Our Philosophy
How we teach,
and why | Hokkaido's Chinese-English Ski School
Our philosophy, and how we actually teach.
Founder
Brian Yuan
Founder / Head Coach, FUYU SKI School
FUYU started from something Brian noticed over years working in Japan's ski industry.
He found that among Chinese-speaking ski schools in Japan, few had a genuinely complete coach training system. Many coaches had passion and experience, but lacked a stable environment to grow, or a systematic way to keep developing.
So from the very start, FUYU was clear about two things it wanted to do: build an environment where coaches keep improving, and make sure students feel every single lesson was worth it.
Becoming a father gave Brian a deeper understanding of ski teaching. Watching his own kids go from being scared to even touch the snow, to standing on a board, falling again and again, to gradually learning to turn and brake — he came to a new understanding of what ski education is really about.
“If every FUYU coach is someone I'd trust with my own kids, then this school has done its job.”
Over these three years, through continuous internal training and the effort of every coach, FUYU has gradually developed its own team culture: hardworking, but a little goofy; serious about the craft, while staying real and warm as a team.
FUYU today is still learning. At the end of every season, we know exactly what we can do better.
See our 29 coaches' credentials→About Us
29
Bilingual coaches (Chinese & English)
6
Technical Directors
4
Licensed teaching resorts
4
Seasons (since 2023)
FUYU's Philosophy
Turning our experience
into a system you can learn from
Every decision in how we run FUYU comes down to one question: does this take care of the details of your lesson?
We built a teaching cycle designed to be constantly checked and improved: Technical Directors share their own experience and teaching concepts, which we put straight into the classroom; all 29 coaches (6 of them Technical Directors) train internally four days a week, plus after-hours discussions on teaching logic, learning methods and communication; and student feedback goes straight back into the next round of training.
The “details” a coach handles aren't just technique — they include service, communication, support, and encouragement. Beyond the satisfaction of skiing well, there's something else: having someone right there with you, helping you learn every movement.
Every cycle
↻ gets sharper
A 4-stage cycle,
getting a little sharper with every round.
What We're Working On
We'll make sure you know what you're doing — not just going through the motions.
More and more Chinese-speaking skiers come to us every year, from different backgrounds with different needs — and we keep folding those needs back into how we teach.
01
Making sure training is correct and effective
A lot of people spend significant time and money learning to ski, but still progress slowly or get hurt. We want every FUYU lesson to be a genuinely useful hour.
02
Being a guide into the sport
Coming to FUYU isn't just about learning technique — it's also about learning how to improve, how to face a challenge, and how to work through fear. Beyond technique, your coach helps you build the right mindset.
03
Bringing world-class ski knowledge to Chinese speakers
The learning needs of Chinese-speaking skiers have long been overlooked — most high-quality ski resources exist only in English or Japanese. FUYU wants to be the bridge across that language gap.
At FUYU, we want you to genuinely feel the satisfaction of progress.
FUYU House
Niseko's training centre
for Chinese-speaking coaches
In their spare time, FUYU's Technical Directors gather Chinese-speaking coaches in Niseko to share more experience and expertise. Coaches need someone to analyse their technique and guide their next step — that's the only way practice tells you what to actually pay attention to, and even how to teach the same thing to a student.
FUYU House is a training program built for Chinese-speaking ski coaches, with a new topic and teaching technique each week. It's something FUYU has wanted to do all along: give real, useful support to the Chinese-speaking ski community, using coaches' own language and learning habits to raise the level of Chinese-speaking coaches, and build a system for that growth.
Want to know which course fits you?
See our course options, or tell us a bit about your situation first.
We reply within 24 hours (up to 48 hours in peak season).