more info is provided, all we can do is guess.

Why are people saying he was drunk? I did not read that anywhere.

I've not been snowboarding in Niseko, but from what I have heard it sounds a bit like it is becoming the snowboarding version of Bali - full of pissed up Aussies singing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...oi oi oi!" et al. I have no interest in bearing witness to that kind of cultural cringe. In saying that, I feel sad for his family and friends.

I see Thank you

they think they know who he is but they are not 100 percent sure yet. They may want an acquainance to identify his corpse and or belongings, are holding out for fingerprints, DNA tests or whatever. He was found in a river, which suggests his face no longer matches his passport photo very well.

If he is yet to be Identified..?. Then how he becomes an Australian..?

The Australian consulate is not taking over the investigation. Please lift the level of your contributions to the discussion board.

The police seem strangely uninformed about this. Why would they let the Australian consulate take over the investigation?