Pension Snow Flake, Cafe Tirol, Tirol Lamb BBQ, Kojima Academy & Kojima Academy Kids Park
If you’re thinking that’s quite a bit to cram into one title for a post, you’d be right. But the simple fact is that former champion Alpine Snowboarder Kojima Hiasyuki has put his heart and soul into the businesses he runs at Furano. In fact when we had the privilege to speak with Kojima san for our upcoming documentary, he was justifiably proud when speaking in depth about the business and lifestyle he has built for him and his extended family of “snowflakes”. You see for Kojima san, his staff are not just paid help, but part of a vision to raise the profile of Alpine Snowboarding as a sport, and to get local children fit and active. Kojima san calls his staff his “snowflakes”, as snowflakes are all unique, but they stick together.
We also met Rumi Itagaki, herself an accomplished alpine snowboarder and former champion alpine snowboarder. Working as one of Kojima san’s snowflakes, Rumi balances teaching snowboarding at Kojima Academy in Furano’s Kitanomine zone, hosting at Tirol Cafe, Supervising the junior snowflakes at Kojima Academy Kids Park as well as helping out at Tirol Lamb BBQ and Pension Snowflake. That sounds like a massive workload right? However, I struggle to recall meeting somebody so happy and content with life. In fact, most of Kojima san’s snowflakes are former students who see Kojima san as a father figure.
If you stay at Pension Snowflake, or visit Cafe Tirol or Tirol Lamb BBQ (which you should – the food is excellent), you will be welcomed to the fold and can consider yourself part of the extended snowflake family during your time at Furano.
