Thanks YariGuy trentusjuventus jib71 As far as I can tell, ski bus from Sapporo only departs in the mornings (in which case I might as well ski bus from CTS itself). I'm torn between:

1. Squeezing in some Sapporo sightseeing and early lunch, then the train to Kutchan / hotel shuttle to Niseko, arriving 16:00-ish, or
2. Just heading to Niseko after flight arrival (7:30am - Take 9:45am ski bus from CTS, arriving Niseko at 12:15) and give the kid the afternoon to throw some snowballs and acclimatize.

Now that I put it this way ... #2 seems to be the logical choice, doesn't it?

5khours Wow. It's been a while since I've been to Nozawa Onsen (more than 5 years) and my memory from then was that there were not so many gaijin. Guess everywhere is 'overrun' nowadays huh.