Car rental in Hokkaido (Niseko, Furano, Rusutsu, etc.)

Hello all -
I'm planning a trip in late February to Hokkaido (first time skiing there!). I'm expecting to fly in to CTS, and then spend about a week skiing in the Niseko area and visit 2-3 resorts.
My question for the group: are there any notable challenges (aside from language and road signage) to having a car in those areas? I'd like the freedom and flexibility of my own vehicle, but wanted to see if there were any notable pitfalls before I proceed.
Many thanks!

Hi there. A friend and I are visiting niseko on 19th jan. it's my first time there. Also a purple of nights in Tokyo. I'll post some stuff during the week and put a full trip report on my return. Sorry I can't be of any help before hand. It seems very light on here regarding Japan. There's a site called powder hounds where there is much more on Japan. This site (j2ski) is fab (admin ) it's just very few seem to venture out there. Maybe we will start a trend. Haha

Awesome ski area, went there in 2015.
Buses between the villages were excellent, don't really see the need for a car unless you want to visit another ski area.

Ive been to Niseko (Grand Hirafu) twice and going back in early Feb....its not hard to drive around yourself, but remember you need an International Drivers Licence to hire a car. And you need to know how to drive in snow....Im from Australia so ahve little experience in driving in snowy/icy conditions...and it snows A LOT. You can get to the other ski areas (such as Rusutsu, which I recommend) with a car/guide but its not cheap. And Ade73: there are s many people heading to Japan these days the infrastructure barely keeps up! To many Aussies perhaps?

Oh no camshep i didnt mean out there, I mean Here on this site that not many people seem to venture out there or if they do they certainly don't review it much. Yea and it's full of Austrailian apparently. Ivealways found them pretty nice anyway. Supposed to be surprising to hear a British accent "apparently" and I quote having not been there myself YET!! lol. 2 weeks today and we be off